Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/339662
28 Vol.3 No.7 / July 2014 WHAT OUR MEMBERS ARE BUILDING NATURE—AND AERODYNAMIC design—abhors a vacuum. Brian Carpenter sees a vacuum in the sport fl ying sector of personal aviation. He decries the current slate of too-expensive light- sport aircraft (LSA), and he's got an electrifying answer. It's called the Quicksilver EMG-6, the acronym standing for electric motorglider. It resembles a Quicksilver ultralight, not by accident. Carpenter and his team are working closely with the venerable, rejuvenated ultralight company's new owners to develop a kit and ready-to-fl y electric ultralight for the masses who want to fl y but can't af ord the current high tarif . Brian has no trouble laying out his vision. During our chat a few weeks back, I asked Brian how the project was going. He started talking, I started typing, and below is the distillation. Background: Brian's company, Rainbow Aviation ( www.RainbowAviation.com ), is where a lot of LSA folks go to get trained for their LSA maintenance and repairman certifi cates. Brian Carpenter (BC): We realized the $150,000 entry price for LSA is not realistic for far too many pilots; it's just not working. We've spent our whole lives invested in aviation. I've personally built 43 airplanes—Lancairs, GlaStars, and metal airplanes. It's all fun, interesting, exciting, dif cult, and enjoy- able. Meanwhile, we're losing pilots at an enormous rate. The interest in general aviation is diminishing. We need to revitalize fl ying. LSA was built on the back of the ultralight movement. It made fl ying a less massive under- taking than going for a private pilot certifi cate. What can you do with a private pilot certifi cate these days? Buy a $400 ham- burger! I believe most nonpilots would love to go fl ying, but it's too costly for them. We see no reason why we can't have resurgence like in the heyday of ultralights in the 1970s and '80s, which was the most wonderful thing in the world for so many people who wanted to fl y. James Lawrence (JL): Why an electric, though? Especially given the weight limitation of Part 103 ultralights? BC: We think an electric ultralight-type aircraft, wheth- er experimental amateur-built (E-AB) or Part 103, is really the answer. Electric power has so many benefits over gas for this type of aircraft. There are problems with the small two-stroke engine. They're unreliable, have objec- tionable noise levels, are difficult to maintain, and have fairly high fuel consumption. They helped give ultralights a bad reputation. All those disadvantages disappear with a reliable, clean- energy powerplant. We should be able to push a lever forward and go fl ying into the sunset, powered with the same reliability of a fan on the ceiling in your living room. It's a long road ahead. With all technology, there's a steep learning curve. There will be failures, motors blowing up, etc. It's part of what comes with any new technology. Designing a Plans- or Kit-Built Electric-Powered Ultralight Brian Carpenter decided to fi nd a cheaper way to fl y…electrically! BY JAMES L AWRENCE A computerized sketch of the production EMG Glider. For updates on the project's progress, visit the electric motorglider progress site: http://www.electricmotorglider.com/Progress/Current_progress.html E A A E X P _ J u l y 1 4 . i n d d 2 8 EAAEXP_July14.indd 28 7 / 1 / 1 4 9 : 5 7 A M 7/1/14 9:57 AM