All the talk of multidrum winches and aerotow is very interesting but we
are on the brink of making all this of historical interest only.
Search for "micro turbines" on google.
We aren't quite there yet but a couple of 250N thrust jet engines will
launch a 400Kg single seater very satisfactorily.
Engine/airframe integration issues are far easier than the piston engined
motorgliders and the jet performance is such that the 500fpm rate of climb
occurs at around 90 to 110 knots.
Most existing jets use propane fuel for starting and have used compressed
air for spinning up however the first electric start and Pure jet A 1
engines are available now.
So how would you like a twin jet self launch Std Cirrus or beetter with
about 10Kg engine installation weight and 30 Kg of fuel in the wings for 35
minutes or so endurance?
The thing even has a safe one engine out climb of 100 to 150 fpm at 70
knots or so.
There is a film clip of a twin jet powered "Silent" (a quick and dirty test
setup)available at the Aliasport website and a customer of mine in Sweden
is working with a Swedish jet manufacturer to power his Genesis 2. See the
Jet-rpm website.
Oh yes, the jets cost around A$5000 each.
I've got about 20 hours in the Jet Caproni and while it performed OK the
engine was very expensive and not able to be integrated into other airframes.
The twin jet solves both cost and integration issues and the 400Kg single
seater is in fact a half weight/thrust Caproni so we know it works.
Mike
Borgelt Instruments - manufacturers of quality soaring instruments
phone Int'l + 61 746 355784
fax Int'l + 61 746 358796
cellphone Int'l + 61 428 355784
Int'l + 61 429 355784
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
website: www.borgeltinstruments.com
_______________________________________________
Aus-soaring mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
