Australian Flying - July 2018

certain amount of mass. A two-

seater aircraft, effectively becomes

a one-seater and a four-seater is

reduced to a three-seat capacity.

You can however, f ly this aircraft

three or four times as far and you

have a handy portable generator if

your destination is off-grid.

An electric future

More electric and hybrid electric

aviation solutions are in the

pipeline. These technologies

have the potential to reduce CO2

emissions, reduce noise and cut

fuel costs. What is surprising

though, is that they also have

huge potential to improve aircraft

performance. To date, the

limitation of electrics has always

been the battery, but the big

advantage is that this technology

is much better at maintaining

power at altitude. The versatility

and climb rates of these hybrid

electric or turbo electric engines

are also surprisingly impressive.

Imagine if a single engine aircraft

were to have two extra motors,

one on each wing, and that each

of these motors were based on

this revolutionary use of electric

propulsion. The power that

you then have with these extra

motors, running extra propellers

is amazing.

This concept has, in fact, been

developed in collaboration with

a small Australian company

Air Ute Pty Ltd. They’re based

in Caloundra, Queensland.

And after looking at Richard

Glassock ’s designs, it’s obvious

that neither enthusiasm nor

technological expertise is the

problem. Finding the funding to

go into commercial production

is the problem. But engineers

and designers all around the

world seem determined to make

innovations like these happen. It is

only a matter of time.

As I drive off in my car, in my

old paradigm, using a conventional

internal combustion engine, I

quickly become stuck in traffic.

It makes me wish the new world

that Richard is working towards

would hurry up and happen. But

in a way, the traffic congestion,

which annoys us all, is beside the

point. Richard’s f lying motorbike

isn’t an idea borne of weary drivers

dreaming of escaping peak hour.

His is an aviation solution to an

aviation problem – a problem

felt starkly in Australia and

increasingly an issue in busier GA

markets like the US, because of

the disappearance there of Fixed-

Base Operators (FBOs).

American FBOs are a legacy of

the grand days of the barnstormer,

who travelled widely before

putting down roots at small

airports to set up support services

for GA pilots. They would help

with parking, fuel, luggage, food

and, most importantly for this

story, they would help pilots

procure ground transportation

once they had landed. Sadly,

FBOs are under threat in the

US, and even more sadly, they

don’t exist in Australia. Once

upon a time there were such

services in this country. When

the Department of Civil Aviation,

the DCA, still existed, there were

Aussie Innovator

“the problem of nding renewable

energy sources for aviation

is one that can be solved.”

66

AUSTRALIAN FLYING July – August 2018

LEFT: The e-taxi

wheel enables

a commercial

aircraft to taxi

using electrical

power, reducing

the need to

carry taxi fuel.

RIGHT:

Australian

innovator

Richard

Glassock.

had two engines. He says no. The

electric aircraft is unmodified. It

has an electric motor and battery

pack – that’s how it f lies, even

without the motorbike enabler

attached. There are already several

versions of this type of craft in our

sky, which are fine. But these are

only for short range f lights, for

example an hour, because of the

battery limitation. If you want to

go further, you’re in trouble.

In Australia, they’re not so

practical, but if you put on a range

extender, then you can f ly much

further for longer and you can

use alternative sources of power.

Added to this, because the range

extender is also a motorbike, you

have a ground transport solution

when you get to your destination

airport. It is very simple to unclip

the range extender and convert

it back into a motorcycle, simply

refueling at a petrol station. The

downside is that it reduces the

plane’s load-carrying capacity,

because the motorbike pod has a

conventional electric aeroplane,

extending its range and acting

as a detachable motorbike when

the plane is one the ground. Two

versions were launched under the

name RExLite and RExMoto

at the International Conference

on Innovation in European

Aeronautics Research in Warsaw

last year. This small concept is

something that could happen

on a larger scale and one way or

another will inf luence our aviation

future.

Imagine, instead of getting in

your car in the morning, you open

the shed and there is your hybrid

motorcycle. It is small and has

a conventional fuel engine and

ordinary wheels. But this also

drives a generator, batteries and

sophisticated power electronics.

What’s different about this, is

that it is part of a modular system,

meaning that you can clip it onto

the base of an all-electric aircraft

within minutes of arriving at your

local aerodrome. It simply sits

under your aircraft as a pod and

provides supplementary electrical

power to the aircraft, while the

bike’s fuel motor acts as a high

efficiency generator.

It takes me a moment to

understand this and I ask Richard

if that means the aircraft now