With concerns about carbon emissions and non-renewable fuels climbing, the diminutive Dragonfly, a one-person light rotorcraft, has gotten airborne at an auspicious moment. It’s “The first green helicopter in the world,” says Ricardo Cavalcanti, president and CEO of Avimech International Aircraft, Inc., based in Tucson, Arizona (www.tipjetusa.com), the Dragonfly’s manufacturer. The Dragonfly is powered by a pair of 102-hp hydrogen peroxide-powered rocket engines, each about 8 inches long and weighing 1.3 pounds, placed at the tip of the rotorcraft’s twin aluminum blades. The exhaust gas is water vapor. Cavalcanti notes that hydrogen peroxide is a readily available and inexhaustible fuel, and currently sells for about $3.60 per gallon. Full Story.
