Aerovironment

Your Sept. 10 editorial ("Electric Cars: Turning on Another Light") states that "companies as big as General Motors have tinkered with electric cars for years without actually going into production." Tinkering? Hardly. GM announced in April that we are proceeding with plans to produce and market an electric car. The prototype car, the GM Impact, has a definite Southern California influence: It was designed at GM's Advanced Concepts Center in Ventura County and was introduced Jan. 3 in Los Angeles.

"Air Toxics: Dealing with the '80s, Planning for the '90s" is the topic of a half-day seminar to be held Wednesday at the Indian Hills Sheraton Resort, City of Industry. The seminar is designed to teach businesses more about toxic-related issues and regulations, and how to approach problems that toxics can cause. Speakers include Moustafa Elsherif of the South Coast Air Quality Management District; Renzo Venturo, Hughes Aircraft Co., and Joyce Niebur, an attorney.

Catherine Anderson and Bob Curtin swear it's the future. But when their eight-foot-long, 100-foot-wide solar-powered plane is wheeled out of its hangar at Edwards Air Force Base, it looks more like a balsa wood model made by a 50-foot kid. Don't be fooled. Their low-power, high-tech idea could undermine the growing global satellite-launching business.

Helios, the solar-powered, remotely controlled aircraft that shattered the world altitude record two years ago, crashed near the Hawaiian island of Kauai on Thursday during a test flight. The $15-million airplane was designed by Paul MacCready's aerospace firm AeroVironment Inc. in Monrovia. The craft was flying over the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility when it "broke apart," a spokesman for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.

Dressed in white shirt and tie, Monrovia City Manager Rod Gould does not even break into a sweat as he pedals a bicycle with ease up a steep, 30-degree incline on Canyon Boulevard, his daily route home. Astonished passersby gape as Gould, 36, waves. "They think I'm in great shape, but I'm barely pedaling," he laughs.

AeroVironment Inc., birthplace of the famed Gossamer Albatross human-powered airplane--has spent years developing a solar-powered aircraft so light and efficient that it could stay aloft for six months. The Helios, as the solar plane is called, would circle slowly at altitudes up to 100,000 feet above cities, relaying ultra-fast Internet, television and telephone signals directly to homes, like a miniature satellite. Its power would come from solar cells mounted on the wings.

British soldiers on the front lines in Afghanistan have been armed with pocket-sized spy drones that can give operators bird's-eye views of the battlefield below. The little flying machine, dubbed Black Hornet Nano, is just 4 inches long and weighs about a half-ounce. It flies like a helicopter, allowing it to hover and dart back and forth. “We used it to look for insurgent firing points and check out exposed areas of the ground before crossing, which is a real asset,” Sgt. Christopher Petherbridge with Britain's Brigade Reconnaissance Force told the Associated Press . The drone, which resembles a child's toy, is made by the Norwegian company Prox Dynamics AS. According to the company's website, the Hornet can fly indoors or outdoors.

We are attending one of the hoariest rituals in Southern California. A new plane has been rolled out at Edwards Air Force Base, and we are standing in the freezing dawn, waiting to see if it will fly. Frankly, the prospects don't look so good. The airplane sits on the desert floor about a mile away. It consists of a huge wing with 14 propellers and no tail. The wing itself is so gossamer that its tips droop toward the ground. The whole assembly looks like it would break if you sneezed on it.

Calstart, a Burbank-based consortium that is trying to create an advanced transportation industry in the state, announced several new demonstration projects. The programs are part of a $5.5-million partnership between Calstart and the U.S. Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency. Nine California companies are also participants.

Southern California's long dream of being the launch pad for nonpolluting cars and buses is getting a jump start from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which is giving out contracts for electric buses, and from the bold efforts of entrepreneur Anders Eklov, who has revived an electric bus company in Downey. Ebus Inc. is building 18 electric shuttle buses for the DWP, under marching orders to have them ready for the U.S. League of Cities convention this November in Los Angeles.