[bladerunner911]

Not sure if this is the right place to post, but it's encouraging news.
Hopefully any new tech or advances that come from this will trickle down to all aviation classes!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... -emissions

[CloudHound]

There’s already a lot happening in the UK. ZeroAvia is perhaps the most visible endeavour but many more will break cover soon.

[gaznav]

Rolls-Royce are certainly the ones to watch. They have fingers in pies all over the world of eFlight. This slide from a recent RAeS lecture:



https://www.rolls-royce.com/products-an ... craft.aspx

[CloudHound]

I think RR have teamed up with Vertical Aerospace too. Ones deffo to watch.

[Flyingfemme]

And don’t forget the Electroflight/RR project at Staverton. It’s a thing of beauty as well as a thing of speed.

[JodelDavo]

I had an electric plane once.....

[bladerunner911]

Great news about RR. Encouraging to see this work being completed on small aircraft, thanks for sharing!
@JodelDavo nice catch on the article title, I missed that. I've changed my post title so I don't look like a complete amateur

[JodelDavo]

Great news about RR. Encouraging to see this work being completed on small aircraft, thanks for sharing!
@JodelDavo nice catch on the article title, I missed that. I've changed my post title so I don't look like a complete amateur

With a name like Bladerunner, are you sure you didn’t mean a woodworking plane

[Genghis the Engineer]

Great to see NASA in the game, and I went to a really interesting lecture by one of their senior research engineers at Cranfield a couple of years ago, and it was clear that at-least on a theoretical level, they were very engaged with the topic.

But if anybody's leading, let's give credit where it's due, it is the Slovenians, particularly Pipistrel, but also various supply organisations around them.

Britain is trying hard to catch up however, and this country is actually going to be very much one of the places to watch. Projects I know of include:-

Accel - the Rolls Royce high performance single seater.

EnabEl - Collaboration of Cranfield University, TLAC, Flylight and CDO2 to build two all-electric microlights

Vertical Aerospace - VTOLish multi-rotor

ZeroAvia - Hydrogen fuel cell + electric, has been flying a single, recent accident that looks repairable, further aircraft planned.

Hybrid Air Vehicles - Heavier than air "airship", has flown with Diesel engines, exploring electric flight.

NUNCATS - Electric Zenair CH750 at Old Buckenham

University of Nottingham - Electric Cassutt IIIM being built to compete in Air Race E.

SAMAD Aerospace - eStarling VTOLish flying wingish.

Project Fresson - Cranfield Aerospace Solutions + Britten Norman + others, hybrid/electric Islander.

I'm too involved in a couple of them myself to start expressing any public opinions about which will specifically succeed or fail, although from this list I'll confidently predict that there will be both successes and failures. However I think that the size of this list alone means that whilst the country to watch over the last decade has been Slovenia, over the next decade it might well be the UK.

I'm delighted to see NASA in the game, but leading? To be honest, they're not.

G

[Flyingfemme]

Looks good, Genghis.

But one small correction - Accel, the Electroflight/RR high performance single seater. Roger Targett has been dreaming about, and working on, this concept for many years. Since long before it was trendy. Credit where it’s due and all that.

[Genghis the Engineer]

The RR accel project is not the Electroflight / Targett aircraft design however. To the best of my knowledge, that aircraft design was abandoned and an American kitplane platform was bought in when RR got involved. Roger Targett does indeed deserve credit for selling the concept to Rolls, I agree.

G

[G-BLEW]

Great to see NASA in the game, and I went to a really interesting lecture by one of their senior research engineers at Cranfield a couple of years ago, and it was clear that at-least on a theoretical level, they were very engaged with the topic.

X-57 (NASA's electric aircraft based on a Tecnam P2006) dates back to at least 2017

Ian

[Genghis the Engineer]

Great to see NASA in the game, and I went to a really interesting lecture by one of their senior research engineers at Cranfield a couple of years ago, and it was clear that at-least on a theoretical level, they were very engaged with the topic.

X-57 (NASA's electric aircraft based on a Tecnam P2006) dates back to at least 2017

Ian

Present company clearly excepted, it's not unusual to see British journalists report something that happened years ago outside the M25 as "breaking news" is it! Nonetheless I'd stand by my comments - NASA are creeping into the game, and doing good work, from which hopefully we'll all learn, but they're not leading it.

G

[Loco parentis]

How soon I wonder after the laws of physics have been re-worked will it be possible for a four seater plus baggage to fly non stop for 1,000 miles ? Will such an aircraft need to be towing a winged trolley full of batteries ?

[602fan]

Genghis - don't forget Ampaire, who's 337EEL is on its way to the UK, if not already here. I'll be spending a couple of weeks with them in Kirkwall. Trials due to start mid-July...

TBH I think the only reason the likes of Ampaire and ZeroAvia are here is that we're (the UK), relatively speaking, chucking money at the problem. It's free money to these offshore companies. Happy to stand corrected though.

NASA? Currently nowhere close to driving the tech forwards IMHO