The aim of the Eco-marathon Ulm is to inspire young designers and engineers from around the world to develop new approaches of sustainable mobility in microlight aircraft activity.
It is a major educational project, in which students work together to explore potential solutions to both current and future transport and energy challenges.
It is also a way to promote the results of microlight aircrafts industry research.
The objectives are :

• To encourage and foster innovation and ideas about fuel-efficiency and the future of modern transport
• To help technical institutions
• To secure talent for their professional technical courses
• To promote technical careers among young people

The aircrafts

The candidates can engage in two different categories :

• Prototypes : Ulm whose choices of materials and shapings make it possible to reduce the aerodynamic trail and the mass. The optimization of the system of propulsion is also the research result undertaken by the committed team. It is in this category that the schools and the research departments will be able to express their competences.

• Serial models : these ultralights are produced by professional manufacturers who want to make known the state of their applied research.The propulsion engine can be different from the serial model.

The traditional energys (fuel) can be used, as well as alternative ones (solar, Hydrogène, electricity, gas, hybrids)

The objective of the competition is not to beat speed records or to arrive first, it is to consume the smallest quantity of energy by flying a known distance.

A challenge of Co ² emission will be set up too.

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Seven whooping crane chicks have hatched in the area of the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in recent weeks. That is more than the total number of hatches combined since the program to reintroduce a migrating flock of endangered whooping cranes to the eastern United States began 10 years ago. There are now 100 cranes in that flock.

One of the seven, however, has been lost and another is missing. Despite that, those involved in the reintroduction are thrilled to have so many successful nests this year after so much frustration in recent years.

“It’s definitely exciting,” said Liz Condi, a spokeswoman for Operation Migration, which raises chicks and teaches them to migrate to Florida each fall behind ultralight aircraft. Some are led to Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge at the Citrus-Hernando line and the rest to St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in the Panhandle.

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Neither the pilot nor his passenger was injured after crashing Monday into Elk Lake.

The pilot and his adult passenger were pulled from the water by a boater on the lake, said Sheriff Joel Brott. As deputies investigated the accident, they discovered the man was flying while under the influence of alcohol, Brott said.

Sherburne County and the Federal Aviation Administration are conducting separate investigations into the accident.

“We have strict requirements regarding alcohol use and flight,” said FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory. “You have to abstain from alcohol for eight hours before flying. The official limit is .04 alcohol content. We don’t want to see anyone drinking and flying.”

Last year, eight pilots nationwide were… read more

Don Enns, regional manager of the board’s Ontario office, said an investigator gathered information from the pilot by phone.

“Essentially there isn’t going to be anything more in-depth,” now that the pilot has been interviewed.

Witnesses told police the pilot, a 51-year-old Chatsworth Township man, and a 48-year-old woman from Georgian Bluffs, got themselves out of the 2005 Quad City Challenger II advanced ultralight.

The pilot was treated in Owen Sound hospital for injuries that did not appear serious, police said.

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A pilot received spinal injuries and had to be extricated from his ultralight airplane after it struck a tree in a field he was using as a runway Thursday night in Aquasco, officials said.

The pilot, a man in his 50s, was repeatedly taxiing up and down a field when he lost control and his airplane went up in the air about 30 feet and came abruptly back down, said a Maryland State Police spokeswoman. The plane struck a tree as it landed and trapped the pilot inside, said Mark Brady, a Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department spokesman.

Paramedics were called to the scene by a resident who witnessed the crash, Brady said.

The pilot remained in care today at the Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly being evaluated for… Read More

RANDYWINE, Md. (AP) – Authorities say a pilot was suffered a broken back when a small aircraft ran off a private runway in the Brandywine area.
Prince George’s County fire department spokesman Mark Brady says firefighters found the pilot trapped in an ultralight aircraft in the woods near a runway in the 15200 block of Letcher Road around 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Brady says the pilot was taken to a local hospital.

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Weedhopper.

First winter flight of 2009 of my Weedhopper ultrlalight on skis.

2005 Time Warp Site

“When he turned and banked…boy, she began to cut out,” Evans said of the engine.  “We began running.  We knew good and well he was going down.”

The man crashed in a yard near 89th Street South and Hydraulic.  Tracey Stubbs has EMS training and says the man was still alive when she got to him.

“It wasn’t a pretty sight, but he did have a pulse at the time when I got there,” says Stubbs.  ”I was talking to him and he was mumbling back.”

The man died, however, before paramedics arrived.

Neighbors say the man lives nearby and flew his plane often on days when the weather was nice.

“It’s kind of unnerving, I’ll tell you for sure,” says Raymond Evans.  ”It’s just something you don’t want to happen, and here it is.  It’s just right before your eyes.”

Mary Evans also says the.. Read More

“Most people refer to us as a “fly-in” and that’s certainly an important component, as Lakeland Linder Regional Airport becomes the busiest airport in the world during our event, with over 40,000 recorded aircraft movements! That’s busier than Atlanta or Chicago!

We are also host to one of the largest aviation tradeshow/conventions in the world with more than 500 commercial exhibitors showcasing the newest products in the industry. From multi-million dollar aircraft to aviation art and avionics, our vendors have something for just about everyone. Plus, our education corridor is filled with more than 400 hands-on workshops and forums, all taking place during the six-day event known around the world as “SUN ‘n FUN”.

And, don’t forget the daily airshow, Friday “night” airshow, Saturday morning balloon race, kids activities, aviation lectures at the Florida Air Musuem, and numerous food vendors and daily entertainment that goes well into the evening. Thousands of guests who just can’t get enough SUN ‘n FUN join us in the on-site campground, to awaken every day to the seductive sound of aircraft engines.”

Ultralight’s at The Sun and Fun from Jan Ferreira on Vimeo.

The sheriff’s office said the two unidentified men were in an ultralight craft that struck the lines in the 8500 block of Webb Road, just north of El Rancho Road, shortly after 7 p.m.

The condition of the men was not known late Sunday evening, but officials said their injuries were not considered life-threatening…. read more