And the winner is........

[Guest ozzie]

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/04/electric-plane-wins-1-35-million-prize/

 

Ian i do believe that it is time for a dedicated electric section please.

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

That's amazing.

 

Piloting it from one side would screw with your mind when lining up for approach or taxiing past obstacles

 

 

[Guernsey]

Could you just imagine....the instructor in the faaaar right hand seat and the student in the faaaar left hand seat and the instructor calls out "my aeroplane" and the student replies "so what, I have one of my own".

 

Alan.

 

 

[old man emu]

Just the thing to take the mother-in-law flying.

 

OME

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

The right cockpit has all the controls. This is a one off aircraft built solely to compete for this prize.

 

When sitting in it you cannot see the other cockpit. Someone at Oshkosh discribed it as the perfect aircraft for the newly divorced.

 

I just recieved an email from my friend 'Chappy' in the US. He spent last weekend at Dale's house (originally Glenn Curtis's abode)where he flew the electric Lazair in between rain squalls and freezing wind. The Elazair has now been flown by 14 different people. Several of those had never even seen a Lazair before and nearly all had never flown on floats before. Total time is now 50 hours and there has not been any problem with either the motors or controllers. 3 of the 96 battery packs have died due to accidental overheating and has been put down as part of the learning curve on handling the batteries both in flight and during the recharging. The Lazair is now back on it's wheels and is in the trailer ready to head south for winter. The goal now is to continue to log hours and more importantly put as many cycles on the battery packs as possible in the fastest time period. Dale is seeking a minimum of 250/300 cycles that will equal the same amount of fuel burnt by the original JPX twin cylinder two strokes. Anything over that is free airtime. Flight times will now go from 45/50 minutes on floats to almost 90 minutes on wheels. Charging time varies depending on how many 15 amp power points are available. 6 can get it down to an hour. Why do i continually get the feeling i was born in the wrong country?

 

Ozzie

 

 

[Suitman]

Just the thing to take the mother-in-law flying.

 

Someone at Oshkosh discribed it as the perfect aircraft for the newly divorced.

"Ohhhh dear, I'm sorry the inter-cockpit intercom seems to be malfunctioning - I can't hear you!"