Most Promising Plane Didn't Fly
Steady progress... but no breakthroughs. That's the guarded
assessment following NASA's second annual General Aviation
Technology Challenge, which took place this past weekend at Charles
M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport (STS) in Santa Rosa, CA.
As ANN reported, five planes were vetted in
the competition, hosted by the non-profit CAFE Foundation. A
Pipistrel Virus 912 (above), a modified Diamond DA20-A1, a Dynamic
WT9, a UFM-13 Lambada, and a Flight Design CT were scheduled to
compete.
CNET News reports none of the four planes that competed won the
highly-vaunted "green prize," which called for a two-seat aircraft
to fly a 400-mile course logging fuel consumption of at least 30
miles per gallon. The closest any competitor came was 28.8 miles
per gallon -- still impressive -- by the returning Pipistrel Virus
motorglider.
NASA hopes the green prize will eventually go to a plane that
can fly at least 100 miles per hour, while sipping fuel at the
equivalent of 100 miles per gallon.
One of the more promising entrants
this year was to be the modified, gas-and-biodiesel-fueled Diamond
DA20-A1 designed to go 900 miles on just 25 gallons... but alas, a
mechanical glitch prevented that plane from flying in any of the
challenges.
"Ironically, our biggest advance this year was with a plane that
didn't fly," said Andy Petro, head of NASA's Centennial Challenges
program that promotes private innovations in space exploration and
aviation.
In all, NASA awarded about $100,000 of the $300,000 made
available for the competition. One of the biggest prizes, for
$50,000, went to the ballistic parachute-equipped Pipistrel in the
safety category. A $33,000 award went to the UFM-13 Lambada motor
glider (below), the quietest plane in the competition.
The GAT Challenge has gone through a number of iterations since
NASA launched its first competition in 2005. Then, the emphasis was
on so-called "personal air vehicles," of the type companies like
Terrafugia and Moller are hoping to bring to market. In recent
years, however, the Challenge has focused more on efficiency, and
safe transportation.
"Next year, we'll be emphasizing fuel efficiency as the ultimate
goal with planes that maintain the characteristics of practical
aircraft," Petro said, adding prize money will increase to $400,000
for the 2009 Challenge.