{"id":9128,"date":"2014-07-24T21:18:27","date_gmt":"2014-07-25T04:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=9128"},"modified":"2014-07-24T21:18:27","modified_gmt":"2014-07-25T04:18:27","slug":"chip-yates-records-ratified-fai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/chip-yates-records-ratified-fai\/","title":{"rendered":"Chip Yates\u2019 Records Ratified by FAI"},"content":{"rendered":"

With recognition this week of five electric airplane records set by Chip Yates in flights last year, the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration A\u00e9ronautique Internationale (FAI) and the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) ratified performance numbers that top those of most single-engine high-performance gasoline-powered aircraft from established manufacturers, according to Yates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Chip<\/a>

Chip Yates relaxes with Long-ESA at Mojave Air Show<\/p><\/div>\n

Your editor was on hand for the California Capital Airshow last October<\/a> to see Chip take his Long-ESA to 500 meters (1,640 feet) from a standing start in only 62.58 seconds, 17 seconds faster than the previous record set by a fossil-fuel burner.<\/p>\n

The new records were really set last year between September and November and have just been ratified. They include an altitude of 4,481 meters (14,701 feet), a time to climb to 3,000 meters (9,840 feet) of five minutes, 32 seconds, and maintaining an altitude of 4,439 meters (14,564 feet) in horizontal flight.\u00a0 Chip achieved two speed records, reaching an average of 324.02 kilometers per hour (201 mph) in four passes over a three kilometer (1.86 mile) course; and averaged 225.88 kilometers per hour (140 mph) in two passes over a 15 kilometer (9.3 mile) course.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chip sees these achievements as helping overcome the image problem with which electric vehicles have long contended.\u00a0 His press release explains, \u201c\u2019With these records, we are continuing to show the world that electric vehicles don\u2019t have to be slow and boring,\u2019 said founder (of Yates Electrospace Corporation) and test pilot Chip Yates, who also holds ten world records with the World\u2019s Fastest Electric Motorcycle.\u00a0 \u2018No one imagined just a few years ago that a plane powered by nothing but batteries could go 220 miles per hour and out climb Cessnas and Pipers and those kind of long-standing gasoline airplanes!\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

His Long-ESA\u2019s take-off weight of 1,540 pounds includes Chip, and puts the airplane into the FAI\u2019s \u201cC-1b Group VI\u201d class: Electric Land Airplanes weighing 1,102-2,205 pounds.<\/span><\/p>\n