Lady of the lake The Akoya takes flight

It can take off from a field, a lake or a snow strip – and you can park it in your garage or on your yacht. The Akoya is a new concept in light aircraft, as Peter Mercer reports.

LADY OF THE LAKE

This Spring the first potential clients for the Akoya, a new French amphibious Light Sport Aircraft, took their turns for a demonstration flight from Le Bourget du Lac, in the Rhone Alpes region of southeastern France, at the side of test pilot Gerald Ducoin.

The prototype of the Akoya first flew in 2007. Now Benoit Senellart, VP of Development at Lisa Airplanes, the French company set up to develop this new aviation concept, was delighted at the response of the first passengers. “I’ve been involved in every step of Akoya’s development and the first delivery will be the most memorable. Therefore it’s with great pleasure that I watched our clients’ first flights. Their feedbacks are all positive on the easiness to pilot as well as on the sensations in flight. They really appreciated the visibility, the comfort and the safe atmosphere of the cockpit. This flight definitely won them over and I am delighted with that.”

The Akoya is a two-seat amphibious airplane that can operate from the ground, water or snow; it can reach a speed of 135 knots with a range of 2000km and an average fuel consumption of 5.6 L per 100km. For a conventional landing it requires only a 200m field and can then fold its wings and be parked in a garage. This Multi-Access capability, as Lisa Airplanes defines its radical concept, is achieved through a unique combination of two hydrofoils, retractable landing gear equipped with skis and folding wings.

Lisa Aircraft was established in 2004 by Erick Herzberger and Luc Bernole in the Savoie department of France not just to develop a genuinely innovative light aircraft but also to create a new lifestyle for aviation enthusiasts, a revolutionary Multi-Access system that would allow the aircraft to land with equal ease on land, water or snow without any sacrifice of performance. The two founders assembled a multi-disciplinary team of experts in aeronautics, hydrodynamics, mechanical engineering, industrial production and marketing and established collaboration agreements with technical laboratories, polytechnic institutions and aerospace companies. A key relationship has been with ONERA, the French aerospace laboratory that has supported the project with its expertise in aerodynamics as well as with its wind tunnel facilities and numerical simulation capabilities. Flight testing

First flight for the Akoya was in 2007, from Chambery Savoie Airport; on board were test pilot Gerard Ducoin and test equipment monitoring around 40 different parameters, from speed, angle of attack and temperatures to flight control positions etc. Over the next year more than 50 flights confirmed the efficiency of the aircraft’s aerodynamic surfaces as well as its handling qualities and stability in flight. During 2009 work was completed on the development of the manufacturing processes and systems and the first pre-series prototype was completed in 2010. Production of series aircraft is sub-contracted to aeronautical companies in France, Italy, Germany and Austria.

Flight tests of the Akoya began in late 2010 with the first flight from water taking place on the lake at Le Bourget du Lac in 2011. These trials demonstrated that the aircraft could operate from water with a rapid, stable take-off without the pilot having to take any exceptional action; it was clear that the Seafoil system functioned effectively without the need for a hull, floats or steps. Test flights are now under way to prepare the aircraft for LSA (Light Sport Aircraft)

© 2011 LISA Airplanes © 2011 LISA Airplanes © 2011 LISA Airplanes

certification and first deliveries are planned for next year.

The unique feature of the Akoya’s patented Multi-Access technology is that, through a combination of retractable landing gear, Seafoils and Skis-in, it enables the aircraft to land on water, land or snow with the same ease and without any modification. So the fortunate Akoya owner can take off next to his yacht as easily as flying to his private property; and if he changes his plans mid-flight and heads for the ski-slopes, landing is no problem.

The Seafoils are wing-like structures under the fuselage that lift the aircraft out of the water at very low speed, enabling it to accelerate quickly and take off in a very short distance while maintaining good stability and manoeuvrability. The Akoya’s retractable landing gear is equipped with skis so that while inflight the pilot can choose to land on dry land or snow surfaces with no prior additions or loss of performance. Once landed, the powerassisted pivoting wings allow the Akoya to be stored in a garage or on a yacht.

The engine of the Akoya is located at the rear of the aircraft, taking engine noise and propeller-generated turbulence away from the cockpit and making the interior much quieter than that of a conventional light aircraft. The panoramic view offered by the tinted canopy, ahead of the wing, also makes visual flight much easier while the advanced aerodynamics make the aircraft insensitive to wind gusts and give it an excellent lift-to-drag ratio. This means that in an emergency such as an engine failure the pilot has plenty of time to find a suitable landing place – which can, of course, be on water, land or snow – and, in extreme situations, there is the ultimate safety device of a built-in parachute to take both passengers and plane safely to the ground.

Silent flight

From the beginning Akoya was designed to optimise its environmental impact, with low fuel consumption and low noise pollution, but Lisa Airplanes is already preparing to take the next step forward with its Hy-Bird, an aircraft similar to the Akoya but powered by an electric motor driven by solar energy and hydrogen. A hydrogen fuel cell, developed in collaboration with French fuel cell manufacturer Helion, drives the aircraft during cruise flight while photovoltaic cells on the wing and the horizontal tail supply, through batteries, sufficient energy to enhance the fuel cell power for take-off and climb. A partnership with Trina Solar, a manufacturer of mono- and multi-crystalline photovoltaic modules, has been established to equip Hy-Bird with its solar cells.

Commenting on the Akoya’s first passenger flights, CEO Erick Herzberger, said, “I’ve flown many light aircraft in my life so I can tell that the Akoya is incomparable. She behaves exceptionally well on water in terms of speed and ease of take-off just as much as in terms of comfort thanks to the airplane’s stability. All the work done on the Seafoils has turned out to be a real success. After my first flight, I proudly announced to the team that the Akoya is perfect.” n