20th of July 2024, the Sol.Ex. reaches the barometric altitude of 5675m, overshooting the altitude world record in « electric microlight » category
This world record has been ratified by the FAI, it can be found here.
For a world record recognized by the FAI (fédération aéronautique internationale), it is the barometric altitude which is considered. That means altitude measured with a pneumatic altimeter, which measures the air pressure.
Nowadays the GPS altitude is much more precise than the barometric altitude. But for the former records made before the existance of GPSs, pneumatic altimeters were the only usable devices. It would be embarrassing if two candidats had really close performances but with two different measuring methods…
For the So.Ex., no doubt : in RAL1E category (electric microlight single seater 3 axes), the former record was at 2366m. And all electric microlight categories considered, the record was hold by an electric paraglider, at 4489m. The Sol.Ex. went far above !
Classic gliders can regularly climb up to this kind of altitudes, and even higher. That is possible under orographic waves conditions, which happens under specific weather conditions.
But what is remarkable here beyond the figures, is that this particular day only the Sol.Ex. was able to climb so high without using a single atom of carbon :
- Electric motorplanes don’t have the autonomy to climb up to this height using their engine.
- The maximum altitude of updrafts was around 4800m (GPS). A pure glider, or paraglider or bird wouldn’t have been able to climb higher.
- A solar aircraft – wide and light therefore fragile – wouldn’t have liked the turbulences in lower layers of the atmosphere (as there were good updrafts, there were turbulences). It probably wouldn’t have took off.
=> The Sol.Ex. took of with its electric engine, spending about 40% of battery. Then the engine was turned off and the aircraft continued to fly in pure soaring mode for a few hours, using updrafts to climb up to 4800m. During this time, the solar panels recharged the battery to 100%. Up there with full batteries, the Sol.Ex. climbed 1000m more with the engine !
=> The Sol.Ex. took of with its electric engine, spending about 40% of battery. Then the engine was turned off and the aircraft continued to fly in pure soaring mode for a few hours, using updrafts to climb up to 4800m. During this time, the solar panels recharged the battery to 100%. Up there with full batteries, the Sol.Ex. climbed 1000m more with the engine !
