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I was talking about fuel consumption. Most small aircraft run on normal gasoline, but they usually get the equivalent of 10-15 mpg. The Cessna 172, for instance

I was talking about fuel consumption. Most small aircraft run on normal gasoline, but they usually get the equivalent of 10-15 mpg. The Cessna 172, for instance, gets the equivalent of 13 miles per gallon. This vehicle will be worse than that. I can see why that would be unclear from what I wrote.

rasz 5y ago
Something tells me modern BMW engine will be more efficient than 80 year old design powering that Cessna.
- afgasgbui 5y ago
  The world records for efficiency are here: https://www.fai.org/records?f%5B0%5D=field_type_of_record%3A1119 https://www.fai.org/records?f%5B0%5D=field_type_of_record%3A... The world record for the 1000-1750kg weight class is about 16 miles per gallon. That is burning jet fuel rather than ordinary gasoline. 1000 kg is light for a modern car. There are no aircraft that can compete with a Prius for transporting small numbers of people. There are few that can compete with a Hummer. (Note that I'm not sure how the records are calculated. There are a lot of relevant variables, most importantly how fast the plane is flying. And I'm not an aeronautical engineer, just a hobbyist.) EDIT: More information on that record can be found here: https://lift.erau.edu/for-the-record/ https://lift.erau.edu/for-the-record/ I get a slightly different figure of 17-ish mpg. Still pretty bad.
JoeAltmaier 5y ago
"Its creator, Prof Stefan Klein, said it could fly about 1,000km (600 miles), at a height of 8,200ft (2,500m), and had clocked up 40 hours in the air so far." That sounds like pretty good mileage? Depending on the size of the tank, 1000km is pretty good range for an automobile.
- afgasgbui 5y ago
  I guarantee you the tank is yuge compared to what you'd find in a normal car. All airplanes have big tanks.
  - JoeAltmaier 5y ago
    Well no way will a 12,000 gallon tank fit in the car pictured. That's the size of a semi truck trailer. So to cruise 1000km it has to get way better than 12kpg or whatever.

rasz 5y ago

Something tells me modern BMW engine will be more efficient than 80 year old design powering that Cessna.

afgasgbui 5y ago
The world records for efficiency are here: https://www.fai.org/records?f%5B0%5D=field_type_of_record%3A1119 https://www.fai.org/records?f%5B0%5D=field_type_of_record%3A... The world record for the 1000-1750kg weight class is about 16 miles per gallon. That is burning jet fuel rather than ordinary gasoline. 1000 kg is light for a modern car. There are no aircraft that can compete with a Prius for transporting small numbers of people. There are few that can compete with a Hummer. (Note that I'm not sure how the records are calculated. There are a lot of relevant variables, most importantly how fast the plane is flying. And I'm not an aeronautical engineer, just a hobbyist.) EDIT: More information on that record can be found here: https://lift.erau.edu/for-the-record/ https://lift.erau.edu/for-the-record/ I get a slightly different figure of 17-ish mpg. Still pretty bad.

JoeAltmaier 5y ago

"Its creator, Prof Stefan Klein, said it could fly about 1,000km (600 miles), at a height of 8,200ft (2,500m), and had clocked up 40 hours in the air so far." That sounds like pretty good mileage? Depending on the size of the tank, 1000km is pretty good range for an automobile.

afgasgbui 5y ago
I guarantee you the tank is yuge compared to what you'd find in a normal car. All airplanes have big tanks.
- JoeAltmaier 5y ago
  Well no way will a 12,000 gallon tank fit in the car pictured. That's the size of a semi truck trailer. So to cruise 1000km it has to get way better than 12kpg or whatever.