I have to say i am impressed.
Normally “if it looks right, it will fly right”. This thing doesn’t look at all right, but it appears to fly. Whether it flys right is another thing – they have some very aggressive performance numbers: ceiling, 450kts cruise, 18mpg-25mpg.
Lets look at 18 mpg, worst economy at highest cruise speed. 450mph/18mpg = 25gph. 25gph / 0.35lb/hp/hr (modern FADEC diesel) * 6.7 lb/gal (JetA) = 475hp
They claim 59% less drag than similarly sized conventionally shaped aircraft. Will 475hp push this along at almost 400kts at whatever high altitude they are looking at?Assuming this works out, 4500 mile range might work. This is 10hrs, or 250 gallons (although this is likely at a the 25mpg, or 180 gallons, which is not a lot of fuel at this size of airplane).
Lots of other details (gross weight, etc) missing.
This could truly be some breakthrough technology. But that doesnt mean that they will be able to get it certified, or be able to manufacture it, or anybody will want to buy it, or any of the other usual aviation caveats
But still very impressive, Looking forward to see how this develops
I’ve seen a number of designs of this type and they always claim fantastic performance, but nobody can ever see how this will be achieved. The usual claim made is that having the wings halfway up the fuselage – the optimal place – makes all the difference.
I think the mpg would be mainly achievable with extremely high altitude flying. Read somewhere that they are shooting for fl650
Some info in french here :
http://www.aerovfr.com/2020/08/letonnant-celera-500l/
550hp, water-cooled V12 diesel. Zero forward visibility, zero side visibility.
Maybe it’s an amphibian ? Looks like one !
Airborne_Again wrote:
Also, the glide ratio is given as 1:22, which is makes it glide not much worse than the glider in which I first learned to fly in 1983.
Yes, a Ka-8 has 1:25. The difference however is that a Ka8 has best glide speed of about 75km/h and landing off field is not only a question of glide but also of speed …
HBadger wrote:
I think the mpg would be mainly achievable with extremely high altitude flying. Read somewhere that they are shooting for fl650
FL650 would almost require a space suit :)
Would a prop be effective at FL650?
This is a revolutionary design that uses the body shape for impulse propulsion.
It’s something that has been ignored by aircraft designers for a while because it’s really really hard to achieve and requires nearly perfect construction techniques.
Getting off the ground is not the strong point, but once in the air it is incredibly aerodynamically slippery, which is where most of the efficiency comes from.
Yes, it has been flying for a while. They’ve kept it quiet because a large portion of the aero engineering community doesn’t believe this type of propulsion is even possible.
So they have been preparing for the massive criticism they expect to receive.
AF wrote:
This is a revolutionary design that uses the body shape for impulse propulsion.
I’m not an aeronautical engineer, do you have a pointer to some reading material on that? On the first glance, it looks not too different from the general idea of the streamlined body of a Long-EZ or Velocity.
AF wrote:
It’s something that has been ignored by aircraft designers for a while because it’s really really hard to achieve and requires nearly perfect construction techniques.
That will be interesting to see how it works in daily live. It always reminds me of the physicist’s joke “Assuming a perfectly spherical cow on a frictionless surface …”
