World`s First Electric Paramotor!
A few questions answered?
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Videos:- Electric Paramotor - teaser! | Electric PPG in flight | Csaba talks about his electric PPG |
The first sustained flight of an electric paramotor, earlier this month, could herald a new era in sport aviation. On Sunday I was lucky enough to meet the brains behind this revolutionary paramotor and see it in flight. This could be the future of powered paragliding |
| Hungarian born, Csaba Lemak (pronounced chubba) has been flying powered paragliders since 2004, having completed his training with Powered Paragliding Ontario (where I still teach). This is where I first met him. We went on a memorable flight to Crystal Beach for Csaba`s first XC and also had a nice flight in Ellicottville and it was clear that once he learned to trust `these damn floppy wings` he would take an active role in the flying community, travelling to PPG events up and down North America. Before learning to fly PPG he was an active ultralight pilot and RC model enthusiast for many years (still is). This is how he met Patrick MacKenzie, the RC batteries and motors guru that helped make the whole thing work. Last year they started constructing the electric paramotor using a Walkerjet frame and a modified 3 phase electric motor originally intended for giant scale aviation models powered by 112 RC batteries costing around $2000. |
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The whole unit weighs in at under 22 kg, but further weight reductions are likely as the next prototype is intended to be a direct drive. The current paramotor has a two blade prop, but this will also change in the next version. The modified 3 phase motor delivers approximately 16/17 horse power and full thrust is achievable in 1.2 seconds. The `ignition system` has been designed with safety in mind and involves a sequence of button presses to ensure that the machine is never live when not in use. | The batteries are arranged in 4 groups of 28 and are air cooled. Currently charging time is around three hours, but theory suggests 30 mins should be possible. The number of useful charging cycles will be around 1600, which should last most pilots for some time! How long the machine will fly is still unknown, but it has sustained around 45 minutes of flight time on each day of its two day testing period. It has only made four flights so far. This is the first step - proof of concept, now the real fun begins!.. |
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