Aircraft runs without fuel in Iranian province

Originally posted by Arbitrageur
reply to post by confreak

 

It says the wingspan is 2 meters, only slightly larger than the height of an adult male.

I don't know what you mean by width, did you mean wingspan? A 2 meter wingspan would be somewhat proportional with a 1.5 meter length.

And I think based on those dimensions, it's safe to say the plane in the photos isn't that size.

The aircraft is 2 seater, 2 people fit in the space of around 1.5 meters. So I'm thinking the article means the width is 1.5 meters.

I'm looking for the actual IRNA report, because the Azerbaijan websites claims IRNA reported it, IRNA is the Iranian official news website.

Originally posted by gift0fpr0phecy
In all my years of studying perpetual motion devices, I have never see or heard of the concept I just described, and it is unique as in I think it can only work with an aircraft that has a wing and a propeller connected to an electric motor / generator.

You don't even need an electric motor for that, all you need are thermals, you can do it with a glider while the sun is shining. Skilled glider pilots can catch thermals and stay airborne for long periods of time, but as soon as the sun goes down, the source of energy for the thermals (and the plane's "propulsion") is gone until sunrise.

But your concept is basically the aircraft version of the brakes on a Toyota Prius that recharge the battery while braking. It would have some merit for an aircraft with a purpose like the "vomit comet", but for most other aircraft I don't see much benefit.