Download rtf - AERO Friedrichshafen

18/04/2011
Ulmer Berblinger Flight Competition 2011
Award winner of the Berblinger
Flight Competition 2011 chosen
The winner of the 100,000 Euro Berblinger Flight
Competition was declared on Sun-day 17 April, in
the Ulm town hall. In all, 36 participants
competed for the prize, which focussed on the
use
of
innovative,
resource-saving
ecological
technolo-gies.
Of
and
the
36
applications received, 24 aircraft were initially
admitted to the compe-tition. 13 aircraft started
successfully;
due
to
insufficient
financial
backing, technical difficulties or the absence of
the appropriate flying licenses the remaining
competi-tors were not able to take part in the
practical phaes of the competition, which was
carried out at the AERO global for general
aviation , in Friedrichshafen. Eight par-ticipants
successfully completed the exercise of flying
from Friedrichshafen to Ulm, including the
winner of the competition.
In an extremely exciting competition, the participating
aircraft
were
evaluated
on
several
days
by
an
independent jury comprising experts from the aerospace
indus-try, representatives of universities and research
institutes, aviation historians and representatives of the
town of Ulm. The parameters innovation, environmental
friendliness, flight performance and practicality were
thoroughly tested, showing the great innovation of this
branch. In the end, two competitors were awarded an
equal number of points.
The jury thus decided to award two prizes and a special
prize. In this way, three de-velopment projects with totally
different technical characteristics were honoured. The
Antares 20 E, a self-launching high-performance motor
glider, using a new concept of a low-noise, ecological
propulsion system, was awarded 45,000. Euro. 45,000
Euro also went to the Sunseeker II, a solar-powered,
light-weight
construction
motor
glider
that
has
demonstrated in an excellent manner that long duration
flights pow-ered solely by solar power are possible. A
special prize of 10,000 Euro was awarded to the
constructors of the ultra-light hang-glider for their success
in equipping eco-nomically priced sport aircrafts with
electrical propulsion. If the energy consumption of this
prize winner is converted into diesel, then it would lie
somewhere between zero and 0.38 litres/100 kilometre of
flight.
"All participants have shown how much pioneering spirit of
Albrecht Berblinger they have in them", said Ulm´s senior
Mayor, Ivo Gönner, during the award ceremony. "We
have seen many innovative constructions, impressive
solutions for new propul-sion systems that will certainly
have an impact on civil aviation in the future" The
presentation of the Berblinger competition at the AERO
provided much publicity within the aviation industry and
the international speciality press for the participants and
for the town of Ulm. "In conversations with visitors and
participants, the town of Ulm was especially commended
for its efforts towards innovative propulsion design,
particularly for electrically powered aircraft" said Professor
Otto Künzel, chairman of the jury. "We are very pleased
that we have been able to provide essential impulses
towards the development of resource-saving, innovative
pioneering aircraft and pro-pulsion systems, as well as
their realisation by means of the solar flight competition in
1996, the construction competition for innovative flight in
2006 and the Berblinger Flight Competition in 2011", said
Ivo Gönner.
The prize given to Antares 20 E rewards not only the
concept of a self-launching, high performance motor
glider, certified according to the strict European aviation
standards, but also acknowledges Axel Langer himself,
pioneer of electric propul-sion systems for motor gliders,
who, despite many setbacks and in the spirit of
Berblinger, did not abandon his aims and ambitions.
The Antares 20 E, excellently piloted in the competition by
Stefan Senger is a high performance glider, with a wing
span of 20 meters that, powered by a 42 Kilowatt electric
motor, takes off into the air extremely quietly. This new
innovative propulsion concept represents the state of the
art in glider construction. It is the only aircraft with this
type of propulsion that fulfils the strict EASA certification
requirements. It uses lithium-ion-batteries that allow
powered flight for more than one hour. The bat-teries are
quickly re-chargeable and have a life-expectancy of about
20 years or 3,000 charge cycles in normal gliding
operations. About 70 of these gliders have already been
sold and delivered. After initial problems with this
technology it is now regarded as technically mature.
The prize to Eric Raymond marks a further award in
recognition of the contributions of this pioneer of solar
flight towards the global development of purely solar
powered
aircraft
.This
ranks
him
alongside
such
prominent names as Paul McCready, Gün-ther Rochelt
and Prof. Voith-Nitschmann´s team at the University of
Stuttgart , win-ner of the Berblinger Prize in 1996. In the
last 20 years, the one-seater Sunseeker II, with a wing
span of 15 meters, has proven to be a suitable test
vehicle for solar cells. The concept of the two seater
Sunseeker
Duo,
also
shown
at
the
AERO
in
Friedrichshafen by Eric Raymond, heralds the next
generation of solar powered air-craft.
The Swift-light Electric belongs to the low-budget, ultra
light sports class. The pur-chase price is approximately
30.000 Euro and allows a wide range of enthusiasts to
enjoy a pleasurable flight without notable noise pollution.
The battery can be charged within 15 minutes, making
numerous flights per day possible. Without ther-mics, the
endurance is 20 to 30 minutes. The innovative propulsion
concept is based on that of Dr. Werner Eck, a pioneer of
electric propulsion for ultra light air-craft. The award to
Manfred Ruhmer for his Swift-light Electric is a public
acknowl-edgment of the efforts of the ultra light aviation
industry towards developing envi-ronmentally friendly
propulsion systems. The 10 Kilowatt motor weighs only
3.7 kilo-grammes.
Numerous other events are planned for the coming
months as part of the pro-gramme commemorating the
200th anniversary of Albrecht Ludwig Berblinger´s flight
attempt:
Further
information
can
be
found
at
www.berblinger.ulm.de.
Contact for the press:
For technical questions concerning the aircraft:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Otto Künzel
Tel. (0731) 41201
E-mail [email protected]
For questions concerning the general programme for the
Berblinger Anniversary Year 2011:
Stadt Ulm, Hauptabteilung Kultur
Iris Mann
Frauenstr. 19, 89073 Ulm
Tel.: +49 (0)731/161-4701
Fax: +49 (0)731/161-1631
E-mail: [email protected]
www.berblinger.ulm.de
www.ulm.de
Note to Editors:
Characters (with spaces): 6744
In case of further questions please contact our press
department. They will be glad to help you.