{"id":5180,"date":"2012-01-30T19:34:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-31T02:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=5180"},"modified":"2012-01-30T19:36:02","modified_gmt":"2012-01-31T02:36:02","slug":"the-sixth-annual-electric-aircraft-symposium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/the-sixth-annual-electric-aircraft-symposium\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sixth Annual Electric Aircraft Symposium"},"content":{"rendered":"

The CAFE Foundation will hold its sixth Electric Aircraft Symposium <\/a>on April 27 and 28, 2012 at the Flamingo Resort in Santa Rosa, California and at the Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport, site of the Green Flight Challenge.<\/p>\n

Not only will there be a stellar lineup of speakers, but flying demonstrations of electric and hybrid aircraft, a first at any EAS.<\/p>\n

Jack Langelaan, team leader for the GFC-winning Electro Taurus G4 team, and Tine Tomazic from Pipistrel will share insights on the design and flight of the 403.5 epmpg aircraft.\u00a0 David Calley, Chief Technical Officer for Motor Excellence, will describe ideal low-RPM motors for electric aircraft, and Mark Moore from NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center will share breakthroughs in distributed propulsion.\u00a0 And that\u2019s all before the first coffee break!<\/p>\n

Typical of the packed schedules for all EAS\u2019s, the rest of the presentations will fill your brain and lighten your spirit.\u00a0 Gene Sheehan will discuss his Quickie-like Feuling Green Flight Challenger \u2013 an airplane that didn\u2019t make it to the GFC flightline, but which shows what a fun airplane should be.\u00a0 Stephan Boutenko will be on hand to discuss his Light Sport Aircraft compliant Alternair Amp, which could become a green alternative to the two-seaters available today.\u00a0 Tom Gunnarson will illuminate the FAA\u2019s Small Airplane Directorate and how it will affect future flight.<\/p>\n

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Gene Sheehan will be showing off the eQuickie and explaining its amazing performance<\/p><\/div>\n

A crowd favorite from EAS IV, Eva Hakkanson will be back with her husband Bill Dube. \u00a0This team campaigns Killacycle, the world\u2019s fastest electric motorcycle.\u00a0 In the continuing need for speed, Paul Schlein, retired Chief Scientist for the F-22 Raptor program, will discuss world speed record electric aircraft.<\/p>\n

After-lunch panels will talk about STOL and powered lift systems, ultra-quiet propellers for electric aircraft, and Brien Seeley will recount the Green Flight Challenge and give a glimpse of competitions to\u00a0come.\u00a0 Alan Soule, CAFE board member, will recount his real-world experience in owning and driving a Tesla Roadster.<\/p>\n

Something almost unreal will be on hand with the \u201clit\u201d two-seat electric, gyro-stabilized motorcycle.\u00a0 Mike Ricci, the CTO for Launchpoint Technologies, will show their latest in pancake wheel motors, and Patrick McLaughlin, founder of Mountain High Oxygen, will show a motor controller with instant throttle response.<\/p>\n

Bill Parks, Senior Manager at Aerovironment, will do keynote honors with his address on UAVs and the Global Observer.<\/p>\n

Evening theme dinner sessions, as in past years, will focus on motors, aeronautics, and energy.\u00a0 These dinners are always highly informative and often pack surprises.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s session will kick off with a round of energy storage presentations, with a keynote address by Cary Haymer of Northwestern University on engineered graphene electrodes, \u00a0a talk on high-energy density battery chemistries by Bruce Katz from Polyplus, and a keynote address on lithium-air secondary batteries by Dr. Winfried Wilcke, Chairman of the IBM Research Laboratory.\u00a0 This will be followed by a discussion on safe charging and management of battery systems.<\/p>\n

Apropos, Carlo Treves of HighFlex Solar will display his firm\u2019s flexible solar cells, showing how electric aircraft can be charged all day.\u00a0 Your blog editor will talk on various ways of finding \u201cfree\u201d energy in the water and earth that surround us.\u00a0 Greg Stevenson of GSE Engineering will discuss his bio-diesel generator set, a lightweight way to extract great mileage from very little fuel.\u00a0 The morning session will close out with experimental test pilot Norm Howell of Boeing and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University talking about benchmark software for predicting aircraft performance.<\/p>\n

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GSE's pusher propeller, showing Greg Stevenson's beautifully-machined hub<\/p><\/div>\n

Attendees will seek out lunch on their way to the CAFE Flight Test Center at the western edge of the Sonoma County Airport.\u00a0 There, they will see the first electric charging station for aircraft on any U. S. airport, and scheduled flight demonstrations by the GFC Team Feuling\u2019s eQuickie, Team IKE Aerospace\u2019s Seraph, Team GSE\u2019s hybrid pusher (including Goldschmied propulsor) and others.<\/p>\n

The opportunity to see this exciting technology finally coming to fruition is certain to fill the venues quickly, so make reservations now<\/a>.<\/p>\n