Aviation News

Electrical Cri Cri

The first electric Cri-Cri airplane was airborne Thursday – for all of seven minutes. The all electric aircraft, jointly developed by EADS Innovation Works, Aero Composites Saintonge and the Green Cri-Cri Association, made its official maiden flight at Le Bourget airport near Paris on Thursday, Sept. 1. 

“This aircraft flies very smoothly, much more quietly than a plane with conventional propulsion”, said Didier Esteyne, who piloted the all-electric Cri-Cri. “But we are still at the beginning and have a lot to learn.” 

Click here or on the picture above see a video if its maiden voyage flight. (The narration is in French, but even if you don’t speak the language, it is still worth watching.) 

The Cri-Cri was originally designed in the early 1970′s by a French aeronautical engineer, Michael Colomban, as the smallest twin-engine airplane in the world.

His goal was to build a very small and economical plane powered by two engines, that would be capable of flying even some aerobatic maneuvers. He also wanted not to exceed his budget over 1000 USD, including two engines, which was quite hard to believe even in early 70s.

At only 4.9 m (16.1 ft) wingspan and 3.9 m (12.8 ft) length, it has become a well known airplane around the world. It is a single-seater, which can even be transported on top of a car. It sort of reminds you of a model airplane on steroids.

Construction time took around 1500 hours for the first airplane and it became a reality in 1973, when it was given the name “Cri-Cri” after Michel Colomban’s daughter, who was often called “Cri-Cri”. 

The airplane has now been modified and expanded into a 4-engine aircraft with electrical and environmental friendly motors!  The plane has lithium batteries and four electric prop motors that don’t emit carbon dioxide like standard aircraft.

 The Cri-Cri is made relatively lightweight to compensate for the weight of the batteries, the company said. It is capable of 30 minutes of cruising and will fly at about 68 mph. 

There is currently a lot of effort being put into making aviation environmentally friendly. Besides the Cri-Cri, there are also larger projects in the works.

The photo below shows a project currently being worked on by MIT, for an airplane which is estimated to use 70 % less fuel than a conventional aircraft and is designed to carry 180 passengers. The aircraft is referred to as the “double-bubble”. The design uses long, skinny wings, a small tail and – hence the name – replaces the traditional cylindrical fuselage with a two partial cylinders placed side-by-side.

For more information on this project, you can visit MIT’s website http://web.mit.edu/press/2010/green-airplanes.html

 So the dream of space flight is now within reach for anyone who is willing to pay the price! Spaceship Two, designed by the the engineering genius Burt Rutan and his team in the Mojave desert, is now undergoing its test flight stages. Once this project is fully launched, they are hoping to get the ticket price down to approximately what it would cost you to buy a new car. 

 After successfully having concluded the SpaceShipOne project,  SpaceShipTwo was designed, built and presented to the world in the Mojave desert, in California in December last year.  

Upon completion of the test flight stage, those with tickets will be taken up for flights above the atmosphere. This may be as early as 2011. 

If you click on the picture above, you will be able to see a short video about the SpaceshipOne project with actual footage from flights, followed by an animated video of a SpaceshipTwo flight. 

Sir Richard intends to run the first flights out of New Mexico before extending operations around the globe. Just like its predecessor SpaceshipOne,  it is a rocket plane that is lifted initially by a carrier vehicle before blasting skywards. 

 SS2 is built for a crew of two and has room for six passengers. The launch plane will also be able to carry passengers for those who would like to see their loved ones getting launched into space! Sir Richard himself intends to be on the launch craft to see his mother going to space. 

About 300 individuals are reported to have signed up for a flight so far. The New Mexico authorities are investing almost $200m in a facility in Upham. It will have a 3,000m (10,000ft) runway and a suitably space-age terminal and hangar buildings.  

Click on the picture above or here to watch a video about the unveiling of SpaceshipTwo last December and an interview with Sir Richard Branson. 

“We’re going where no one has gone before,”  Branson stated a few years ago, “there’s no model to follow, nothing to copy. That is what makes this so exciting.”  The dreams and “can do” attitudes of Sir Richard Branson and Burt Rutan has made it possible for many of us to now start thinking about space travel.

London, England (CNN) — Need to get your superyacht from the crystal-blue waters of the Caribbean to the glamorous Mediterranean in a hurry? Not a problem when your luxury vessel transforms into a sleek jetplane at the click of a button.

That’s exactly what Yelken Octuri’s “Flying Yacht” design would do if built. Octuri, a French cabin designer for Airbus, has combined his knowledge of aircraft design with his love of the seas to create the outlandish concept yacht.

Although currently rooted in the realm of science fiction, the “superyacht with wings” has garnered much attention, with Octuri’s designs recently exhibited at Paris’ Air and Space Museum. It’s just one of a number of futuristic concepts by the designer, who aims to push the boundaries of aviation design.

“For me it was just a fantasy project. Most of the futuristic aircraft concepts out there are all the same. I wanted to avoid that and create something original — to inspire new ideas.”

But Octuri’s ideas might not be as far-fetched as they seem: A number of engineers and aircraft designers have approached Ocuri to talk about realizing his concept.

“The feedback I’ve been getting tells me, with more thinking, this project could be made. Of course it is a very specialist market. Maybe some parts will need to be reworked to consider the aerodynamics and structure, etcetera, but it could work,” he told CNN.

According to Octuri, the 46-meter “Flying Yacht” transforms from superyacht to glamorous jetplane thanks to its mobile masts. When on the water the four masts, each reaching a height of 40-meters, can be individually oriented through a double-jack system — ensuring optimal positioning regardless of wind direction.

When it’s time to take off, the masts are lowered to become horizontal wings. Sails are stored in compartments located inside each mast — a design feature Ocuri took from existing superyacht “The Maltese Falcon.”

On board, the vessel doesn’t skimp on luxury. There are two main decks — the lower deck houses the main room, kitchen and toilet, while the upper deck contains three plush bedrooms and a luxurious bathroom.  (If you would like to read the full CNN article with additional photos click here)

For those of you who are interested in finding out more about soaring or sailplanes, this is an excellent video that shows soaring over the Swiss and Austrian alps.

If you would like more information about soaring, Soaring Society of America has an excellent website, www.ssa.org, which gives a lot of good information about the sport of soaring and how to learn flying sailplanes.

Click on the photo or here to enjoy our Video of the day!

Mirage 2000

The video of the day is a wonderful and very relaxing video of the Mirage 2000. It has some of the greatest aerial camera work I have ever seen and is one of my favorites. The footage is from the filming of Les Chevaliers du Ciel (English title “Sky Fighters”) which was filmed in co-operation with the French Air Force. This film used real footage. The filming of these flight sequences seen in the movie were mainly done from the air, as opposed to Top Gun where most of the filming was done from the ground. To achieve this, one of the Mirage’s external fuel tanks was modified to fit a camera.  Tracking shots were done from a hired US Lear Jet. Additionally, jet aircraft are not allowed to fly over Paris. As a result of this, all the Paris filming had to be done on the actual Bastille Day (14 July) for which the filming crew got special permission.Watch it and give your feedback.  If you have suggestions of any other videos that should be featured on our website, email us.

Our video of the day is a great video of the Swizz Air Force F/A 18 with clips taken from a film by film maker Lionel Charlet. The  film really captures a lot of the beauty of flying a military jet, as well as flying over the alps. The McDonnel Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather fighter jet, designed to attack both ground and aerial targets. The Hornet is used by the Swiss Air Forces since January 1996. The F/A-18 is a twin engine, mid-wing, multi-mission tactical aircraft. The Hornet is capable of extremely tight turns over a large range of speeds. The Swiss Air Force purchased 26 C models and eight D models. In October 2008 the Swiss Hornet fleet reached the 50000 flight hour milestone. If you have a video you would like to nominate for the video of the day, send an email to videos@friendsofaviation.org with the link.

A vintage Ford Tri Motor Aircraft from 1929 was featured on the News today.

Click on the picture or on this link to watch the News clip to learn more.

Boeing delays delivery of their Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Here are the murals at Cincinnati Lunken Terminal … LUK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Municipal_Lunken_Airport

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