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.

FMI: http://cafefoundation.org/v2/pav_home.php