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Smallest Manned Electric Plane Flies
garymortimer writes "EADs have successfully flown an electrified Cri-Cri aircraft. The Cri-cri (short for cricket) is the smallest twin-engined manned aircraft in the world, designed in the early 1970s by French aeronautical engineer Michel Colomban, the Cri-cri aircraft is the world's smallest twin-engine . At only 4.9 m (16.1 ft) wingspan and 3.9 m (12.8 ft) length, it is a single-seater, making an impression of a dwarf velomobile with wings at close range. After its manned flight trials the airframe will be configured for autonomous flight. Obviously once the pilot is removed payload increases dramatically and the airframe itself has been approved for manned flight so certifying it for UAV flight should be simpler."
If the source of pollution is removed from sight does it make it "clean and green"?
I love electric planes. A spark to the imagination!
...I see a potential problem:
When it crashes, you, the pilot, absorbs the entire forces involved. Chances of survival are dimmed if not non existent.
"Obviously once the pilot is removed payload increases dramatically"
At first glance I thought they were going to complete the conjunction by saying "and the plane cannot fly." But Cpt. Obvious reminded me that UAV is the new aviation buzzword (trend?).
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
I can't quite tell from the summary.
Hmmm, TFA mentions 4 engines grouped in pairs with counter-rotating props...not 2 engines.
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Next thing you know, someone will be dragging this into a parking space at work, raving about the ecological benefits, and simultaneously getting denied both life and medical insurance!
If it didn't fly you couldn't really call it a plane now could you?
You can't take the sky from me.
Here's a link to the same story with a picture taken from the side, much more revealing. Four motors total grouped in two pairs.
http://www.aviationbusiness.com.au/news/cri-cri-the-all-electric-aircraft-gets-airborne
Nate
The Cri-cri (short for cricket) is the smallest twin-engined manned aircraft in the world, designed in the early 1970s by French aeronautical engineer Michel Colomban, the Cri-cri aircraft is the world's smallest twin-engine .
At first I thought the writer of the summary had simply messed up when editing and repeated the same thing twice. But when you check wikipedia, it has the same mistake, even down to the space in front of the period: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Colomban_Cri-cri&oldid=383417426
At least when you copy and paste verbatim from wikipedia, read the sentence and see if it makes sense.
Someone has an odd idea of 'short'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrbgcIOaDpw
Here is a video of this Cri-cri.
Angle of attack seems high, and the landing looked a little rough.
FTFA:
"The combined utilisation of these environment-friendly technical innovations enables the Cri-Cri to deliver novel performance values: 30 minutes of autonomous cruise flight at 110 km/h, 15 minutes of autonomous aerobatics at speeds reaching up to 250 km/h, and a climb rate of approximately 5.3 m/sec."
30 minutes of flight as a UAV! Sounds like those little rc helicopters from walmart
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
I'll have to go read up on my copy of FAR/AIM, but a 30 minute cruise... for anything other than a developer-owned experimental, I'm not 100% sure that would even be legal for sale, even as a kit. It would certainly never make IFR, as that has a next-airport-plus 45-minute reserve hard requirement (FAR 91.167) regardless of commercial-vs-experimental status. Yes, I know, it's a development vehicle, not intended for sale. A little ways to go.
Climb is 1000 feet per minute. That would be under full power, which aerobatics would also almost certainly be under. So assuming you want a good 5000 feet of "oops" between you and a dirt-nap, that's 5 minutes burned in climb, leaving 10 minutes of playtime (they mention 15 minutes of "aerobatics power"), assuming you're fine with a glide home. Any retired Komet pilots or BD5-J jockeys out there want to give this one a shot? :) That being said, I'd have no hesitation to fly an all-electric as long as it has been demonstrated to have a good 5000-hour MTBF and 4 hours plus IFR reserve in real-world at-altitude conditions.
It's an interesting development on a path to all-electric or hybrid manned flight, certainly a milestone to be proud of, but I'll stick with a 172 until my RV10 is finished...
Everybody gets what the majority deserves.
...motorized self-launching glider. That's an application for which 30-ish minutes of power would be just fine, and an electric motor plus NiCad pack of batteries may well beat out a gas motor plus fuel on weight. Additionally, there would likely be greater reliability for a high-altitude restart. Make it sexy like a Stemme S10 and you're in business!
Everybody gets what the majority deserves.
or death by Cri-Cri??
I thought it was hard to build large, useful electric vehicles. It turns out the real innovation is in small, impractical ones. Well done fellas.
How is Cri-Cri short for Cricket? They're both two syllables and both 7 characters long ...
Apparently the engineer, Michel Colomban, no longer sells the plans for this craft. Probably because he's involved in a defense contract through EADS.
*DrugCheese rants*
Not by far. There are ultralight planes and some come with electric engines If you actually read the article as opposed to the incorrect summary posted, you see no claims for smallness. It is just the first ever FOUR engine all electric plane. The only important thing here was the 4 electric engines, not size.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
brilliant pl4n study. [rice.edu] much as Windows Tossers, went out it will be among
How is cri-cri, which is the same number of characters and syllables but harder to say, short for "cricket?" This makes no sense.
No engine. Less space than a Cessna. Lame.
This is pretty cool, but I couldn't help being reminded of Jim Bede's BD-5, which as a kid I thought was THE coolest thing ever. Ultimately it was jet powered and looked awesome. Here's a couple of links:
Richard Bach in a BD-5
The BD-5 and other Jim Bede creations
I believe the BD-5 made an appearance in a James Bond film.
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
I want one where you lie down on your front, get all strapped in with cushy stuff, put your arms out into the wings, and pedal for dear life... charge the main battery up, then take a little rest.. and start pedaling like mad again while the battery discharges into the motors for takeoff..
If you go by the article the range of the aircraft at 110km/h is 55 kms but at 250km the range is 62.5km. How can an aircraft go faster, with the increasing drag proportional to the square of the speed, go farther? Would it not take more energy to overcome the drag and therefore decrease the range?
Yes, the safety of its waste. That said, I wonder if the wings could be fitted with solar cells. Not necessarily enough to fly continuously on, but just enough to charge the batteries when parked outside. I don't know how heavy solar cells are though, and what impact they have on the strength of the structure (can you laminate them on or do you have to drill holes?).
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
and a climb rate of approximately 5.3 m/sec.
Which is roughly 1040 feet per minute for climb performance. For a lightly loaded single engine ICE, on a moderately warm day and low altitude, that's not that bad. For a twin, that's fairly anemic given that these numbers represent an almost ideal test. Of course, its climb performance may have as much to do with wing design (low lift and good cruise) than available power. But then again, 110kph is roughly 60 knph, which is slow. In comparison, a new Cessna 172 will cruise at 115 knph and have roughly the same climb rate at this. Snails and dogs with flying dog houses will pass this thing all day long and likely means they have a wing design for slow speed and good lift, which is opposite of what I originally contended.
Not really encouraging and far from exciting.
So the plane is about the same size as a BD5?
BD5's have been flying for 30 years, so how is this news?
The wingspan is 4.9m (16.2ft using proper rounding), and the length is 3.9m (12.9ft using proper rounding).
Is there a Slashdot article coming up that focuses on hybrid ships and subs and locomotives?
I guess if you are an idiot, that would be news.
In the near future batteries will not able to propel larger aircraft.
What does that mean? Tim S.
four brushless electric motors
Tim S.
What I find most interesting about this craft is that it is powered by four small electric motors.
There are a lot of interesting designs of future electric or hybrid aircraft powered by a large number of small electric motors. They are just as efficient as one large electric motor, but can be distributed in fashion that aids aerodynamics and reduces propeller noise.
Lots of "Green" in the article, and a comparison with a velomobile ? It's not really green, unlike a real velomobile.