{"id":14124,"date":"2021-07-19T13:31:31","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T20:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=14124"},"modified":"2021-07-19T21:48:43","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T04:48:43","slug":"joseph-oldham-beams-an-american-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/joseph-oldham-beams-an-american-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph Oldham Beams an American Record"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new “record” for an electric aircraft flight probably won’t make the books, but was a great sales opportunity for the off-grid charging system that accompanied it.<\/p>\n

21 electric airplane records exist in the list of Federation Aeronautique Internationale-recognized achievements.\u00a0 At least one was set in 2012 by Jean-Luc Soullier in his Colomban MC-30 Luciole (Firefly)<\/a> \u2013 189.87 kilometers per hour (117.98 mph) over a 15 kilometer closed course using a Lynch-type brushed motor.\u00a0 It topped his record in February of the same year of 136.4 kph (84.76 mph).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jean-Luc Soullier in his record-setting Luciole nine years ago<\/p><\/div>\n

For a while, Soullier held records for altitude and distance, but these were eclipsed by others.\u00a0 At the time, your editor encouraged beating these records, since they were early efforts in a field that should have shown greater progress that it has.\u00a0 Batteries are not that much improved in some respects.<\/p>\n

Recent flights in Australia<\/a>, Europe<\/a>, and America<\/a> required a mobile infrastructure to charge those batteries.\u00a0 Cars, trucks and airplanes carried the charging gear for each flight, but this week\u2019s flight over California\u2019s Central Valley showed another possibility.<\/p>\n

Off Grid<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Beam Global set the scene with its press release<\/a>.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re setting out to prove that zero emission aviation is not only possible, it\u2019s here. \u00a0Join us as we power the longest flight ever in a production electric aircraft powered entirely by off-grid renewable energy<\/a>.\u00a0 The multi-leg quest starts and ends in Fresno and culminates with a media event at Fresno Chandler Executive Airport Saturday July 17.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

BEAM ARC charging station, “topping up” Joseph Oldham’s Pipistrel Alpha Electro and Dennis Wheatley’s Zero electric motorcycle.\u00a0 Unit is portable and can be installed on site in minutes<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s difficult to quantify the \u201clongest flight ever\u201d for electric aircraft.\u00a0 Eric Raymond did 21 hops across the United States in 1990, kept aloft by solar power.\u00a0 Solar Impulse made it around the world and across the Atlantic and Pacific on sun power.<\/p>\n