EAA Sport Aviation

LENGTH: 23 feet, 10 inches WINGSPAN: 75 feet HEIGHT: 8 feet, 1 inch (to prop tip); 5 feet, 5 inches (to top of cowling)

EMPTY WEIGHT: 2,348 pounds ( 1,036 pounds
is batteries)
MAXIMUM TAKEOFF WEIGHT: 3,307 pounds
SEATS: 4

BATTERY CAPACITY: Undisclosed (race secret) CRUISE SPEED: 100 mph ( 87 knots) MAX SPEED: Undisclosed

FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.Pipistrel.si

AQUICK LOOK at the Pipistrel Taurus G4 and you might think you’re seeing double—because you are. The latest electric aircraft from the Slovenian aircraft manufacturer was created by combining two Taurus G2 fuselages, connected by a 5-meter-long spar.

A 145-k W brushless electric motor is mounted between the passenger pods and drives a 2-meter-diameter, two-blade propeller in tractor configuration. While seated in one of the compartments you cannot see people on the other side—only the opposite landing gear, causing our team to jokingly decide it’s the Class of 2011’s Best Aircraft for a Divorced Couple. The aircraft is flyable from all four seats.

“The Taurus G4 is a technology demonstrator,” said Tine Tomazic, Pipistrel development engineer and the test pilot who will fly the aircraft. “It is the first-ever electric four-place aircraft, the most powerful electric aircraft with most battery capacity on board.” Tomazic also claimed the Taurus G4 is the electric aircraft with the most endurance, other than the Solar Impulse.

Tomazic declined to disclose just what that battery capacity is (GFC race secret), nor did he disclose the aircraft’s “very high glide ratio” other than to say it’s more than 30 at its cruise speed of 100 mph. These and other aircraft details will be released after the GFC.

BEST AIRCRAFT FOR A DIVORCED COUPLE

Pipistrel aircraft have done very well in previous efficiency competitions, including the 2007 CAFE/NASA Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) Challenge and the 2008 CAFE/NASA General Aviation Technology Challenge. Given the company’s track record, there are expectations the Taurus G4 will deliver. At the time of writing, it was in the process of completing ground tests in the United States with a first flight expected in June or July.

MOST LIKELY TO BE SEEN IN THE NEXT STAR WARS MOVIE

AIRCRAFT DATA

AIRCRAFT SPECS WERE NOT AVAILABLE AT PRESS TIME.

IKE AEROSPACE’S entry in the Green Flight Challenge is definitely an eye catcher.

With its sleek lines and a futuristic design, the Seraph is based on the concept of “biomimicry,” using nature-inspired principles in aircraft design. The company’s founder, Richard Ike, calls this a new field of aviation, terming it organic aeronautics.

If you’re looking at this design with a healthy dose of skepticism, you’re not alone. It seems that it would fall squarely in what Oshkosh veterans term “dreamers’ corner.” And that’s the reason we feel it’s more likely the Seraph will be seen in the next Star Wars movie than it will be seen in the sky. But let’s not forget, there was a time when the Wright brothers were considered just a couple of bike mechanics with an outlandish dream.

The Seraph hopes to achieve efficiencies through carbon fiber construction using an exo-skeletal approach to the fuselage, fixed-gear integrated into flight stabilizers, and lift generated by airfoils and vortices through the blended-wing and lifting body concept.

The single-place, twin-engine hybrid powered aircraft plans to use a biofuel-to-electric conversion to power the electric engines. Further efficiencies are expected by mounting the engines inside the wing and using ducted propellers and even a special coating in the engine wind funnel to reduce noise. To save even more weight, Ike is proposing to eliminate the instrument panel, opting for an off-the-shelf goggle-mounted heads-up display to feed all the necessary parameters to the pilot. While noted test pilot Dave Morss is signed on for flight testing, as of this writing we were unable to confirm if the design has gotten off the drawing board, much less off the ground. Use the Force, Ike.