Gallery: Tech Showcased At Oshkosh Often Finds Broad Applications

This Bristell B23 Energic is fitted with the H55 electric propulsion system. The H55 stores 48 kWh of usable energy in lithium-ion batteries and features a 90-kW electric motor with an optional 104-kW output for landing on grass or short runways. The aircraft is designed as a flight trainer with a payload of 190 kg (419 lb.), climbs at 800 ft./min. and has an energy cost of $7 per flight hour. Charging time in normal operations is 1 hr.

A Chinese drone manufacturer unveiled the Janus-1, a tandem-rotor aircraft that essentially functions like a drone; however, it is operated by a pilot who sits in the underslung gondola and uses a handheld control console to steer the aircraft.

Racine, Wisconsin-based DeltaHawk displayed the new DHK-4V engine from the back of a passenger van parked next to the company's exhibit booth. In combination with an electric motor, the 168.8-200.5-kW hybrid-propulsion system driven by DeltaHawk’s jet-fueled diesel-engine core promises a step-change improvement in fuel efficiency for future commercial and military aircraft.

Porto Aviation Group of Cremela, Italy, displayed its Risen Super Veloce SV 916, a two-seat kitplane, at the show. A Super Veloce in 2024 became the first ultralight to cross the Atlantic Ocean nonstop, flying from the Outer Hebrides in Scotland to Goose Bay, Canada, covering a distance 1,850 nm. 

The SV 916’s efficient prop design is one of the cornerstones of its speed, fuel efficiency and range. On the aircraft's nonstop Atlantic crossing, its Rotax engine burned 43 gal. of fuel in 11.5 hr. Maximum altitude over the Atlantic was a little more than 7,000 ft. The SV 916 landed with about 3 hr. of fuel remaining. 

Rutan Aircraft Flying Experience, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, spearheaded the effort to bring many operators of aircraft designed by Burt Rutan to Oshkosh. Rutan, the founder of Scaled Composites, is known for unconventional design. The Grizzly was Rutan’s prototype for a bush plane. After Rutan visited Alaska, he told people he should have done so before designing the Grizzly, Rutan Aircraft Flying Experience CEO Ryszard Zadow says. During his visit to the 49th state, Rutan realized that a good bush plane needed more ground clearance and additional refinements. The Grizzly made its first flight in 1982 and now belongs to the EAA. No other aircraft were built from the plans.

Like many Rutan designs, the Grizzly has canards. But the Grizzly’s canards are unusual even for Rutan; they are connected to the wing and have movable flight control surfaces.

Among Rutan Aircraft Flying Experience's aircraft on display were one-of-a-kind prototypes. This one is the Long-EZ-B flown by Dick Rutan, Burt’s brother, on an EAA World Friendship Tour from April 4 to June 24, 1997, that took him to 14 countries and across all the world’s oceans. He flew a total of 272 hr. and 3,685 nm, 1.5 times the distance around the equator.