I’ve been excited about electric cars for a couple of years now. No, not hybrids that require a fuel tank an an internal combustion engine but cars that have an electric motor and a battery pack that is plugged in to recharge. I believe electric cars and nuclear power plants are the key to our energy independence and reigning in our output of greenhouse gases. Now it looks like my dream of electric powered transportation can go even farther.
Electraflyer Corporation has strapped an electric motor and a lithium polymer battery pack on an old Monnet motorglider built from a kit, and the aircraft just this week earned its experimental airworthiness certificate. The company is also flying a battery powered ultralight trike which has about 50 hours on it.
I know this is a long ways from commercial flight but so was the Wright Flyer. Besides, with Avgas running at over $6.00 per gallon these days this could be the one innovation that keeps recreational flying attainable by ordinary pilots.
About Larry D. Burton
I'm a 55 year old controls engineer who just likes tinkering with stuff.
Finished high school at a local institute of learning. Decided it wasn't a good time to be a healthy, physically fit 18 year old with no college experience. Entered college and started working toward a degree in animal husbandry.
1975-1976
Discoverd that I was not going to be a very good husband of animals so I left school to figure out what I might be good at. A local beverage company took pity on me and paid me to go from place to place making sure their on tap beverages were maintaining their high quality.
1976-1979
Got out of quality control and into vending. Learned about control systems and refrigeration also learned that vending machines are heavy and vending doesn't pay all that well.
In 1977 I found myself married
1979-1981
Dedicated myself to installing and maintaining commercial refrigeration equipment. Found myself on the roof of a local grocery store one night in the middle of an ice storm replacing a compressor and figured it was time to get back into school.
1981-1986
Got my but back into school at night and changed jobs to keep the mechanical and electrical systems of a local coporate hospital in working order. The job expanded to unstopping drains and burning lab samples and amputated body parts.
1986-now
Finished school and took on a job designing, installing and maintaining industrial control systems. Along the way I picked up a bunch of computer skills that became very useful connecting various industrial controllers to one another and moving the data into coporate databases. I now operate Dallas Bay Technologies, a one man shop specializing in technology solutions for industrial problems.
