News, facts, and comments on the coming revolution for piston-engine aircraft. You are perhaps one of our subscribers who has sent a subscription form already some time ago and do not, or not anymore, receive our notifications. This is because you did not notify us of a change in your email address, or because you use a spam barrier which is blocking our notifications. If so, remember to lift it for incoming dieselair emails. We remind you that subscriptions are free of charge. Subscribers receive special notices, answers to their questions by email, and are notified when DieselAir is updated. subscribe to our feed News of May 12, 2011 Why Diesel? Could the future be an electric plane? This is a good question when looking at the Chinese made YUNEEC e430 light plane, which flies 100% on electric power. Yes, same as an electric car, with batteries as sole energy source. The e430 is a comfortable 2 seater. Made of composites, it looks almost like a glider with a serious landing gear and with a butterfly tail, but has a 54HP electric motor activating a conventional propeller. It can stay in the air for 3 hours. The Kokam-made polymer-lithium battery can be recharged on the ground, or quickly replaced. Now lets look at the specs: Empty weight is 295kg and max. weight is 475kg. Not so bad if you keep in mind the battery plus motor weight of 110kg. Climb rate 400ft/mn. Cruise speed 75Kts with stalling speed of 35, so the ratio of max. cruise to stall is only 2.1. With 3 hours autonomy this means at most 200NM without reserves. Conclusion: It is indeed same as an electric car, it wont go fast and it wont go far. But it is silent, clean, and apparently quite pleasant to fly. And it is not expensive. Can it make progress? Again, like with a car, you would need a battery that can store much more energy, and at times deliver this energy at a much higher power. Progress in energy per kg have been very slow since the lead battery was invented in 1850 (yes, 1850, not 1950...) but since then technology has managed to multiply by 5 or 6 the stored Watt-hours per kg. So we can expect that the e430 will have a market as an original LSA. posted at 12:03 PM

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Mission Statement

Every month: news, facts, and comments on the coming revolution for piston-engines aircrafts between 130 and 400 HP: Retrofitting a diesel engine to run on Jetfuel or Kerosene, reduce Gallons/Hour by some 30%, eliminate ignition systems (magnetos, spark plugs) and their problems, eliminate mixture control, increase TBO to 2,400-3,000 hours, increase performance between 6,000 and 12,500 ft., and drastically reduce Operating Costs.

The letter is intended for piston engines aircraft owners, manufacturers, fleet operators and FBOs, re-manufacturers of engines for these aircrafts, manufacturers of engine components and ancillaries, and all professionals acting in decisions of engine exchange or refitting at TBO, in North and South America, Pacific Rim, African continent, and all parts of the world were Avgas, Mogas, Kerosene and Jetfuel are available.

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