Original upload date: Sun, 26 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMT
Archive date: Fri, 03 Dec 2021 21:50:09 GMT
Test flight of the Lung Biotechnology Tier 1 Full Size (2500 lbs) Electric Helicopter at Los Alamitos Army Airfield, piloted by Ric Webb of OC Helicopters. This is a world record for duration and alt
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itude of a battery-powered helicopter. Duration was 30 minutes, reaching 800 feet and flying at peak speed of 80 knots with 8% battery state-of-charge remaining after a safe hover landing. Average power drawn was 105KW, 140 KW IGE hover and 160 OGE hover. Temps normal throughout with experimental cooling system.
This is a world record for duration, altitude, payload, weight and speed of battery powered rotorcraft or helicopter flight. There has never been a full-sized, meaning person-carrying, helicopter powered solely by batteries that has flown this long, or this fast or this high. There has never been a battery-powered helicopter weighing nearly 2500 pounds.
This helicopter, powered by Brammo Batteries and power managed by Rhinehart Motion Systems, was conceived, built and successfully demonstrated in under one year, for under one million dollars by under ten people managed by Martine Rothblatt of Lung Biotechnology and Glen Dromgoole of Tier 1 Aviation. The purpose of this electric helicopter demonstrator is to prove the way for Electrically-Powered Semi-Autonomous Rotorcraft for Organ Delivery (EPSAROD).
Just six months ago, in September 2016, the same team set the world record for electric helicopter flight at 5 minutes, 80 knots and 400 feet altitude, again with a 2500 pound helicopter and a 200 pound payload.
Documentation of the flight is available at the Tier 1 website as well as ATC communications between the experimental aircraft and the tower.