Solar-powered aircraft flown for nearly three weeks without landing
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Re: Solar-powered aircraft flown for nearly three weeks without landing
#2Related (in at least one dimension): https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/airborne-for-64-day...
Cessna 172 flown for 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and 5 seconds.
Re: Solar-powered aircraft flown for nearly three weeks without landing
#3Related (in at least one dimension): https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/airborne-for-64-day... Cessna 172 flown for 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and 5 seconds.
The linked article on that page is broken. I’m guessing he somehow refueled in flight?
Re: Solar-powered aircraft flown for nearly three weeks without landing
#4Re: Solar-powered aircraft flown for nearly three weeks without landing
#5Related (in at least one dimension): https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/airborne-for-64-day... Cessna 172 flown for 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and 5 seconds.
The linked article on that page is broken. I’m guessing he somehow refueled in flight?
Yes. They flew low and slow over a long, straight road and refueled from a truck that kept pace with them.
https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2008/march/pilo...
> A Ford truck, donated by Cashman Auto in Las Vegas, was outfitted with a fuel pump, tank, and other paraphernalia required to support the aircraft in flight. When fuel was required, a rendezvous would be arranged on a stretch of straight road in the desert near Blythe, California. An electric winch lowered a hook, the fuel pump hose was picked up, and Timm or Cook inserted it into the belly tank. It took a little more than three minutes to fill the belly tank.
> The total fuel capacity of the airplane was 142 gallons. Plans called for refueling twice daily. Sometimes weather or the inevitable glitches upset the schedule, and a new rendezvous was worked out by radio. This activity was repeated more than 128 times.
The whole article is worth a read; it was quite the hairy sounding endeavour. Two months in a C-172 would kill me, I'm quite certain.
Re: Solar-powered aircraft flown for nearly three weeks without landing
#6Related (in at least one dimension): https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/airborne-for-64-day... Cessna 172 flown for 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and 5 seconds.
The linked article on that page is broken. I’m guessing he somehow refueled in flight?
https://web.archive.org/web/20120429214314/http://www.airspa...
Haven't read it to find the answer to your question yet, but bless the Internet Archive
Re: Solar-powered aircraft flown for nearly three weeks without landing
#7Wasn't Facebook working on a similar project (Aquila)?
Re: Solar-powered aircraft flown for nearly three weeks without landing
#8Related (in at least one dimension): https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/airborne-for-64-day... Cessna 172 flown for 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and 5 seconds.
> When asked by a reporter if he would ever replicate the stunt, Cook replied: “Next time I feel in the mood to fly endurance, I’m going to lock myself in a garbage can with the vacuum cleaner running, and have Bob serve me T-bone steaks chopped up in a thermos bottle. That is, until my psychiatrist opens for business in the morning.”
ROLF!!!
Re: Solar-powered aircraft flown for nearly three weeks without landing
#9Related (in at least one dimension): https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/airborne-for-64-day... Cessna 172 flown for 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and 5 seconds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_172 :
"From December 4, 1958, to February 7, 1959, Robert Timm and John Cook set the world record for (refueled) flight endurance in a used Cessna 172, registration number N9172B. They took off from McCarran Airfield in Las Vegas, Nevada, and landed back at McCarran Airfield after 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and 5 seconds in flight. The flight was part of a fund-raising effort for the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund.[14][15]"
Re: Solar-powered aircraft flown for nearly three weeks without landing
#10"Airbus ultimately believes that the aircraft could remain airborne for “months at a time” and could provide internet to both commercial and military customers."
What sort of power requirements would this bring? I assume that it would be more sophisticated than just dumping RF energy indiscriminately across a huge area.