Solair

Solair I and Solair II are two German-designed electric aircraft.

The human piloted Solair I was developed from 1980 by Günther Rochelt - developer of the Musculair human-powered aircraft series - based on a Hans Farner canard design. It employed 2499 wing-mounted solar cells giving an output of between 1.8 kilowatts (kW), equivalent to approximately 2.4 horsepower (hp), and 2.2 kW (3.0 hp). The aircraft first flew at Unterwössen, Germany on 21 August 1983. It flew for 5 hours and 41 minutes, "mostly on solar energy and also thermals". The aircraft is now displayed at the German Museum in Munich. The newly developed piloted Solair II made its first flight in May 1998 and further test flights that summer but the propulsion system overheated too fast. Development stopped when Günther Rochelt suddenly died in September 1998.