The last time we caught up with electric vehicle pioneer Chip Yates, he was in the latter stages of his pilot training that would allow him to fly a yet-to-be-designed electric aircraft from New York to Paris along the same route taken by Charles Lindbergh. Having already claimed the crown for the world's fastest electric motorcycle in 2011, he has now stamped his seal on the title of first manned electric airplane to break the 200 mph barrier in level flight.
After the successful completion of runway and taxi tests, the Flight of the Century Long-ESA electric test plane took off from Inyokern Airport on July 19 with Yates at the controls. Converted from an engine-driven Long-EZ aircraft, the aircraft has been built as a test bed for the development of the battery pack parachute jettison, UAV battery pack jettison and UAV battery pack re-docking technologies for the planned Lindbergh flight we covered at the end of May.
During the flight, Yates managed to ramp the speed up to 202.6 mph (326 km/h) and lay claim to yet another speed record. Following his record run, he was forced to make an emergency landing after a dead battery cell killed the aircraft's propulsion during his final turn toward Runway 33. Narrowly averting disaster, "the wheels of the Long-ESA touched down the same instant the plane became aligned with the runway and just past the threshold for Yates to make a smooth landing."
Yates is currently showing off the record-breaking aircraft at the 2012 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, and has promised more details on the flight when he returns to home base.
Source: FOTC
And the Moron needs to go back to get some more training--"he was forced to make an emergency landing after a dead battery cell killed the aircraft's propulsion during his final turn toward Runway 33. Narrowly averting disaster. . . " If he was in the pattern as the article states, he was taught to have enough altitude to make the runway WITH ROOM TO SPARE given an engine out. This idiot glory seeker is gonna make bad press for homebuilt aircraft with his callous disregard for commonly taught safety procedures.
If Yates truly wanted to push the future he would use FCs and his press release statement would be more meaningful; “Our purpose in setting out on this very difficult path is to force innovation that drives electric flight technology forward in a significant and measurable way,” said Flight of the Century CEO Chip Yates.
The flight of the LAST century would be using batteries, The "Flight of the 21st century" will be with Fuel Cells.