I'll start the ball rolling....
Precis
This is a proposal for a Great Electric Aussie Air Race (GEAAR) around the continent of Australia, with entries limited to aircraft that are solely powered by electricity or by other zero-emission means. Aviators and aviatrixes will compete for a substantial prize pool with the overall winner determined by a simple formula, combining overall elapsed time, accuracy and their total carbon footprint, as measured/calculated during the race according to a ruleset to be developed.
GEAAR Objectives
The GEAAR aims to achieve the following outcomes.
- Promotion of the Australian General Aviation Sector to arrest (or at least slow) the general decline in overall general aviation activity.
- To counter the lack of interest/awareness of the GA sector from government, media and the general populous.
- To promote and foster development of a zero-emission, green general aviation sector within Australia.
- To encourage engineering/design, innovation, and creativity within the GA sector.
- To illustrate and highlight the challenges associated with zero-emission transport and assist in education of the general population.
- To demonstrate that great things can be achieved, despite the bureaucratic stranglehold the industry is currently suffering under.
The above objectives are considered vital if the viability of the sector is to be improved and expanded.
When one considers the current geopolitical and economic outlook, a more important industrial sector than aviation is hard to identify.
More details to come if there's any interest...