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ErikS
Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 8337
Location: Slowing boiling over in the steamy south, Global Warming is real7/10/15 7:42 PM |
Pay to read
The concept is way cool but batteries are heavy and plane needs lots of power. I suspect the channel was max range and it had to glide in.
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walter
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 4391
Location: metro-motown-area7/10/15 8:09 PM |
for a short hop like the channel, a non-event
more a publicity stunt.
achieving the flight was never in question, given the sheer volume of test-flights they'd done, unlike when Bleriot completed the first crossing only by the grace of a passing rain shower to cool his overheating engine.
supposedly someone flying an electrified cri-cri the did channel crossing and back the night before this guy.
e-flight technology has come a long way in a very short period of time. that said, e-flight is also a loooong way from coming anywhere close to dino-juice fueled flight of any sort.
here's a FREE article with video. fwiw...all you guys that post WSJ links, they're only readable if you're a subscriber.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/engineering/11729838/Airbus-E-Fan-2.0-set-to-recreate-aviation-history-with-cross-Channel-flight-only-this-time-its-electric.html
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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC7/11/15 7:12 AM |
quote:
batteries are heavy and plane needs lots of power. I suspect the channel was max range and it had to glide in.
Well, this explains the controvercy. A frenchman did the crossing the days before. However, his plane was dropped from another plane, saving the power needed for take off...
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walter
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 4391
Location: metro-motown-area7/11/15 7:56 AM |
look like the cri-cri got a tow to altitude, as april mentioned:
'it subsequently emerged that Duval's Cri Cri had had a little help getting airborne, taking off attached to another plane before then detaching."
being a low dollar homebuilt affair, the cri-cri clearly needed some help!
the big-dollar "moonshot" entrant from team-airbus (€20m invested thus far) seemed to have power to spare for the journey.
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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC7/11/15 10:29 AM |
quote:
being a low dollar homebuilt affair, the cri-cri clearly needed some help!
Understandable.
Still, it's the heart of the matter for an electric plane to have "power to spare". Otherwise, it's nothing more than an battery-assisted glider.
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walter
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 4391
Location: metro-motown-area7/13/15 7:23 AM |
indeed, you are correct...
...nothing that a few million dollars or development cant solve!
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daddy-o
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 3307
Location: Springfield7/13/15 10:13 AM |
Looking at the celebration photo in the Telegraph article
Are the props on this plane somehow not rigid?
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Jesus Saves
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 1150
Location: South of Heaven7/16/15 7:42 AM |
+1 for the cool factor, but not so much for the economic feasibility & practicality, much like electric cars.
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JohnC
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 1939
Location: Glastonbury, Ct7/16/15 9:00 AM |
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+1 for the cool factor, but not so much for the economic feasibility & practicality, much like electric cars.
That is a totally misguided view of electric cars. There are many settings where they are and will increasingly be economically feasible and practical, and an important part of the transition to a more sustainable and less destructive energy economy.
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walter
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 4391
Location: metro-motown-area7/16/15 9:08 AM |
cri-cri props are straight
the bending is a visual artifact of an electronic shutter. the prop is still moving while the sensor's e-shutter is capturing the image. same thing happens on foto-finish images, in bike races spokes looked curved and in running races arms/legs look misshaped.
Last edited by walter on 7/16/15 2:54 PM; edited 3 times in total
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Jesus Saves
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 1150
Location: South of Heaven7/16/15 9:24 AM |
How am I misguided about electric cars? Do you mean electric cars are Greener than regular cars, much like electric bicycles are than regular bicycles? The Toyota Prius sources materials from 5 different continents to make the battery/electric motor in its car. The batteries are very toxic to the environment, to excavate the material, coal powers many electric plants in the USA, and to store, post use and the fuel/energy efficiency (improvement) is a bit underwhelming and much more so when you compare it to a much sensible sized/equivalent dino-fueled vehicle. For instance, do you recall the discussion about the Honda cr z fuel economy versus its original gas powered model?
Back to the original thread topic...didn't a solar powered plane fly around the globe (mostly), recently?
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daddy-o
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 3307
Location: Springfield7/16/15 2:06 PM |
Like a focal plane shutter artifact, thanks Walter. The spokes analogy is great. I just thought the props had stopped.
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walter
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 4391
Location: metro-motown-area7/16/15 2:58 PM |
i have a hard time seeing the benefit to e-cars...
...now and for the fore-seeable future.
given current state of battery technology (expensive, inefficient, and toxic) and predominate bulk power-generation methods (coal/oil are non-renewable, inefficient, and produce oodles of CO2).
that said, i think we need to keep doing the research...some day we'll come up with a viable alternative to dino-juice....but it's a long ways off.
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