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    1. Commercial Aerospace

    Cri-Cri, the all-electric aircraft, is airborne

    Sept. 7, 2010
    PARIS, France, 7 Sept. 2010. The  Cri-Cri all electric plane, jointly developed by EADS Innovation Works, Aero Composites Saintonge, and the Green Cri-Cri Association has made its official maiden flight at Le Bourget airport near Paris. This Cri-Cri is the first-ever four-engined all electric aerobatic plane, which was first shown at the Green Aviation Show at Le Bourget in June. Once the plane became airborne take-off and climb were smooth, no vibrations could be felt and maneuverability was excellent, EADS officials say. All systems performed well and the plane returned safely after 7 minutes.
    Pennwell web 120 83
    Pennwell web 120 83
    Posted by John McHalePARIS, France, 7 Sept. 2010. The Cri-Cri all-electric plane, jointly developed by EADS Innovation Works, Aero Composites Saintonge, and the Green Cri-Cri Association has made its official maiden flight at Le Bourget airport near Paris. This Cri-Cri is the first-ever four-engined all electric aerobatic plane, which was first shown at the Green Aviation Show at Le Bourget in June. Once the plane became airborne take-off and climb were smooth, no vibrations could be felt and maneuverability was excellent, EADS officials say. All systems performed well and the plane returned safely after 7 minutes."This aircraft flies very smoothly, much more quietly than a plane with conventional propulsion," says Didier Esteyne, who piloted the all-electric Cri-Cri. "But we are still at the beginning and have a lot to learn. We are allowed to start aerobatic maneuvers only after five hours of flight and 15 landings.""The Cri-Cri is a low-cost test bed for system integration of electrical technologies in support of projects like our hybrid propulsion concept for helicopters," says Jean Botti, EADS's chief technical officer. "We hope to get a lot of useful information out of this project." In the near future batteries will not able to propel larger aircraft.The aerobatic plane incorporates numerous technologies such as lightweight composite structures that reduce the weight of the airframe and compensate for the additional weight of the batteries, four brushless electric motors with counter-rotating propellers which deliver propulsion without CO2 emissions and significantly lower noise compared to thermal propulsion, and high energy-density Lithium batteries.The combined utilization of these environment-friendly technical innovations enables the Cri-Cri to deliver novel performance values: 30 minutes of autonomous cruise flight at 110 kilometers per hour, 15 minutes of autonomous aerobatics at speeds reaching as fast as 250 kilometers per hour, and a climb rate of approximately 5.3 meters per second, EADS officials say.With research projects on algae based biofuel, a helicopter hybrid propulsion system combining electrical power with piston engines and the all electric Cri-Cri, EADS is exploring technologies for environmentally friendly air travel.

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