{"id":4568,"date":"2011-10-05T10:22:53","date_gmt":"2011-10-05T17:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=4568"},"modified":"2011-10-07T08:07:37","modified_gmt":"2011-10-07T15:07:37","slug":"green-flight-challenge-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/green-flight-challenge-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Flight Challenge Winners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, October 3 was the second day of Nobel Prize announcements, but also marked the Green Flight Challenge Expo, sponsored by Google and staged under the control tower on Moffett Field, home of NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California.<\/p>\n

The four airplanes that flew in the Challenge at Charles M. Schulz Sonoma Country Airport in Santa Rosa, California were joined by Greg Stevenson’s full-size mockup of his GFC design and a Pipistrel Virus\u00a0that had won an earlier NASA\/CAFE Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) Challenge.\u00a0 Stevenson’s airplane was a reminder that there were numerous entrants that, for a variety of reasons, could not attend.\u00a0 There is a huge number of aircraft in the wings, so to speak, that will fill these pages in the next months and years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Greg Stevenson's GSE future flyer before historic Moffett Field airship hangar<\/p><\/div>\n

20 exhibitors showed off their visions of a\u00a0greener future, and three rows of tents protected exhibitors and their displays\u00a0from the rain that started mid-afternoon.<\/p>\n

At about 11:00 a.m., attendees were bussed to\u00a0 Building 3, which was crowded with media, including reporters and camera\u00a0personnel for the local affiliates of ABC, CBS and NBC.<\/p>\n

In opening remarks at the ceremony, Dr. Brien Seeley,\u00a0head of CAFE, saw this as a “pivotal historic event,” with future\u00a0aerial vehicles quiet, emissions free, and capable of landing anywhere – in\u00a0other words, achieving bird-like flight.<\/p>\n

Erik Lindbergh of the Lindbergh Electric Aircraft\u00a0Prize (LEAP)\u00a0awarded a $10,000 prize to team leader Eric Raymond and e-Genius for the\u00a0quietest aircraft.\u00a0 e-Genius registered between 56 and 62 dBa during the takeoff\u00a0tests on Monday. Compare this to normal conversation, which might range between\u00a080-85 dBa.\u00a0 The prize money was donated\u00a0by Jeannie Schulz, the famed cartoonist\u2019s widow.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Team leader Eric Raymond holding check, fellow pilot Klaus Ohlmann, and Stuttgart University professor Rudolph Voit-Nitschmann holding LEAP quiet aircraft award. Photo: CAFE Foundation, Craig Clement<\/p><\/div>\n

NASA’s acting Chief Technical Officer, Joe Parrish,\u00a0recognized the GFC winners,\u00a0and extolled the virtues of the prize system for\u00a0accelerating technological development.\u00a0 Recounting\u00a0other prizes that had produced significant outcomes, Parrish named the Orteig\u00a0(Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis) and Anzari X-Prize (Burt Rutan\u00a0and Spaceship One), and thinks that the GFC will inspire a renaissance in\u00a0aircraft technology. \u00a0He noted that NASA\u00a0and the American taxpayer benefited from funding\u00a0such prizes, and that NASA\u00a0“only pays if it works.”<\/p>\n

Parrish\u00a0explained that NASA’s $1.6 million investment\u00a0had generated of $4 million in expenditures by competitors and produced two\u00a0stunning results – the winners of the Challenge.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

G4 Pilots Robin Reid and Dave Morss with team leader Jack Langelann. Ivo Boscarol holds up very large check. Photo: CAFE Foundation, Craig Clement<\/p><\/div>\n

e-Genius took a second prize of $120,000 along\u00a0with the Lindbergh quiet aircraft award of $10,000 (prize money donated by Charles\u00a0Schulz’ widow Jeannie Schulz).\u00a0 Both it and the Pipistrel G-4 had flown the\u00a0200-mile course at better than 100 mph average and wildly exceeded the required\u00a0200 passenger miles per gallon economy goal.\u00a0 e-Genius reached 375.8 passenger\u00a0miles per gallon.<\/p>\n

The G-4 did even better – 403.5 PMPG.<\/p>\n

The winner received not only a check for\u00a0$1.3 million (equivalent to the current value of\u00a0a Nobel Prize – 1 million Euros), but a stunning trophy created\u00a0by local artist Ralph Carlson.\u00a0 Its\u00a0bird-like design, echoing Dr. Seeley\u2019s vision for future flight, was\u00a0conceptualized by Seeley, his wife Anne, son Damon, and board member Bruno\u00a0Mombrinie.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ralph Carlson's stunning Green Flight Challenge trophy. Photo: CAFE Foundation, Craig Clements<\/p><\/div>\n

Jack Langelann, Pennsylvania State University aeronautics\u00a0professor and Pipistrel team leader, explained that at the current 8 cents per\u00a0kilowatt hour charge in his home state, the G-4 could be charged for a two-hour\u00a0flight at a cost of $7.<\/p>\n

This may have been even less costly in recharging\u00a0from the CAFE Foundation’s special charging stations, installed just for the\u00a0event, and the first designated electric charging station at any airport in the
\nworld. \u00a0Receiving their electricity from\u00a0geo-thermal powered generators on nearby peaks in the Geyserville area, CAFE’s\u00a0fliers flew “green” indeed.<\/p>\n

Some disappointment was expressed by Jeff Shingleton of the Phoenix Air\u00a0team that results for Phoenix and Eco-Air results were not yet available, but would be reported later in the week.\u00a0 The CAFE blog will announce these numbers as soon as they are available.\u00a0 Jeff also said that his team was shocked that electric aircraft could fly the course at all, let alone achieve such outstanding results.<\/p>\n

Pipistrel founder and President Ivo Boscarol\u00a0pledged to contribute $100,000 of the prize money to a future Challenge in\u00a0which the goal would be the flight of the first electric-powered supersonic<\/em> aircraft.\u00a0 This drew enthusiastic applause from the\u00a0crowd and set a new and dazzling goal for visionaries.<\/p>\n

Following the awards ceremony, covered thoroughly\u00a0by all the local network news teams, the teams each performed flybys for the\u00a0gathered throng, with rain finally putting an end to a gala day\u00a0that heralds\u00a0 the dawn of a new golden age of aviation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n