NASA Armstrong unveils all-electric experiential aircraft in eastern Kern
When NASA test pilot Wayne “Ringo” Ringelberg heard he had been selected along with fellow pilot Tim Williams to fly the X-57, NASA’s first all-electric airplane, his ego may have swelled just a bit.
“When the previous chief pilot told me I was going to be on this project, he was going to relay to me why I was selected, and I expected to hear a lot about my precise flying skills and my exceptional technical background,” Ringelberg said, tongue firmly in cheek.
“And what he said was, ‘No, you and Tim are my two lightest guys. It’s a pretty small airplane. I don’t know if they’re going to have a weight problem or not.’”
Several members of the senior X-57 team, Ringo included, gathered at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in eastern Kern County on Nov. 9 to unveil their newest X-plane to several reporters and photojournalists.
Project leaders said the all-electric, battery-powered plane will boast a 500 percent increase in high-speed cruise efficiency, zero in-flight carbon emissions and a much quieter flight benefiting people on the ground.
Such an aircraft, exclusively propelled by electric power, has the potential to revolutionize both general and commercial aviation with its quiet design, its virtual zero-carbon output and especially incredible improvements in efficiency.
“Our focus is not to create a new vehicle type,” said Brent Cobleigh, a project manager at NASA Armstrong. “We’re in the business of filling the holes” that the commercial sector has difficulty doing.
Developing markets, such as “urban air mobility,” could potentially be jump-started by Uber-like companies that could potentially move customers safely across urban environments quickly and relatively cheaply with electric flight.
Later, small commercial flights could make use of the technology, and eventually hybrid — part electric, part conventional — airliners could be developed for long-distance commercial aviation.
The early concept began back in 2011. Then in 2015, engineers at Armstrong attached an experimental wing to a big rig and drove it at
speed on one of the dry lake beds at Edwards Air Force Base to test propeller technology and “lift.”
The X-57 is actually a retrofit of an already existing aircraft, an Italian Tecnam P2006T, said Sean Clarke, the chief investigator of the project.
The plane will have a long, skinny wing, designed at NASA Langley, with 14 electric motors, two on the wingtips and 12 on the leading edge of the wing.
The X-plane, so designated by the Air Force due to its experimental nature, will use all 14 motors during takeoff and landing. But at cruising altitude, the props on the 12 smaller motors will stop and fold away until they’re needed again.
Battery technology has long been a limiting factor for electric-powered aircraft in terms of how much power they can store. But that is changing, Clarke said.
“These technologies were not ready ... five years ago, he said.
The X-57 isn’t trying to fly faster, he said. Just cheaper, cleaner and quieter.
Later that morning, Ringelberg demonstrated what piloting the plane is like on a flight simulator.
With a giant screen in front of him, he sat in the pilot’s seat and lifted off, turning and cruising over a desert landscape similar to the one right outside the doors.
The X-57 is the first crewed X-plane developed by NASA in the past 20 years. And there’s a sense of pride for the project that is palpable at the desert facility.
It doesn’t have the fireworks associated with the Bell X-1, which first broke the sound barrier in 1947, or the monstrous capabilities of the X-15 rocketplane, which broke numerous altitude and speed records in the 1950s and ’60s.
But the X-57 does have the capacity to change the world.
And that’s what they’re flying for.
A new report shows market conditions in local agriculture are generally stabilizing — though not improving much — as investors in Kern County farmland take in the bad news about upcoming restrictions on groundwater pumping and, to a lesser degree, lower commodity prices and a continuing labor shortage.
A recent update from Bakersfield’s Alliance Ag Services Inc. points to big year-over-year drops in the value of properties with minimal surface-water supplies, and more modest decreases in areas with more reliable access to irrigation.
The good news is that farmland prices have generally held steady during the last several months, suggesting the worst may have passed. But as one observer noted, it’s possible valuations could fall again as regulators begin to review local water agencies’ plans for complying with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, better known as SGMA.
The price of farmland is considered a broad-based measure of how well local agriculture is performing financially. Rabo AgriFinance has reported that Kern ag property values shot up about 125 percent between 2010 and 2015, when the price of commodities like almonds were very strong; prices have since settled down significantly, mostly because of worries that SGMA will take large swaths of land out of production.
Local farmland has in recent years attracted major investors, such as insurance funds and others with deep pockets. That has increased the value of some farmers’ holdings, even as it has priced out some smaller farmers.
Alliance Ag’s report shows a wide disparity in the price performance of local farmland, based mainly on water access. Overall, properties in the county that are part of water districts served by the Kern River are down no more than about 5 percent from a year ago, while on the other end of the spectrum, areas not part of a water district have fallen as much as 20 percent.
The company’s primary broker, farmland appraiser Michael G. “Mike” Ming, said there’s no guarantee prices won’t continue to decline as SGMA nears a key deadline, January 2020, when the state will receive and begin to review local proposals for meeting the requirements of SGMA.
“I think that you’re going to find that the closer we get to that January 2020, I think you’re going to see those (land) values kind of deteriorate a little bit, especially on (areas not served by a water district),” Ming said. “Because we really don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s a lot of risk in the market.”
He added that there’s a good chance prices will rise somewhat if negotiators in Washington are able to strike international agreements to end the product tariffs that have lowered the overseas competitiveness of almonds, pistachios and other Central Valley products.
Ronald Fumasi, vice president and senior analyst at Rabo AgriFinance, observed that SGMA’s effects have mostly been incorporated into local land values, but that “details can always change.”
“Remember, the state still has to receive, review and accept (or not accept) groundwater sustainability plans” required under SGMA,
Fumasi said by email. “So I am not willing to rule out more downside movement.”
But he also pointed to a significant “bright spot”: the recent federal move to revisit an official biological opinion that has kept more water from flowing south from the Sacramento Delta.
Fumasi noted that recent farmland valuations can be deceiving.
Properties considered low-quality because of their limited access to water might not be marketable at any price, which he said creates an incentive to seek out land with the best water availability. But people holding preferred farmland may not be willing to sell even at higher prices, he added.
Fumasi also noted that SGMA is not the only factor in farmland price declines. Tree nut prices are off their historic highs and farm labor costs continue to increase, both of which have weighed on Central Valley property valuations.
If you can’t capture an elementary-aged student’s attention with worksheets, games and homework, certainly seeing a 20-pound rabbit, dwarf goats and egg-laying chickens will do the trick.
Zephyr Lane Elementary School first grader Julissa Arceo got to experience so many activities for the first time — seeing a horse in person, learning how to milk a cow and how to successfully lasso an object.
Hundreds of other students were just as excited to get out of the classroom on a sunny morning Nov. 8 and spend time with Highland High School FFA students on their farm during the annual Fall Harvest.
“I learned a lot today,” Arceo said, noting she also got a lesson on bees and even decorated a spoon to look like one.
The event gives both sets of students the opportunity to learn in a unique way: elementary school students visit various booths to see different areas of agriculture, while the high schoolers get to act as teachers and share all they know with the youngsters.
“It’s pretty fun to teach them about this stuff,” explained junior Christian Magana. “Maybe when they get into high school they’ll join FFA and do ag events.”
Magana’s booth focused on the life cycle of a frog. From when they are eggs all the way until they reach adulthood, he showed children where frogs are found, what they eat, which ones are poisonous and even that the fattest frog weighs in at 7 pounds.
Other booths focused on traditional aspects of farming and agriculture, such as showcasing animals, growing fruits and vegetables and even learning how to milk a fake udder.
“Why are eggs so delicious?” junior Miguel Robles asked a group of wide-eyed students looking at a white chicken. “It’s because they eat healthy. If they were to eat chips, the eggs would be nasty.”
Some booths even covered topics such as electromagnets, how the Pony Express worked in the 1860s and the differences between various breeds of goats.
“A lot of kids are asking ‘Is it a dog? Is it a sheep?’ and I get to tell them all about goats,” junior Caitlyn Brewster explained. “It’s a fun opportunity.”
As teachers explored the farm grounds with their students, they noted it’s important to come to the Fall Harvest every year because it allows for their students to develop an appreciation for agriculture and how crucial it is for Kern County.
“Our principal and our school are really big on hands-on learning, and any chance to be out and be hands-on, like petting a horse or going to a grape booth, is great,” said Aileen Ornelas, an Eissler Elementary School first grade teacher.
The Highland FFA students see themselves pursuing agriculture in one way or another in the future, and being able to introduce a younger generation to the field makes it all the more exciting to them.
Senior Selina Black, brought her horse, April, to the Fall Harvest and had students draw pictures to send through the Pony Express. She then explained to them how the mail service worked in the past and why horses were so valuable.
Additionally, they got to see how Black handled and cared for April, who stands at several feet taller than the youngsters.
“It’s very important to teach them about animals,” Black said.
It’s that time of year again. The weather is getting colder. The season is getting merrier. And for those who might want to warm things up a little with a crackling fire, it’s time to check before you burn.
Back for its 17th season, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District has launched its “Check Before You Burn” program that runs from November through the end of February. The program intends to keep air quality in the Central Valley under control by limiting smoke caused by fires, particularly wood fires. Those fires release particulate matter that is kept near ground level where it can be a hazard to public health.
“Thanks to public cooperation, valley air is getting cleaner, which has a direct, positive impact on public health,” District Executive Director and Air Pollution Control Officer Samir Sheikh said in a news release. “The public’s continued support of the Check Before You Burn Program is critical to the health and quality of life for all valley residents and reaching our clean air goals.”
Every day for the duration of the season, the district will release three declarations for eight Central Valley counties. Those declarations — “Burning Discouraged,” “No Burning Unless Registered,” and “No Burning For All” — govern the activity that may take place in any given region.
“Burning Discouraged” means burning is allowed, but the wood being burned should be clean, seasoned and dry. Trash, magazines, newspapers, plastics or other material not designed to be burned in fireplaces and stoves is not allowed, according to the district’s website.
“No Burning Unless Registered” restricts burning only for those who have a registered clean burning device.
“No Burning For All” prohibits all burning — even wood pellets and Duraflame logs — from being burned, and violations can result in fines. Only those who live in an area without natural gas service, or who use wood burning as their only source of heat, can burn on these days.
To check the burn designations, visit checkbeforeyouburn.org, call 1-800SMOG INFO (766-4463), or download the “Valley Air” app.