We usually associate the words ‘noise & fuel wastage’ with airplanes, but a new kind of air race sanctioned by NASA, held at Santa Rosa (California) changes perception. The contest was held between the GSE Katana DA-20, Pipistrel Virus, UFM-13 Lambada, Flight Design CT , each competing against each other for their fuel efficiency , speed, and ‘lowered noise’ ability. Before blabbering out on the details, let me give you a brief about all the four planes.
Each design has something special and innovative. Let it be a Greg and Geoff Stevenson’s DA-20, an innovative masterpiece that uses bio-diesel for auxiliary power during takeoff and landing and has an electric motor and fuel injection that makes the craft quieter and more fuel efficient, or the Pipistrel Virus, which with its constant propeller speed switch helps with fuel efficiency and heavy sound dampening. To the UFM-13 Lambada has bagged prizes for the lowest community noise, at 62dB and the Flight Design CT which has motorcycle muffler and noise dampening panels.
The point is each one of them is special and magnificently crafted and the participants only got 6 weeks to come up with these fabulous designs, which makes them all the more praise worthy. It’s brilliant that we have more and more eco modern designs coming our way. However, the DA-20 was unable to compete because of a faulty sensor and the ultimate winner was the US$100k craft which tied with Lambada motoglider for the lowest cabin noise at 91.5 db but overtook it with it’s three GPS modules, terrain visualization screen and a rocket-propelled parachute that deploys in the event of a mid-air collision! We certainly need more designs like these to counter our innumerable environment woes.
Via: Gizmodo
