Envisions Small-Scale Development Of Green, Quiet, Electric, Cutting-Edge Aircraft

Dr. Brien Seeley will discuss electric-powered and other innovative aircraft when he presents "Green, Quiet, Electric V/ESTOL Aircraft: The Second Century of Flight" at 1400 EDT in the Reid Conference Center on Tuesday at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. Seeley, president of the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency (CAFE) Foundation will show how electric propulsion and other new technology can enable an enormous and sustainable expansion of air transportation.

Seeley will present a similar talk for the general public at 1930 EDT at the Virginia Air & Space Center in downtown Hampton. The evening presentation is free and no reservations are required.

Seeley's talk will focus on aeronautical solutions to airline delays, surface gridlock and air quality. A practicing ophthalmologist who inaugurated the Personal Aircraft Design Academy, Seeley will outline how NASA's aeronautics research can be rapidly applied to these solutions by merging it with the private efforts of "garage band" innovators -- independent inventors and entrepreneurs.

Seeley obtained his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he also performed his residency in eye surgery. He has a self-proclaimed, life-long passion for flying, has read and studied aerodynamics on his own, and helped build two experimental aircraft. Seeley founded the CAFE Foundation in 1981 to host the CAFE 400 flight efficiency aircraft races.

In 2005, NASA and CAFE signed a Space Act Agreement for CAFE to host the NASA Centennial Challenge for Aviation. CAFE conducted the first two flight competitions in Santa Rosa in 2007 and 2008. In July 2011, the CAFE team will host the first NASA Green Flight Challenge for 200 pMPG (passenger miles per gallon) aircraft.

Seeley's medical honors include being elected vice president of his 155-physician specialty group and president of the UCSF Cordes Eye Society. The Sonoma County (CA) Medical Association awarded him "Outstanding Contribution to Sonoma County Medicine in 2003" for his 10 years of publishing diverse medical science articles in the journal, Sonoma Medicine.

FMI: http://shemesh.larc.nasa.gov/Lectures/