My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on February 12, 2006

Last week at the National Biodiesel conference in San Diego, Singer/ Songwriter and Activist Willie Nelson filled his tour bus and announced a new BioWillie location … San Diego, California. According to the National Biodiesel Board, the conference was an outstanding success. Perhaps Willie Nelson said it best, “It is the future. (refering to biodiesel) Nelson continued to say, “Through biodiesel, we can reduce dependency on foreign oil and adopt an energy source that’s clean renewable and helps family farmers find new uses for their products.”

As of this past Wednesday, southern California diesel owners can now fill their cars and trucks with BioWillie branded biodiesel. The 72 year old Nelson has been actively promoting biodiesel as well as running it in his personal vehicles and tour bus. This renewable alternative to petroleum is environmentally friendly, domestically produced, and made primarily from soybeans in the US. (although many other vegetable based oils can be used) According to the U.S. Department of Energy, biodiesel is America’s fastest growing alternative fuel and sales has tripled in this past year to 75 million gallons. It still only accounts for less than one percent of the diesel fuel sold nationwide, but is receiving support from environmentalist to midwestern farmers … from the politicians on the left to those on the conservative right. Even President Bush endorses biodiesel and on many occasions mentions it in speeches. Most recently he has used the national stage in addressing our “nation’s addiction to oil” and has effectively laid the groundwork for development of biofuels.

The BioWillie brand, known as B20, is a blend of 80 percent petroleum diesel and 20 percent biodiesel and is made from soybean oil and is currently available in Texas, South Carolina, Georgia and now California.

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Posted By RichC on February 11, 2006

Although Google news tells me there are over 2000 news stories about the record breaking flight of Virgin Atlantics Global Flyer piloted by Steve Fossett, I felt it necessary to close my mutiple posts with a follow up comment. (I’m sure for details there are plenty of news stories) Nevertheless, the experimental Scaled Composite plane did break the distance recorded held by the planes designer Dick Rutan and copilot Jean Yeager in 1986 by completing 26,389 miles nonstop on a single tank of fuel.

Fosset took off from the Kennedy Space Center, circled the globe once and continued across the Atlantic this morning to England. His trip wasn’t without stressful moment that included the loss of 750 lbs of fuel on takeoff, turbulance over India that threated to tear the plane apart and the loss of electical power while beginning decent from an altitude of over 50,000 feet.

Steve Fossett decided not to land at his scheduled airport (Kent, England) but made a Mayday call and an emergency landing at Bournemouth, England. His unscheduled landing with an ice coated canopy on only reserved battery powered electronic was a stressful end to a long and tiring flight. The GlobalFlyer touched down at 5:07 p.m (12:07 p.m. Eastern time), blew two tires and left spectators waiting at the Kent International Airport.

Although I’m not sure that the Guinness Book of World Records award is what stimulates Steve Fossett to make such flights he was presented with the record upon arriving to a news conference at Kent Airport less then a year after receiving an award for setting the world record for the first solo, non-stop, non-refuelled trip around the world.

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Posted By RichC on February 11, 2006

Heres a short video clip testing some of the Google Video capabilities (or lack there of) in broadcasting clips on the internet.

Aerobatics Pilot flies under jumping motorcycle

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Posted By RichC on February 10, 2006

Once upon a time I intended to be a photojournalist. I even spent the summer between my junior and senior year of high school on an enrichment scholarship to begin my college education in photojournalism. I’m not sure what happened to dissuade me? Nevertheless, I still admire and appreciate those with the talent to capture a still photos and create impactful and moving moments. In the cases of this years “2005 World Press Photo of the Year Awards “there were many that surpassed the proverbial “ a picture is worth a thousand words” axiom.

The above picture of a mother and child at an emergency feeding center in Niger was taken by Canadian photographer Finbarr O’Reilly. His August 2005 photo shows the emaciated fingers of a one-year old child pressed against the lips of his mother. This Reuters published photograph won the coveted 2005 World Press Photo of the Year.

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Posted By RichC on February 10, 2006

UPDATE: 1:45 EST
The Global Flyer is 51,000 feet directly above San Diego heading on a direct path toward Orlando Florida. (draw a line) If you are anywhere in this path be sure to check the sky. (although at 51,000 feet that is the highest Steve has flown so far) I suspect that the coverage will start to become a bit more mainstream as the flight nears completion; I’ll attempt to snatch some video when it becomes available. The webmaster has indicated 22 million hits to their site so far and is holding up just fine. The landing is scheduled to be at Kent International Airport – 18:30UTC on February 11th.

Interesting comments from Steve Fossett during his path over India:

Steve has admitted that during a period of “severe” turbulence he feared a wing might break and had put on his parachute in case he had to abandon the plane mid-air.

The tubulence occurred approximately 14:30UTC Thursday as he flew over Bhophal in India. Although Steve informed Mission Control about the turbulence and said he was “uncomfortable” he did not let the team know the full extent of the trouble.

It was only later in the evening that he revealed he had put his parachute on and that the turbulence had been a frightening experience.

Steve said: “I was afraid it was going to break up. It was a scary time and I had my parachute on and I was prepared to bail out in case a wing broke.”

The aircraft feels turbulence four times more than a commercial aircraft would. Due to the fragile nature of the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer there is a possibility that severe conditions could damage the plane and break a wing. (see link)

Earlier Update:: Should reach the southern west coast of the US at 10 a.m. PST. Look up.

Since I’m following the flight and the GlobalFlyer I thought it would be really cool if someone was able to see the flight. Its probably a long shot for the naked eye viewers, (at 45,000 feet) but if you’re in San Diego or the Baja area and the sky is clear maybe you’ll consider looking up? I’m hoping someone has the ability to photograph this??? (let me know if anyone sees a photo of the GlobalFlyer over the US show up on the web)

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Posted By RichC on February 10, 2006

manual gearbox.

Here is a comparison of the two demostrators being driving in France. Besides being stylish (IMHO) these cars are exceptionally thrifty to drive.

One of the unique features in the Hybrid HDi model is the Stop & Start system. Under normal conditions the vehicle starts with the electric motors starting the TDi engine as needed, but when the high-voltage battery pack is totally flat the vehicle will start on diesel engine only.


Innovative features:

Recovery of kinetic energy during deceleration and braking.
All-electric mode, or Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV), eliminating noise and emissions for urban driving at up to 50 kilometres an hour.
Extended ZEV mode, in which electrical power is used by default, depending on the battery charge level.
For main road and motorway driving, the electric motor can provide a 35% power boost for extra acceleration when needed, thereby enhancing driving comfort.
1.6-litre HDi engine + diesel particulate filter system (DPFS)
Electronically managed gearbox
New-generation Stop & Start system
Electric motor and inverter
High-voltage battery pack
Dedicated control electronics
All-electric mode for speeds under 50 kilometres an hour
Driver selection of extended ZEV mode

PSA Peugeot Citroën may begin to market its Hybride HDi vehicle in 2010.

Multimedia from Jon Fry – see his UK Blog

Additional Photos

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Posted By RichC on February 10, 2006

UPDATE: A quote directly from mission control – 1:14UTC Feb 10th (8:14 p.m. EST on Feb 9th) “Halfway point reached: Hurrah!”

Problems: The initial problem was on takeoff according to Mission Control — the GlobalFlyer lost 750lbs of fuel leaving the Kennedy Space Center. According to calculations, the final let to Kent Airport in England will leave little room for error. If the winds over the Pacific continue they will help significantly, but concern is for the weak winds over the Atlantic. If things continue as calculated, Steve Fossett should land with 500 to 1000-lbs of fuel left.

The second problem was with a malfunction of the ventilation cooling system as the tempertures rose to 130F in the cockpit as the engine worked to get the fuel laddened plane to higher altitudes. Now that the plane is lighter and higher altitudes have been reached, the engine no longer has to work as hard and temperatures are a comfortable 60F degrees.

Jon Karkow said: “The winds over the Atlantic will be crucial and the team at Mission Control is working round the clock analysing the movements of the jet streams. Steve will continue to search out the best winds; even the smallest increase in speed will bring the Record closer.”

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Posted By RichC on February 9, 2006

A couple days ago I posted a commercial (Video Clip for Bird Lovers) and figure it only fair to return the politically incorrect post. This one is for cat lovers.
😉

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Tags: bird, car, Humor, mp4, video

Posted By RichC on February 9, 2006

NGV America, formerly Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition, ran an ad in several major newspapers across the country yesterday. The ad encourages the President and federal policy makers to include natural gas fuels and vehicles in our nation’s energy security planning.

I’ll be interested to find out who else feels left out. I’m not sure where I personally stand on natural gas as a vehicle fuel since we use just about every cubic foot for heating, etc? It is a far cleaner fuel for the fleet vehicles in cities and is being used now, yet its not renewable; it also has the disadvantage of adding to the already high demand on natural gas reserves causing prices to soar. Maybe its not the best alternative available today?

The full ad (in PDF format) is available here.

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Posted By RichC on February 8, 2006

Steve Fossett took off in an experimental plane today at 7:20 a.m. on an 80-hour flight. He hopes to set a nonstop distance record in the GlobalFlyer aircraft sponsored by Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic Airways.

Steve Fossett, is a 61 year old excentric millionaire who has “ballooned” (pun intended) his way to fame in a variety of ways including flying and sailing, is out to break the record by some 700 odd miles set by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, a 26,366-mile nonstop distance record set in 1986. After taking off from Florida, he will fly over the Atlantic, cross Africa, Saudi Arabia, India, China, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, Mexico, and the United States and then back over the Atlantic before landing at Kent International Airport outside London.

The GlobalFlyer, which is built by Scaled Composites need to climb to an altitude of about 45,000 feet to take advantage of the naturally occurring high-speed jet stream flowing from the west to the east over the Northern Hemisphere. The GlobalFlyer has a single engine and must have cool temperatures at takeoff in order to get the plane’s weight of more than 11 ton off the runway. Success at least the takeoff. (Check out Burt Rutan’s original napkin sketch prior to designing the GlobalFlyer to the left) 🙂

Interested internet watchers can track the flight on the Virgin Atlantic mission control site during the 80 hour trip. Below is a photo I took this past summer while in Oshkosh Wisconsin for Airventure. (the wingspan was enormous!)

EDIT: 2006-02-08 – 16:05est
Updated as a reader asked me a few question about the Global Flyer. (see below) In the meantime, Steve Fossett is over the Canary Island just off the coast of Africa. He is experiencing mild turbulance at 40,000 feet and traveling at 300 knots.

Info on the Global Flyer:
Scaled’s ‘Model 311’ aircraft is a single engine turbofan aircraft specifically designed for non-stop global circumnavigation by a solo pilot with no passengers. The ‘Voyager’ aircraft which took Dick Rutan and Jeanna Yeager around the world non-stop could well be considered 311’s ‘big sister’, but evolution and invention on the part of Burt himself and Jon Karkow has certainly played its part in making this aircraft unique.

Aerodynamics are key to this aircraft, and its configuration is optimised for range and fuel efficiency. The aircraft’s aerodynamics have been designed using extremely sophisticated computing technology that uses computational fluid dynamics to predict how the aircraft’s surfaces will behave in flight. The aircraft is so aerodynamically perfect, that the only practical way to descend is using drag parachutes, like the ones in the picture above. As the aircraft is only required to land once, these won’t be detachable and will take time to reset.The wing structure revealed during the construction phase.

The aircraft is a trimaran-like construction with two huge external ‘booms’ which hold the landing gear, and 5,454 pounds of fuel on either side of the pilot’s cockpit in the centre on top of which is the single Williams turbofan jet engine. The construction materials used for the structure of this aircraft are all graphite/epoxy. The stiffest carbon fibers are used in the construction of the wings, and the skin is a sandwich of graphite/epoxy and Aramid honeycomb.

The aircraft doesn’t have what is known as ‘deicing’ or ‘anti-ice’ measures. This means that it will be unable to fly in ‘icing’ conditions. In addition, it won’t cope with turbulence very well in the early part of the flight when the aircraft is heavy and structural margins low; so weather will be an important factor in choosing when and where to take off from.

The pilot, Steve, will sit in the main fuselage, the centre pod, just behind the nose landing gear and below the engine. He’ll also be sitting in front of the main fuel header tank which feeds the engine.

Advanced aerodynamic design accounts for the engine’s outstanding fuel economy at altitude, which makes the Williams FJ44 the ideal engine for the GlobalFlyer. In fact, it is the only engine with sufficient thrust-to-weight ratio and fuel economy to enable GlobalFlyer’s record-setting flights. Although remarkably quiet by jet engine standards, the engine is located so close to the pilot that sound deadening had to be added to the cockpit.

Steve will also be sitting in a pressurised cabin because of the altitude he will be flying at, which will give him a ‘cabin altitude’ of 10,000 feet at the 45,000 feet he’ll actually be flying at.

One mean machine!The cockpit itself is a mere 7 feet long. It is equipped with a reclining carbon fiber seat. However, to get a good enough view for take off and landing, Steve will need to sit on cushions as the seat isn’t high enough.

There are thirteen fuel tanks all in all, and on take-off, it is expected that this aircraft will be 83% fuel by weight. Which must be a world record surely? Getting fuel to where it’s needed whilst maintaining the balance and stability of the aircraft is a feat that will require constant supervision and monitoring. The fuel itself will be a special fuel that has a much lower freezing point that regular aviation fuel.

Some facts and figures:

– Wing Span: 114ft

– Wing Area: 400ft squared

– Length: 44.1ft

– Height: 13.3ft

– Gross Weight: 22,000 lbs

– Empty Weight: 3,350 lbs

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Tags: flying, fossett, global flyer