Scudrunners

Didn’t die coming in to Airventure…

Saw this monstrosity:

I kind of like the long pointy nose,

I would name it Meryl vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv



I think this is a photoshop - a PT-6 in the nose of a Beech 18?! No one except a retired Delta pilot could fly that, with an unlocked tailwheel:

I drove a Pacifica Hybrid yesterday for work. It was nice, but the electric range was 50 kilometres. Seriously? I would be better off with a bicycle if my commute was 50 kilometres. Nice gimmick I suppose.

Good for Harbour Air for playing with motors and batteries.

More weight and less range .

All to appease the hippies.


One day it’ll pay off, but I don’t think today is that day.

I’ve got no beefs with hybrid cars other than I like to wrench on my own stuff and tend to own ancient crapcans. Apart from that it makes sense to me to take all that energy otherwise scrubbed off by the brakes and put it in storage until needed. It’s what the race cars do, after all.

Airplanes run on a totally different duty cycle from citygoing cars though so hybrid makes no sense to me there whatsoever and I’ve seen some pretty compelling arguments that an electric airplane can never have any kind of real endurance.

Until there are improvements in batteries or solar panels, the weight requirements will prevent any reasonable range in airplanes. They definitely should be messing around with it. Sometimes that’s how things are discovered.

I prefer no computer stuff on my vehicles. Without computer stuff to create a sine wave you’re stuck running DC and the way to slow down the motor is by wasting power through a variable resistance system. That’s no bueno. We’re already lacking range.

So internal combustion or steam is nice. I could go somewhat green, ethanol or mechanical injected biodiesel.

Near as I can tell chemistry needs to change for electric commercial planes to become remotely viable like what we currently have. Not battery chemistry, all chemistry; the physical interactions among atoms.

Part of me really does want a recreational electric airplane just because it sounds neat to be ‘that guy.’ I’ve run the numbers a few times on putting together current tech for the airframe, motor, and batteries to try and see if there’s some favoured performance or configuration. Surprisingly from ultralights to ten seat twins I’ve found if I have a single occupant and fill the rest of the useful load with batteries I consistently get a 45-ish minute endurance. I think that accidentally says something about how consistent power loading and load fraction are in proven airplanes and I find that kind of interesting.

It makes me feel good about my crude dumb-ass decision making how the demonstrated numbers on that electric Beaver (don’t google that at work) also show a 45 minute endurance with no room for pax.

Heavy batteries are barely tolerable in cars. I can’t imagine using them in terribly weight sensitive aircraft.

I remember the Stig - Ben Collins - saying that the megabuck hybrid supercars were so heavy, he would destroy a $40,000 set of tires in two laps.

Big difference between glossy magazine cover bullshit and reality.

Still waiting for my flying car. Hell, I’d settle for a decent car engine in an airplane. I’ve been promised both by “journalists” for decades.