Audio Comparo: Yuneec E430 Takes On The Radial Rocket (HeHe)

 I've been doing a lot of research on electric powered flight these last few days which has left me remarkably encouraged for where the state of the art will soon be. There are a lot of projects in the works and some leaping and bounding going on. I'll be posting more about that before long.

 One of the things that's hit me hard about electric flight tho is the sound of the airplanes... or the relative lack thereof. So, to make me feel a little better, I did a little audio comparo today, pitting the Yuneec E430 all-electric aircraft against the Radial Rocket powered by the 360hp Russian M-14 radial internal combustion engine. Is it a fair comparo? Of course not. That's not the point. But it does kinda point out how much the sound can drive the passion for flight. At least it does for me.

 So, take a listen to the Yuneec in the video above. It's only 23 seconds long, so you'll get the important sound bite quickly. It's actually pretty interesting how much that little electric motor and prop sound like a smooth and powerful turboprop as it flies by. I was somewhat surprised by how much I liked the way it sounded.

 Then, after you listen to the Yuneec, check out the Radial Rocket video below. If you're anything like me, by 30 seconds into it your heart rate will quicken and large amounts of saliva will begin to pool in your mouth. By a minute into the video you might be thinking something like: "If I sold the house and lived in my car, I could have one of those beasts!" Yeah, the sound of a radial engine, with a bazillion moving parts rubbing up against each other with a little oil between them, controlled explosions of hydrocarbon  fuel and air going on at an amazingly high rate, and an exhaust output that would curl ole Al's hair are really a large part of what makes a really great airplane. So, while I'm ok with electric airplanes moving in and changing the game, I just hope will have some gasoline (and the bucks it'll take to buy it) for as long as I live so we can be sure to have airplanes that sound like the Radial Rocket does!

(more details on the Radial Rocket coming soon... this is definitely one to talk about!)