A Manned plane powered by batteries took off and flew for 59 SECONDS
 

Lift off for battery-power plane

A historic moment in aviation?

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A manned plane powered by conventional batteries took off from Tokyo on Sunday - and flew for 59 seconds.

The one-man, glider-like plane took off from a private airport and reached a height of 5.2 metres (16 feet).

It was powered by 160 AA batteries, which are commonly used in portable CD players and cameras.

"I was careful at take-off as it was very difficult," said pilot Tomohiro Kamiya, a senior member at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

He added: "As it soared five metres, people on the ground looked so small to me.
Batteries loaded onto the plane
The batteries are commonly used in electronic devices

"I did not expect it to take off so beautifully. I realised again how powerful it could be."

The Institute, known for its experiments with human-powered planes, and Matsushita, who provided the batteries, launched a joint project to develop the battery-powered plane in January.

In April, the joint team completed building the plane and suceeded in rolling and taxiing the aircraft in its first test flight.

In the second test the plane soared two metres above the ground and flew some 400 metres "almost independently".

Sunday's flight was the first in the presence of officials from the Japan Aeronautic Association.

he should have used lithium-polymer batteries... much more voltage, lasts much longer and they are very light

"As it soared five metres, people on the ground looked so small to me"
LOL how small could they have looked from 16 ft .. they must be make asians smalller

thats neat :thumbsup

Nevermind that bunnies can't fly, but how'd the fit that big drum in the cockpit?

I was thinking that aswell. Soared five metres... :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

I'm thinking the whole point of the experiment was too use readily available conventional batteries.

I think he'll be very amazed when he discovers hang gliders fly for free.

useless without pics.

like looking from a balcony down to your yard lol

I saw a pic of it elsewhere with one guy flying the plane and the rest of the crew running along the runway while it was flying a few feet above them. :1orglaugh

I think they just wanted to proove that normal batteries can power a plane...