Plane Runs Out of Batteries

[j44ke]

The life of a test pilot I guess, especially in an electric plane. You have to be ready for the thing to run out of juice and still be able to get it onto the ground.



Totally cool in the air, but you can tell he's a bit relieved to be on the ground at the end.

[WadePatton]

gliders.

fuel becomes less of an issue. (once you get that initial elevation)

and eff me i wish all planes were electric. no peace out of doors these days there's always a buzzbox or a jetliner somewhere overhead ... listen.

[Nierman]

gliders.

fuel becomes less of an issue. (once you get that initial elevation)

and eff me i wish all planes were electric. no peace out of doors these days there's always a buzzbox or a jetliner somewhere overhead ... listen.

I remember the noise & contrail-free skies during the days following 9/11. It was certainly peaceful for the wrong reasons.

[Saab2000]

We need to be improving battery technology for cars, not airplanes. That will come. The amount of energy per unit of mass in fossil fuels is still virtually unmatched* and batteries are nothing more than a novelty in flying. We need a practical electric car that will charge in 1 hour and maintain 70 MPH for 250 miles. Then we are making some progress. And charge them with solar power.

Electric airplanes? Not yet.


*Except with nuclear technology and nobody is ready to use a reactor to power planes yet, though the idea was floated seriously by the USAF and the Soviets in the '50s IIRC.

[Jaq]

We need to be improving battery technology for cars, not airplanes. That will come. The amount of energy per unit of mass in fossil fuels is still virtually unmatched* and batteries are nothing more than a novelty in flying. We need a practical electric car that will charge in 1 hour and maintain 70 MPH for 250 miles. Then we are making some progress. And charge them with solar power.

Electric airplanes? Not yet.


*Except with nuclear technology and nobody is ready to use a reactor to power planes yet, though the idea was floated seriously by the USAF and the Soviets in the '50s IIRC.

Project Pluto. It was basically a locomotive-sized aircraft powered by a nuclear scram jet; it would have flown so fast (not just supersonic, but near hypersonic) that nothing could have shot it down. The aircraft itself was to be remotely piloted (any crew would have been killed by the radiation as shielding the reactor would have made their aircraft too heavy) and would have carried something like a half dozen or so thermonuclear weapons (h-bombs). But the fun didn't stop there; after dropping their payloads, the planes would then simply canvas the Soviet Union, using their radio-active jet exhaust to firehouse Russia with massive amounts of radiation.

Fortunately, the project never got off the ground. Engineers built a nuclear scram-jet and tested it (successfully) out in the desert somewhere, but the project was abandoned after that. One of the reasons was that they couldn't figure out how to flight-test the thing. In one scenario, it was actually proposed to tether a plane to a pylon on a desert island somewhere, and just let it fly around and around in circles. The idea got nixed, apparently, when someone asked "what happens if the chain breaks?"

[Mike Mcdermid]

all that needs is some solar panels on it now and its good to go. Its interesting how lots of folks use that rutan design to do thier hack jobs on ,I remember sticking 2 engines in one a long time ago

[Mike Mcdermid]

hydrogen fuel cells

didnt someone do a study where they figured out that just for the batteries alone for every car, the resources consumed would deplete what was available resource wise???

[j44ke]

I just thought it was cool that he said (at about 4:50) "Gear down and I've lost power so I am going to glide in." I guess you train for that, but doing it seems like another thing. At 6:05 he exhales.

[monadnocky]

Project Pluto. It was basically a locomotive-sized aircraft powered by a nuclear scram jet; it would have flown so fast (not just supersonic, but near hypersonic) that nothing could have shot it down. The aircraft itself was to be remotely piloted (any crew would have been killed by the radiation as shielding the reactor would have made their aircraft too heavy) and would have carried something like a half dozen or so thermonuclear weapons (h-bombs). But the fun didn't stop there; after dropping their payloads, the planes would then simply canvas the Soviet Union, using their radio-active jet exhaust to firehouse Russia with massive amounts of radiation.

Fortunately, the project never got off the ground. Engineers built a nuclear scram-jet and tested it (successfully) out in the desert somewhere, but the project was abandoned after that. One of the reasons was that they couldn't figure out how to flight-test the thing. In one scenario, it was actually proposed to tether a plane to a pylon on a desert island somewhere, and just let it fly around and around in circles. The idea got nixed, apparently, when someone asked "what happens if the chain breaks?"

I read about this in Wikipedia a few years ago after someone I know recalled working on the project. I was in awe.
"Welp, it's the 1950's and we've got gajillions of defense dollars to waste.... what's the stupidest, most hazardous, costliest idea we can possibly think of? We've got it narrowed down between nuclear-powered aircraft and remote-controlled whales with nuclear bombs tied to their backs.... let's take a vote..."

[devlin]

gliders.

fuel becomes less of an issue. (once you get that initial elevation)

and eff me i wish all planes were electric. no peace out of doors these days there's always a buzzbox or a jetliner somewhere overhead ... listen.

Hahaha......... as I'm reading this a jet flew over. No shit. You're freakin' me out dude.

[devlin]

I just thought it was cool that he said (at about 4:50) "Gear down and I've lost power so I am going to glide in." I guess you train for that, but doing it seems like another thing. At 6:05 he exhales.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing as I just watched it. Flying is the easy bit. Take off and landing is a little harder and how you handle an emergency situation is the hardest............... bit like riding a bike.