GravityPlane Presentation to the American Institute of

I have only the highest regard for AIAA”, Mr. Hunt proclaimed. “The fact that my work is being recognized by such a distinguished body is extremely encouraging.” Mr. HunTs paper titled “Gravity Powered Fuel-less Airship” will be presented during the Lighter-Than-Air (LTA) Transports panel discussion. Other panelists will include Lt. Col. Mike Woodgerd, U.S. Army Office of the Secretary of Defense, Dr. Barry Prentice of the University of Manitoba, Canada, and C. Luffman of LTA Solutions, Germany. The session will be chaired by I Schaefer, Engineering Services, Germany .“We are making substantial progress in getting the gravityplane concept known to the aviation industry and to the United States military. During Aviation Week’s Aviation and Defense Programs recent symposium in Arlington, Texas, my staff and I had the opportunity to present the GravityPlaane to the Honorable Claude M. Bolton, Jr. Assistant Secritary to the Army and to the corporate heads of several major aircraft manufacturers. In addition to the meetings, we’ve had great press coverage in recent months by major magazines and by the end of December additional articles will have appeared in Flying Magazine, Aviation Week, and The World and I Magazine”, Mr. Hunt added.

Hunt Aviation maintains that the military is extremely interested in using its gravity powered, fuel-less flight aircraft as a sort of mother ship to direct a “flock” of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles UAVs. “We believe we can cut the man power and cost dramatically to operate UAVs using our craft as a flying UAV aircraft carrier. They can take-off from and return to the mother-ship.The gravityplane can stay at high altitude for extremely long periods of time without the need of fuels and it has the space to hold hundreds of UAVs onboard. Our aircraft can maintain a stationary position above its UAVs or can be deployed flying along with a large flock that can be operated with only a limited number of people at the controls”, said Gene Cox, President of Hunt Aviation.

The company also states that there is also a great deal of interest in the craft from the military for high altitude surveillance, transporting large cargos of men or supplies. and missions relating to the United States Special Forces because of the aircraft’s ability to take-off and land vertically (VTOL), even on water.

The gravityplane can switch back and forth from being lighter-than-air in order to gain altitude or to being heavier-than-air to become a glider by respectively exhausting compressed air that serves as ballast weight to become lighter or by bringing in compressed air to add weight. Inert helium gas fills gas-bags enclosed within a rigid lightweight aircraft to gain altitude via aerostatic lift; then at high altitude, air from the surrounding atmosphere is compressed into the aircraft to cause the loss of aerostatic lift which allows the airplane to become a glider that can glide long distances using high aspect ratio glider type of wings. Wind Turbines create and store energy during the downward glide.

With aviation celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, an inventor in Mississippi is proposing a radical new concept of flight for the next century, the Gravity Plane, images of the new design can be seen in the Hunt Aviation booth, No. 527

Robert Hunt, founder of the company, has applied for four patents for the new craft, which does not use fossil fuel for power but use forces of gravity instead. The craft has two helium-filled pontoons, or lifting bodies, with a delta-shaped fuselage for crew, passengers, and cargo between. The wings can be swept back according to Hunt, the aircraft creates a power cycle from two forces of gravity: buoyancy, a force of gravity that creates motion in the upward direction;

and gravity acceleration, It rises through aero- static, or lighter-than-air, lift, as inert helium gas fills the gas bags in the pontoons; the surrounding atmosphere is compressed into the aircraft to cause the loss of aerostatic lift; the aircraft glides long distances using high-aspect-ratio glider-type wings; wind turbines create and store energy during the downward glide, and the stored energy is later used to again lose lift in a cycle. Gene Cox, president of the

By BECKY GILLETTE
MBJ Contributing Writer

PASS CHRISTIAN – Robert “Bob” Hunt, a former
nuclear designer who once helped design the nuclear
reactor components for the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier,
has been an inventor for many years. His inventions
include new wind turbines and gas turbines. His gas
turbines generate electricity from the kinetic energy of
a gas well. These inventions are now being marketed by
the California firm Cryotherm Energy
(www.cryotherm.com).

Recently Hunt came up with an idea that he believes
could revolutionize air transportation. He has filed patent
applications for a new aircraft technology that he believes
can sustain flight without the use of fuels.

“This is an invention I created only in May of this
year.” Hunt said. “Things have happened incredibly
fast since then. It is really remarkable. I have been an
inventor for many years. I have never been involved in
anything moving this fast.”

Hunt is meeting with major aircraft and aerospace
companies that wish to learn more about the invention
that he feels has possible broad applications for freight
and passenger transportation.

The invention is designed to combine the two
forces of gravity (buoyancy that is an upward pull and
gravity acceleration that is a downward pull) into a new
hybrid aircraft that can rise into the sky via aerostatic
lift, using lifting gas such as helium or by the lifting
force of a vacuum, and then glide downward like a
glider using the gravitation pull of the earth.

“Gravity acceleration, which is commonly thought
of simply as the downward gravitational pull of the
earth, is the reason a glider is able to fly,” Hunt said.
“Before being able to glide, however, the aircraft must
first change from being lighter-than-air to being heav-
ier-than-air. This weight change may be accomplished
by bringing compressed air from the surrounding
atmosphere into the aircraft to make the aircraft heavier
to lose lift.”

According to Hunt, the compression of atmosphere-
ic air into the aircraft requires an energy input. The
required energy may generated by a wind turbine
from the high velocity wind created while gliding
downward and energy may be stored in the form of
compressed air that is stored in high-pressure storage
cylinders. The stored energy may be used later to
change the weight of the aircraft by powering pneumat-
ic motor driven compressors to compress air that is
taken from the surrounding environment into the air-
craft to add mass to the aircraft.

“Importantly, however, the weight of the stored com-
pressed air must be conserved aboard the aircraft after it has
been expanded in order to obtain power to drive the pneu-
matic motors,” said Hunt, who is a native of Gulfport.
“During descent, the compressed air also beneficially adds
weight to the aircraft. The aircraft glides faster as it
becomes heavier; however, the glide slope remains the
same because increased velocity causes the air to flow
faster over the wings, which provides more aerodynamic
lift to offset the additional weight.

“The amount of energy produced by the wind tur-
bine while gliding down is directly related to the height
(potential energy) at which the glide begins, with the
higher the altitude of the starting point the greater the
length of time that the aircraft glides downward and
produces power. Gravity is used to lift the aircraft via
buoyancy and also is used to generate power via the
wind turbine as it glides downward, as well as provide
forward momentum while gliding.”

Fuel-less flights sounds too good to be true. But
Hunt said in the science of the real world, there are a lot
of forces such as the sun and wind that can be tapped as
an energy source. In this case, he is using two forces,
gravity and buoyancy, to make an up and down cycle.

“Gravity is what causes a hot air balloon or helium
balloon to lift,” Hunt said. “Buoyancy is a function of
gravity. These are very firm principals of science that
have been around for 150 years. In theory this could have
been done 150 years ago. The science is that simple.
But part of the reason I’m able to do this is new space
Age materials that are super strong and super light.”

Hunt is currently working on a prototype. The fuel-
less craft will be larger than conventional aircraft
because aerostatic lift requires more space to hold lift-
ing gas. But the craft will be able to do vertical liftoff
and landing.

“You won’t need an airport.” Hunt said. “You can
go directly to customers with cargo. I believe we can
reach speeds of upwards of 200 miles per hour.”

Hunt’s invention was featured recently in In Flight
USA magazine. The World and I, which is part of the
magazine division owned by The Washington Post, is
including the invention in a series of articles on the cre-
ation of fuel-less flight starting in the December issue.

Hunt said he turned his attention to this area
because of his interest in the environment. Such an
invention would greatly reduce air pollution and deple-
tion of non-renewable fossil fuels.

Hunt’s interest in inventing things began as a child.
“You Know how some kids are curious about how
everything works?” Hunt asks. “I was one of those tinker-
ing kids. I had this tremendous curiosity about how every-
thing works around us. What I have realized in recent
years is that the simple inventions have not all been taken
up. Everyone tends to think in terms of science being exot-
ic and difficult. I’m trying to look at the world around me
and have a better idea of how the environment works. I
think that nature has figured it all out in ways we will
never figure out. We can’t simulate the things nature does.
It uses these natural forces of gravity, wind, heat from the
sun, to create this wonderful environment we live in. So
many of my inspirations have come from observations of
nature. It is my tremendous curiosity that is at the heart of
my inventiveness. The environment is my inspiration.”

Hunt said it will take some years to totally design
and build the aircraft.

“But they will be built because the science behind
it is solid.” Hunt said. “I get a lot of different opinions
from engineers. All of them feel the concept is good,
and all have various concerns about how things will
operate when we put them into flight. There will be
some things we probably won’t know until we actually
fly the aircraft.”

Contact MBJ contributing writer Becky Gillette at
bgillette@bellsouth.net.

A description of Hunt Aviation's technology that is based on patents filed by inventor, Robert D. Hunt, was first published in the August issue of InFlight Magazine.

Hunt's invention creates a power cycle out of two forces of gravity: (1) buoyancy - a force of gravity that creates motion in the upward direction that is caused by the greater gravitational pull of the earth on a more dense lifting fluid than on a less dense body of mass that is being lifted by the lifting fluid, known as the Archimedes Principal; and, (2) gravity acceleration - the increase in downward velocity associated with a falling body of mass.

To build the craft, Hunt says to start by using advanced new strong, lightweight materials that are now available, such as carbon fiber or Kevlar composites.

Hunt Aviation Corp is in the first phase of prototype construction.

Contact:

Gene Cox, President of Hunt Aviation, Corp.

T: +1.228.452.0808