FLIGHTLINE
INDUSTRY AND COMMUNITY NEWS
New Roadable
Aircraft Emerges
From taildragger to street vehicle, and back
AFTER EIGHT YEARS AND 10,000 HOURS’ build time, Rick Johnson, EAA
343934, completed this roadable airplane. Beginning with an Avid
Magnum taildragger, Johnson modified the design to be adaptable to
a roadable vehicle. A 400-cc, four-stroke, water-cooled, 32-hp Suzuki
engine powers the plane on the ground and was modified to allow
for reverse drive. In the air, the plane cruises at 95 knots, with power
coming from a 2.5-liter, four-stroke Subaru engine. Transitioning
between air and ground operations takes about 20 minutes, which
includes sliding the Suzuki engine back from storage under the
center section of the aircraft and folding the wings back. Johnson
said he has no commercial plans for the aircraft but that he designed
it for his own entertainment.
MARTIN JETPACK REACHES
5,000 FEET MSL
THE MARTIN JETPACK PERFORMED a record-breaking test flight on May 21 in New Zealand,
when the prototype unit rose to an altitude of
5,000 feet MSL, while remotely controlled,
using a weighted
dummy to simulate
a pilot’s weight. The
jetpack, created by
the Martin Aircraft
Company, lifted into
the sky at a climb
rate of 800 feet per
minute, eclipsing
the previous best
rate of 100 feet per minute, then deployed its
ballistic jetpack parachute and floated to the
ground. At nine minutes, 46 seconds it was
the longest flight so far. The flight is part of an
intensive flight-testing period as the company
prepares to make first deliveries of both manned
and unmanned versions to key customers within
the next 18 months.
SOLAR IMPULSE COMPLETES
FIRST INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT
THE SOLAR IMPULSE HB-SIA, the plane that made
history in July 2010 as the first manned plane to
fly through the night on the sun’s energy, made
its first international flight from Switzerland
to Belgium on May 17. The plane, piloted by
André Borschberg and powered only by solar
energy, took off from Payerne airfield and
climbed to an altitude of 11,800 feet. The route
took Borschberg over France and Luxembourg
before landing at Brussels Airport; the flight
lasted 12 hours and covered 300 miles. The
Solar Impulse HB-SIA relies on 12,000 solar
cells on its 210-foot wingspan to charge the
batteries that provide the energy for the 10-hp
electric motors driving four propellers. See a
feature on this aircraft on page 24.
