Don Lowe Masters 2006 Electric RC Aircraft

Who says you have to remain small and non competitive in the R/C world. Check out just one of the two pilots flying at the Masters, in South Carolina. That's right, two, pilots. The other was from Germany. Look for that video soon.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• R/C
• electric
• airplane
• radio
• control

[davisdog28]

Why two pilots?

[willshobbies]

One is a spotter and calls. In these competitions you have a caller to call your next manuver. Spotters are a good idea all the time but required for these type of events.

[willshobbies]

34" prop 17" pitch. Custom made. All these airplanes had to meet a 94 decible rating or less. The prop is what makes all the noise. All planes met the goal or were less in decibles.

[puggster]

jeez thats powerfull for electric :o

[willshobbies]

Just shows you that the sky is the limit:)

[Crazylogie]

Is this an electric plane??

[willshobbies]

Yes, powered by Hacker motors and a gear box.

[hasoonee]

can anyone please tell me the name of this aircraft because i want to buy one

[DANKAI3]

What power do you get with this electric power?.

I'd need a electric power for airplane whose weight is 5 Kg or 11'5 lb

[DANKAI3]

What power do you get with this electric power?

[austinmarz]

You have a good point. However, even if you burn fossil fuel to make electricity, power plants are 80% efficient vs 40% for internal combustion engines, a fifty percent savings. Also, discharged batteries can just be switched out for recharged ones. But, the biggest problem is still finding a good source of energy. Fusion (not fission) uses hydrogen and produces helium as waste. I figure the Chinese or Japanese will eventually come up with something, since they are so not so invested in oil.

[LMF5000]

Solar power requires too much space to be useful. Wind power, wave power etc. are not as reliable as you'd like (what do you do on a day with no wind?). The way I see it, right now nuclear power is really the only clean power source available (no exhaust emissions, but it does leave behind radioactive waste) and what's more the fuel can be found naturally in the Earth's crust.

[LMF5000]

ok, so let's imagine battery technology becomes cheap, lightweight and quick-charging. That still leaves one BIG issue to deal with: where will the energy come from? With petrol, you just drill a hole in the ground and suck up the crude oil (then refine it to turn it into petrol). With batteries, hydrogen fuel cells etc. you still need an INITIAL source of energy. Connecting a battery-powered plane to the plug will make the power station burn more fuel...

[austinmarz]

A friend of mine told me he recently flew in a Sukhoi SU-31. He said that it cost $75 worth of fuel for a 45 minute flight. Of course that was a fully aerobatic stunt plane with a 480 HP seven cylinder radial engine. I am just saying, it is only a matter of time until they get the cost of the batteries down, and they already have the brushless motor technology. My guess is it will be practical within five years.

[LMF5000]

ahem, "passenger" plane :)

[LMF5000]

they have built an actual electric massenger plane prototype (I'm not sure whether they've flown it yet). The issue is that the plane gives approx. 45 mins of flight time, but you need 2 hours or so of charging to do that. Plus the Lithium-based batteries to enable such performance are heavy (compared to a tank of petrol), expensive and have limited life. Fancy changing a few thousand dollars' worth of batteries every 3 years? Me neither...

[LMF5000]

perhaps it didn't occur to you that the music was there so that the pilot makes the plane move in time with the music? Kinda like figure skating...