Electric sport plane

[aussie_paul]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-0...ttnest/9304424

Aussie Paul.

[chook]

Thanks Paul. Yep saw this technology in the European light aviation expo in 2015. The Chinese were targeting training whereby the aircraft could give the student their 1 to 2 hour training flight, comply with the noise standards easily and have a battery swap out waiting when they landed so that the next student could get airborne immediately after the previous lesson.

Regards......Chook.

[deandob]

Who will be first with an electric gyro? Seems its possible although to retrofit an existing body likely needs a redesign due to the large change in weight distribution. Also isn't a gyro less efficient than a fixed wing (due to the rotor drag)? Would be an interesting project for you DIY types! It would be cheaper to build and operate as well (aren't those rotax engine prices crazy...). The engine would be definitely lighter but the batteries would weigh more than fuel (energy density of petrol is hard to beat).

Here is an interesting link from a while back: http://www.tervis.fidisk.fi/JTsite/elgyro.html
Although energy density of batteries have increased considerably, not quite to the level anticipated in the link above. Tesla's new Model 3 has an energy density of 130W/hr and its certainly feasible to retrofit a Tesla battery (others have done it). Its still within the realm of possibility as long as there isn't a big expectation of long distance.