{"id":3153,"date":"2011-04-19T21:43:35","date_gmt":"2011-04-20T04:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=3153"},"modified":"2011-05-19T16:50:49","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T23:50:49","slug":"solar-impulse-preparing-for-paris-air-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/solar-impulse-preparing-for-paris-air-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Impulse Preparing for Paris Air Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

To prepare Solar Impulse <\/a>and its pilots for the upcoming airshow season, Andr\u00e9 Borschberg and other members of the flight team completed a series of tests to enable precise flying, particularly around the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget. \u201cWe are preparing for these trips beforehand because they are very complex operations, from both a logistical point of view and purely in terms of flying\u201d, Borschberg explained following his three-hour flight on April 18.<\/p>\n

Solar Impulse will be the \u201cspecial guest\u201d at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget <\/a>from June 20 through 26. This last week\u2019s tests were designed, according to acting flight test director Ralph Paul, with \u201ctwo objectives…: to adopt the Bourget configuration and increase the flight envelope by doing stickraps.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the project\u2019s blog <\/a>explains, \u201cThe solar airplane made three simulations closely modeled on the choreography to be adopted for the presentation flights in Paris…. Initially, the pilot climbed to an altitude of 1000 feet (a little over 300 meters from ground level), then flew along the airstrip in a horizontal figure of 8; a maneuver that will allow the public to see the solar airplane from every angle.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Artist's conception of Solar Impulse with Airbus, among which HB-SIA will fly at the Paris Air Show<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201c\u2019By itself, this is not a particularly difficult maneuver\u2019\u201d, says the pilot of HB-SIA. \u2018But the navigation must be extremely accurate because in Paris there are areas of housing to avoid, Charles de Gaulle Airport and areas with the viewing public. If you consider that the airplane only flies at 50 kilometers per hour (about 31 miles per hour), imagine the effect of [a] 20km\/h (12.4 mph) wind: that is 40 percent of the speed of the plane and the consequences are immediately huge. That is one of the many things that must be planned for.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStickraps\u201d, performed on Monday, April 11 by test pilot Markus Scherdel, are\u00a0moderately tense exercises in which the pilot gives the \u201ccontrol stick sudden repeated jerks to see if the structure goes into resonance.\u201d Of possible consequences, Scherdel merely said, \u201cI leave it up to your imagination, but suggest you don\u2019t try it with your car.\u201d Following a series of stickraps, he made an emergency descent (for practice, presumably)\u00a0with airbrakes fully open at 40 knots (46 mph).<\/p>\n

Claude Nicollier debriefed the crew following the first day\u2019s test, noting, \u201cthe flight today was very close to our objective, i.e. the perfect flight. And it was so because all the members of the team did their work extremely well, so thank you everyone. But don\u2019t forget that the conditions today were perfect, which will not always be the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019These are manoeuvres which we haven\u2019t done yet with this airplane, and which must be tested\u2019, explains Bertrand Piccard. \u2018When a new manoeuvre has been completed and the telemetry confirms that it has been a total success, the \u201cflight envelope\u201d, that is to say the range of possibilities, is enlarged.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

This will mark the giant (204-foot wingpan) solar-powered airplane’s first flights outside its native Switzerland, and will be a precursor for visits to other European air shows throughout the summer.\u00a0 With only\u00a0four 10-horsepower motors, the 3,400 pound may have the least power, lightest wing loading and (outside of lighter-than-air craft), the slowest trip around the Le Bourget pattern.<\/p>\n