NASA unveils design for personal aircraft

by Kraig Becker on

It’s 2010. Admit it, we all thought we’d be cruising around in flying cars and have personal jetpacks by now. Instead, we’re still stuck on the ground, tethered to the Earth by gravity, while dreaming about zipping through the clouds like George Jetson.

Earlier this week NASA has released a design for a small, one-man, personal aircraft that could be the answer to our prayers however. The vehicle, known as the Puffin, stands just 12-feet in height and has a wingspan of roughly 14-feet. It weight just 300 pounds, sans pilot of course, and has vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities. Designer Mark D. Moore says that the Puffin is capable of sustained speeds of 150 mph, with bursts up to 300 mph when necessary. It could also potentially reach heights of 30,000 feet and is powered by a quiet, energy efficient, electrical engine.

What’s the catch? That electrical engine doesn’t really hold much of a charge right now, so the Puffin’s effective range is roughly 50 miles. That means it might be okay for a morning commute, but don’t plan on flying off to Europe for the weekend. At least not until battery technology improves.

Check out the concept video below for more on the Puffin.

Bio jet-fuel: fact or fiction?

by Grant Martin on

The new trend among all sorts of green energies is in bio-fuels, those combustible fluids made from renewable sources such as switch grass, corn or soybeans. They’re all over the place in the automotive industry, millions of cars burning E38, offering flex fuel options and touting their eco consciousness.

It should only follow that the airline industry jumped on the wagon.

But how valid is the concept of using bio-fuels to power an aircraft? From the combustion standpoint, the science is there, and several airlines have already proved that bio-fuels can be used for propulsion. Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand and JAL have all operated international flights with partially loaded eco-fuels, while stateside, Continental has also shown positive results in one of their Boeing 737 aircraft.

Could this all just be part of the marketing eco trend though? ANZ’s 747 on which they performed their bio fuel test was scrapped last year after sitting on the idle tarmac, and ever since the main media hump earlier this year, jet bio fuel tests have been pretty mum. The fact of the matter is, irrespective of the source or processing, eco fuel just isn’t as efficient as anything from fossil sources. And when it comes to the bottom line, we all know that the airlines love to be frugal.

Asked about the current market’s readiness towards bio fuel, out source inside of the production industry was cautious, saying ” … there are some unsubstantiated claims out there and things like stunts with test flights do not have anything to do with the readiness of the fuel on a production basis for air travel.”

Take that for what it’s worth, but it sounds like eco-fuels have a long way to go before entering the mainstream air travel industry.

Icon A5 personal aircraft puts us one step closer to the Jetsons

by Kraig Becker on

Ever dream of strolling out to the garage, sliding inside your own personal aircraft, rolling down the driveway, and flying off to some exotic place? If so, then you’re in luck, as Icon Aircraft is working towards making this dream a reality with their Icon A5 airplane.

The two passenger A5 is just 22 feet in length and comes with wings that fold up for easier storage. It can carry a load of approximately 530 pounds, including passengers and luggage, and it runs on both automobile and aviation fuel, meaning you can fuel up at the 7-11 on the corner if you’d like. The aircraft can fly as high as 15,000 feet and has a top speed of 138 miles per hour, and, best of all, with the optional retractable landing gear, it becomes amphibious, allowing it to take off and land on water.

The A5 is rated as a “light sports aircraft” by the FAA, which places some special restrictions on its performance but also grants it some liberties as well. For instance, to get licensed to fly this plane you’ll need just 20 hours of training, and you literally can take it down to the lake and use it as your runway. But, you’ll need a special, optional instrument panel to fly at night and for safety reasons, light aircraft are now allowed to stray too close to an airport with a manned control tower.

Icon hopes to ramp up production in 2011 and begin shipping the first models, but you can reserve your A5 today on the company’s website. A $5000 deposit puts you on the waiting list for your own personal aircraft which will have a price tag of just $139,000.

United reduces cost of mileage tickets

by Grant Martin on

Amidst all of the increased fees and reduced services plaguing the airlines these days, it’s refreshing to actually see a change that goes the customers’ way. Albeit temporarily, United just reduced the number of frequent flyer miles necessary to book a free ticket on the airline. Reductions range from 20% to almost 30%. Domestic travel, for example, has been reduced from 25K miles to 20K miles, while a ticket from the US to Australia ihas been reduced from 80K to 64K. Europe, on the other hand, which normally costs 50-60K on other airlines costs 44K on United. Not a bad deal.

You can see the price reductions and book directly at United.com for travel between August 18th and November 18th.

Why the sudden generosity? Well, demand is way down this year, and with the end of tourist season bringing further reductions, airlines are going to have a ton of extra space on their airplanes. It’s better to have a seat booked with a fee-paying passenger than an empty seat altogether, right?

Solar powered plane to circle the globe

by Kraig Becker on

While Boeing and Airbus scramble to make larger, more luxurious planes, others are pushing the envelope in different directions, attempting to find ways to make them more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. Take the Solar Impulse for instance. This plane is setting the bar high, with a plan to circumnavigate the globe completely under solar power.

The Solar Impulse is the brain child of Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss adventurer and environmentalist, who launched the project back in 2003 with the aim of promoting the use of renewable energy sources. Now, in 2009, he is closing in on that dream. His plane has a 200-foot wingspan which is lined with 12,000 photovoltaic solar cells that will draw energy from the sun to power its four engines.

Piccard unveiled the latest design for his plane on June 26th in a ceremony near Zurich. This prototype will undergo test flights in 2010, including night flights using solar power stored in batteries. In 2011 the next design of the plane will be completed, with 2012 set as the tentative start of its world tour. The fact that this plane can fly even at night is one of the the things that separates it from other solar powered aircraft in the past.

While we might be years away from solar power becoming commercially viable for flights, it is projects like these that are paving the way for the future of flight. A future that is clean and environmentally friendly.