{"id":2703,"date":"2011-02-08T10:39:14","date_gmt":"2011-02-08T17:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=2703"},"modified":"2011-02-08T10:56:49","modified_gmt":"2011-02-08T17:56:49","slug":"somethings-amazingly-new-under-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/somethings-amazingly-new-under-the-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"Something(s) Amazingly New Under the Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"

To share an idea of how packed with information and inspiration an Electric Aircraft Symposium can be, I\u2019m still writing reports on the fourth annual event, even though EAS V is coming up April 29 in Santa Rosa, California.\u00a0 This is the next-to-last blog entry on last year\u2019s presentations, and as noted in yesterday\u2019s press release for the event, 2011\u2019s will have at least as many presenters and material.<\/p>\n

Tyler MacCready is the son of Paul MacCready, founder of AeroVironment, Inc<\/a>. and inspiration for many human-powered, ultralight, and solar-powered aircraft over the last several decades.\u00a0 This author was in England when Bryan Allen pedaled Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel, a breakthrough in what was considered aerodynamically and structurally possible.\u00a0 At age 14, Tyler had been the test pilot for the Albatross.\u00a0 Such experiences led to his early work in solar-powered aircraft, as he told attendees at the fourth annual Electric Aircraft Symposium.<\/p>\n

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Solar Penguin for which Tyler MacCready was an early test pilot<\/p><\/div>\n

Tyler was there as part of AeroVironment\u2019s solar development, an exciting young life that many would envy.\u00a0 Tyler\u2019s brother Marshall and Janice Brown, a petite Bakersfield, California\u00a0schoolteacher and commercial pilot, flew the first human-carrying solar-powered airplane, the Penguin, a reduced size and weight version of the Albatross.\u00a0 Tyler explained that since the solar cells were only mounted on one side of the sail-like appendage above the wing, the craft had to be aligned perpendicular to the sun\u2019s rays and could not make turns or even maneuver very much.\u00a0 The Astro-flight 40 motor was similar to that used in the Boucher\u2019s Sunrise II, the first successful, but remotely controlled solar-powered craft from 1974.<\/p>\n

Initially powered by 28 nickel-cadmium batteries, solar flights were made with 3,920 cells that generated a maximum total of 541 watts.\u00a0 Despite rough atmospheric conditions and low power, \u201con August 7, 1980, [Janice Brown] flew a public demonstration of the aircraft at Dryden in which it went roughly 1.95 miles in 14 minutes and 21 seconds,\u201d according to the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center history.<\/p>\n

The Penguin\u2019s proof of concept led to the design and construction of the Solar Challenger, a 205-pound solar-cell bedecked craft.\u00a0 The airfoil, a flat-topped Lissaman Hibbs 8025, enabled mounting the available rigid solar cells (over 16,000) and was reputed to have excellent stall characteristics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Janice Brown in early test flight of Solar Challenger<\/p><\/div>\n

Weight included two Astro-flight motors in tandem and propeller speed reduction unit, and initial flights were again with Janice Brown at the controls, although her light weight barely tested the airplane\u2019s 9G design limits. After making an eight-hour flight in May, 1981, Janice was replaced by heavier but more experienced Steve Ptacek, who went on to make a 163 mile flight between Corneille-en-Verin Airport near Paris, France and Manston Royal Air Force Base in England, reversing the path of the Albatross across the English Channel.\u00a0 He achieved an altitude of 14,500 feet on the trip.\u00a0 Considering the airplane had no battery backup, this truly was a solar-powered record.<\/p>\n