With a slice of daytime moon above him and a red-tailed hawk keeping him company at a respectful distance, Gary Davis was in his element. He took his single-seat, battery-powered electric aircraft higher and higher into the blue sky above Greenville Downtown Airport. The goal last Saturday, as he circled and tried to catch thermal currents to support his 250-pound piece of modern aeronautical engineering, was to set a world altitude record for a particular class of aircraft.
Davis, 56, who has been flying ultralights for 34 years, felt confident that anywhere from "300 feet to 2 miles" would do the trick. His research had indicated that no one had gone for the record with his type of three-wheel "electric trike." The flight took him to 3,700 feet, Davis said. With an independent observer on hand for the various stages of the attempt, Davis downloaded his black box data. He now awaits official certification of the record from various air sports organizations, including the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.
"I've never set a world record," he said. "In the early days of hang gliding at Paris Mountain, I set a state duration record. I was up 3½ hours one time in 1976."
An Eagle Scout, Davis developed a love of planes and other aircraft when other teens were nurturing their love of cars. He said he was flying a Piper Cub by the time he was 14. Then came his move to experimental aircraft and, over the past few years, his fascination with electric aircraft.
"The electric motor is much quieter and vibration free. With a gas motor, there's a lot of vibration," Davis said.
His latest aircraft is "designed for ultralight soaring where you take the motor and use it to climb up and use lift-like thermals and fly potentially for hours," he said.
Saturday's record-attempt adventure lasted around 45 minutes, starting from the time he was towed by golf cart from in front of the USAeroTech hangar to the runway and quickly taxied to liftoff. Pilots of conventional aircraft, having been alerted to what Davis was attempting, gave him the safe space he needed. Forty or so people were at USAeroTech to watch from the ground. Others assembled at the Runway Cafe and the adjacent children's aviation park. For a half hour, probably none of them were at ease, staring at the pilot at the mercy of the wind and a lithium ion battery about the size of a car battery.
In the case of a major catastrophe, the entire craft was equipped with a parachute that could be deployed to bring it to the ground. But no one wanted to see if that part of the package worked. The most expensive and heaviest part of the aircraft was the battery.
"It takes a lot of energy to go up. It doesn't take much to maintain once you're up," he said.
The only snag Saturday was as Davis descended. He caught a thermal that kept lifting him back up. The hawk approached ever closer and furiously flapped its wings.
"I was trying to get out of the thermal. He was trying to get into it. I went up, and he went down. We both went in the wrong direction for what we wanted to do," Davis said.
He's usually anxious before a flight, but that feeling quickly disappears, he said.
"There's more nerves involved in getting ready. Once I take off, I'm calm," Davis said.
A Clemson University grad, Davis is managing director at Nachman, Norwood & Parrott, a Greenville consulting firm specializing in wealth management and retirement planning. Asked if his clients know about his risky hobby, Davis replied, "Most all of them know about it. ... It's managing the risks, knowing what to do so you don't take too much risk. The same thing is true with wealth management when you're managing investments."
He's also treasurer of the Rotary Club of Greenville East, which is why the club banner was unfurled as photos were snapped once Davis and his aircraft were safely back on earth Saturday.
Davis hopes to continue to explore the cutting edge of electric-powered flight.
"If I can find a sponsor, there's another category of electric aircraft I'd like to build. I'd like to go for some distance and speed records," Davis said.
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