{"id":8800,"date":"2014-04-11T14:21:55","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T21:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=8800"},"modified":"2014-04-11T14:21:55","modified_gmt":"2014-04-11T21:21:55","slug":"chip-yates-charges-new-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/chip-yates-charges-new-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Chip Yates Charges Up for New Records"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether the marketing department at Chip Yates\u2019 Flight of the Century enterprise chose an eponymous 235-horsepower Piper \u201cCharger\u201d to carry the inflight recharging batteries for upcoming tests, the name reflects Yates\u2019 own driven personality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s set a world\u2019s record for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, soaring uphill on a UQM-powered motorcycle, used the same bike to set Bonneville Salt Flats records, then pulled the bike\u2019s motor, popped it into a Long-Eze, and proceeded to set speed and time-to-climb records.\u00a0 He\u2019s announced plans to cross the Atlantic Ocean, duplicating Lindbergh\u2019s flight with an electric airplane and the added and unprecedented technology of mid-air recharging<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"EnerDel<\/a>

EnerDel lithium battery packs in the Flight of the Century Piper Charger<\/p><\/div>\n

This will require extensive testing of the battery pack, tethering, docking and shuttling technology and the attendant software development.\u00a0 The Long-ESA (Electric Speed\u00a0 Altitude) Yates has flown to his records serves double duty as the Silent Arrow<\/a>, an unmanned hybrid aerial vehicle (UAV) development for the Navy, which has made its China Lake test facilities available to Yates and his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlight testing begins this month, with the conversion of our newly purchased recharge plane \u2013 a heavy-lifting Piper Charger\u2026 that\u00a0will need to carry a 600 Volt EnerDelPowered pack we\u2019ve selected for the recharge,\u201d says Yates. \u201cIf all goes well, we plan the first mid-air recharge for an April\/May timeframe.\u201d<\/p>\n

At some point this will require docking the Piper with the Long ESA, successfully recharging the canard\u2019s battery pack and safely separating the two aircraft.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Also<\/a>

Also a Discovery Channel favorite, Chip shows off the Long-ESA with its recharging probe above the canard<\/p><\/div>\n

As his record setting and lofty goals have come to the public\u2019s attention, he\u2019s also taken on a sub-career of public speaking, doing a TedX talk last December in Bermuda, a presentation to an economics forum, and several presentations urging young people to study science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).\u00a0 He\u2019s cheered small children in hospitals, and even encouraged small desert towns to tackle big problems with the same innovative spirit he\u2019s brought to his projects.<\/p>\n

As The News Review of Ridgecrest, California reported<\/a>, \u201cYates underscored that striving is a critical part of innovation \u2014 that acute time and resource constraints are what fuel technological evolution. He said that despite Boeing\u2019s multibillion-dollar budget and tens of thousands of employees, when it comes to defeating impossible odds, he would bet on his three volunteers with zero funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cLikewise, Los Angeles\u2019 many-orders-of-magnitude-greater budget and population cannot compete with the passion and hard work of a tiny, isolated community united behind a cause.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe encouraged the residents of the Indian Wells Valley to identify what makes us unique and join forces to promote that to the outside world. (He noted that communities with just as few resources have demonstrated how to successfully forge that path).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe key is in mobilizing the community to put momentum behind that idea. \u2018You can\u2019t steer a parked car,\u2019 he said.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yates\u2019 car is definitely not parked, but in a determined state of extreme forward motion.<\/span><\/p>\n