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Boeing Explores Ultra Low Emission Flight

Discussion in 'Other Cars' started by jgills240, Mar 29, 2007.

  1. jgills240

    jgills240 Member

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    This is an older news article, but it's all that is on the public web after a quick search. My girl works for Boeing on the 787 project and has access to the company news website Boeing News Now. Apparently there is some new news on the subject, and I'm trying to get her to send me a copy/paste email of the text.

    But here are some older links:
    EV World interview
    SeattlePI news article

    I'll post her Boeing News Now article if she can get it to me. Being a private pilot, i'm extremely excited to get rid of the rather large pollution source that is the GA industry.

    [edit]
    new article on Wired. Not much new info, but at least it's still in the works.
     
    #1 jgills240, Mar 29, 2007
  2. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    AC Propulsion did them one better with a Solar powered aircraft. It's only model-sized. But it flew for 48 hours, and according to AC Propulsion, could have stayed aloft indefinitely had not the ground-based pilots gotten tired.
     
    #2 daniel, Mar 29, 2007
  3. jgills240

    jgills240 Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Mar 29 2007, 04:44 PM) [snapback]414480[/snapback]</div>
    Yea, I did see that one in Aerospace Weekly, but there are already electric RC airplanes, that's old news. They only added and proved rechargeable capabilities, which is very cool in its own right, but I wouldn't say it's better. AeroVironment's "Helios" was another RC solar electric vehicle that set the altitude record at the time. Yes, UAV, or Unmanned Ariel Vehicle, is just a fancy term for Radio/Remote Control.

    But I'm talking about a full size, fly you and your wife across the state for sunday brunch airplane. That's a revolution in the General Aviation industry. Currently there are no alternative fuel POWERED aircraft, not gliders. I want one!! It'd be even cooler if they made it a DIY kit plane like the Glasair. But probably not.
     
    #3 jgills240, Mar 29, 2007
  4. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jgills240 @ Mar 29 2007, 03:07 PM) [snapback]414496[/snapback]</div>
    Okay. Yes, an electric private plane would be cool. I guess the challenge is the weight of the batteries.

    As an aside, when I worked at the homeless shelter, there was a very mentally-ill man who had bought a complete set of instructions for how to build your own plane, and he had announced his intention to build the thing. He was a really nice guy, and a great story-teller. He did a great pantomime of the stiff-legged walk he was forced to do the time he tried to shoplift a shotgun by putting it down his pants. (He didn't get away with it.) I certainly hope he never got hold of the materials for the plane, because I can't imagine him building something that would be airworthy, but I can easily imagine him building something, and trying to take off from a rural road somewhere.
     
    #4 daniel, Mar 29, 2007
  5. Bob Allen

    Bob Allen Captainbaba

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jgills240 @ Mar 30 2007, 06:07 AM) [snapback]414496[/snapback]</div>

    I'm with you. I've been a flight instructor for five years and love it, BUT, I'm troubled by the environmental impact GA has on the environment and the almost total silence on the issue by mainstream GA media.
    If you want to exchange ideas further, contact me off chatline via email. Thanks for your input.
    Bob
     
    #5 Bob Allen, Apr 2, 2007
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