{"id":13941,"date":"2021-02-27T00:20:44","date_gmt":"2021-02-27T07:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=13941"},"modified":"2021-02-27T00:20:44","modified_gmt":"2021-02-27T07:20:44","slug":"ecstol-longer-range-commutes-on-less-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/ecstol-longer-range-commutes-on-less-power\/","title":{"rendered":"eCSTOL: Longer Range Commutes on Less Power"},"content":{"rendered":"

Competition is growing in the electric Vertical Take Off and Landing market, with 407 potential builders listed in eVTOL News<\/em>.\u00a0 Vertical flight takes power, though, and with available batteries limiting range, most such vehicles can make only short hops.\u00a0 Alternatives that allow speedier, longer flights, in the form of electric Conventional Short Take Off and Landing (eCSTOL) aircraft are in development.<\/p>\n

Such craft offer the benefit of requiring less power for takeoffs and climbs, being more aeronautically-based than power-based.\u00a0 Airflow, for instance, claims operating costs for their eCTSOL craft is one-third that of an eVTOL or helicopter.<\/p>\n

We will look at three eCSTOL craft that seem to making headway at this time. \u00a0The infrastructure (in two cases below) to support their flight may already exist.<\/p>\n

Airflow<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Curt Epstein, writing in Future Flight<\/em><\/a>, under the headline, \u201cInfrastructure Needs for eSTOL and eVTOL Aircraft May be Closer than Imagined,\u201d notes the \u201cintense study\u201d being undertaken. \u00a0Speaking at the Vertical Flight Society’s \u00a0Electric VTOL Symposium, Airflow co-founder and CEO Marc Ausman, \u201cDescribed the runway needs of his proposed blown wing aircraft as being 150 feet of ground roll with an overall requirement of 300 feet in length. That is roughly three times the length of the currently [prescribed] touchdown-and-liftoff (TLOF) area plus safety zone, for a helipad.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Airflow’s Virtual Tailhook program will assist pilot, enable very short, precision landings<\/p><\/div>\n

This would open up thousands of potential landing zones.\u00a0 A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study, \u201c\u2026examined several major cities and found that Los Angeles had 6,200 such potential sites, while New York had 5,700, Dallas and Chicago around 3,800 each, and Boston 2,500.\u201d\u00a0 David Ausman explains, \u201cSo even if one percent of those were actually viable, you would still have dozens of rooftops plus other areas around the city and suburban areas where these aircraft can land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ausman believes such a runway length will enable flight from the roofs of existing buildings, and reasonable integration into \u201curban environments.\u201d\u00a0 The single-pilot aircraft\u2019s proposed 250-mile range (with reserves) and ability to carry 500 pounds of low-density cargo could lead to profitability because of low operating costs.<\/p>\n

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Airflow is testing subscale aircraft to prove concept for Cessna 210 eCSTOL demonstrator<\/p><\/div>\n

Airflow is building a demonstrator based on a Cessna 210 what will feature (according to the company\u2019s illustration) eight electrically-driven fans across the width of the wingspan.\u00a0 This is similar to the David Ullman\u2019s experiment in distributed electric propulsion, part of his IDEAL (Integrated Distributed Electric-Augmented Lift) concept<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The final craft will not be purely electric, but a hybrid powered by Eric Lindbergh and Eric Bartsch\u2019s Verdego Diesel-electric system<\/a>.\u00a0 Combining a 184 kilowatt (247 horsepower) piston-engine driven generator with the DEP motors providing enhanced lift on Airflow\u2019s wings will give economical operation and short-field potential.<\/p>\n

Electra<\/h4>\n

Taking a similar demonstration step to Airflow, Electra pledges its mission is, \u201cTo turn flygskam <\/em>(flight shaming) into Flugvergn\u00fcgen<\/em>\u201d \u2013 the joy of flying.<\/p>\n

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Electra.aero wants to bring Flugvergn\u00fcgen<\/em>\u201d \u2013 the joy of flying, back<\/p><\/div>\n

Charles Alcock<\/a>, in Future Flight<\/em>, writes, \u201cElectra is on track to complete the preliminary design phase of its eSTOL aircraft technology demonstrator this month with most of the vendors and suppliers having been selected, including Blue Force Technologies, which will be the lead designer and manufacturer for the airframe.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Langford foresees expanded possibilities for landing sites for Electra.aero eCSTOLcraft<\/p><\/div>\n

Program manager James “JP” Stewart will oversee the program, building and test flying a Cessna 172-size craft.\u00a0 The two-seat craft, weighing about 3,000 pounds, will be powered by a \u201ccustom turbogenerator\u201d that will serve as its hybrid-electric powerplant and drive eight electric motors with an installed power of 260 kilowatts.\u00a0 That kind of power should ensure true STOL performance.<\/p>\n

First flights in 2021 are intended to show takeoffs and landings in \u201cas little as 100 feet.\u201d\u00a0 A later production aircraft will carry up to six people and perform \u201ca variety of missions once it achieves type certification in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Founder and CEO John Langford, winner of the 2019 Personal Aircraft Design Academy trophy<\/a>, was leader of Aurora Flight Sciences, which investigated different eVTOL technologies and extremely large remotely-piloted vehicles, among other things.<\/p>\n

Langford, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is teaming with his alma mater on a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) project.\u00a0 This project includes a contract to join the U. S. Air Force\u2019s Agility Prime program for \u201cInnovative Control and Configurations for ORBs [Organic Resupply Busses] with Distributed Electric Propulsion.\u201d<\/p>\n