On 8/28/2020 8:13 PM, kinsell wrote:
On 8/28/20 6:24 PM, Steve Koerner wrote:
Here is a varient of this motorglider with higher wing loading for very
strong soaring conditions:

http://www.cnn.com/travel/article/ce...ane/index.html


Speed of a jet with eight times better fuel economy and six times better
operating costs.Â* IÂ* can tell you watch too much CNN.

Hyuk hyuk...the CNN irony is difficult to overlook, alright! That said, good
on Mr. Otto for having the courage of his convictions, and, for not - so far
as I'm aware - going entirely down the vaporware rabbit hole. He at least has
a state-of-various-arts-pushing flying airplane....a complex one, too!

In laminar technology advancement terms, I'm reminded of the P-51
("non-laminar" laminar airfoil profile - insufficiently developed
materials/manufacturing issues) and the Piaggio P.180 Avanti (metal [mostly],
twin pusher props, produced and sold, lotsa info available online). Both
arguably-kinda-sorta *did* advance the state of the aerodynamic art and were
successes in vastly differing ways.

The latter arguably achieved many/most of its aerodynamic design goals, while
remaining unknown to the bulk of the turboprop light twin world so far as I
can tell. Unlike Mr. Otto's approach, it utilizes well-proven, "jet-thirsty"
PT-6 engines. And yes, it has a distinctive - unmistakable - overhead
engine/prop aural signature. Fuel economy? Armchair warriors arise!

With luck, maybe we'll get to see how Mr. Otto's project fares in its targeted
flying niche.

Bob W.

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