An aircraft that runs on car fuel

[theblackalchemist]

An aircraft that runs on car fuel

 

 

Built by a company in the Czech Republic named UL-JIH, the 450-kg two-seater aircraft consumes 15 litre of car fuel for every hour of flight, the company's MD Josef Tornado Pecl said.

 

Pecl was among a 14-member Czech business delegation led by the country's Ambassador Hynek Kmonicek who is in the Northeast for a face-to-face interaction with policy-makers and entrepreneurs of the region to explore mutually beneficial tie-ups.

 

The aircraft of the OK-LUF series can fly at a height of 5000 metres and has an integrated safety system with parachutes and a rescue system.

 

"You can sit in ergonomic seats in the most spacious cockpit in its class, while the steering lever is built on modern joystick design," he said.

 

"You can travel for business or fun. The luxury can be compared to a limousine," he said, adding the aircraft provides an entirely new dimension to travelling while providing flexibility, safety and independence.

 

And, that it not all. The aircraft can climb up at a speed of eight metres per second before reaching a cruising speed of 245 kmph.

 

The MD said the Woodcomp SR 3000/2 propeller together with the constant revolution system takes full advantage of the motor's torque and creates a perfectly-tuned fuel unit.

 

The aircraft is about about 7 metres in length, with a ...

 

 

An aircraft that runs on car fuel-Health/Sci-The Times of India

[Moontanman]

Don't all planes run on what is basically the same fuel as cars and trucks? Gasoline and jet fuel? Jet fuel is just kerosene or refined diesel fuel.

[CraigD]

Don't all planes run on what is basically the same fuel as cars and trucks? Gasoline and jet fuel? Jet fuel is just kerosene or refined diesel fuel.

Basically, yes. Gasoline is gasoline, kerosene is diesel is jet or rocket fuel.

 

Exactly, no.

 

Piston engine aviation gas has a slightly higher effective octane rating than automotive gas. This is achieved the way it used to be for automotive gas – by adding lead. Since there are far fewer piston engine planes than cars, and because they spread their exhaust over wider, less populated areas, this isn’t as significant an environmental toxicity issue as with cars.

 

Avgas is also much better quality-controlled than auto gas. Auto gas can contain all sorts of additives, including significant percentages of various lower-energy density alcohol.

 

There are some pretty good reasons for avgas to be higher performance and better quality controlled than auto gas. Plane engines run at a greater range of and higher altitudes. They also run for long periods at higher percent power, including 100% power, than passenger cars, more similar to race cars, which commonly bur avgas, too. When was the last time you ran your car at 100% power for 15 minutes or so? Planes almost always takeoff and climb to altitude at 100% power. Cars don’t have manual mixture controls or exhaust gas temperature gauges to adjust them by. And, finally, if your car engine unexpectedly looses 25% or so of its max power, unless you’re checking your zero to sixty time with a stopwatch, you likely wouldn’t even notice. On a hot day on a short runway with a full load, unexpected power loss could be very hairy, or worse – though you should notice it when running up your engine with brakes on as part of the normal end-of-the-taxiway preflight check.

 

You can actually get a special certificate to run a plane on auto gas – practically any engine made for 80 octane avgas can be run on unleaded gas with minimal conversion.

 

… which make the India Times article’s line:

An airplane that runs on car fuel, has a flying range of 1400 km and a cruising speed of 245 kmph? Unbelievable?

Something of an inaccurate leading question, IMHO. :)