Grassroots Movement Propels Synergy Aircraft

Bethany Whitfield

Thursday, May 31, 2012 at 10:43 PM ET

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Synergy

Key Takeaways:

John McGinnis is developing "Synergy," an ambitious aircraft design aiming for 10 times the fuel efficiency and one-tenth the cost of a small jet, featuring a double box tail and a rear-mounted diesel propfan.
A successful grassroots online fundraising campaign on Kickstarter has allowed McGinnis to raise funds for building a full-scale, five-seat prototype, with the immediate goal of getting it "on the wheels and powered up."
The project has exceeded initial funding benchmarks and is being recognized as "the first crowdfunded aircraft of the Internet era," with plans to ultimately fly the completed prototype to Oshkosh.

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Burgeoning aircraft designer John McGinnis is searching for support for an aircraft design with quite an ambitious goal: To provide the fuel efficiency of a small jet 10 times over while cutting the price tag by the same measure.

That design, known as Synergy, was unveiled last year at the CAFÉ Electric Aircraft Symposium in Santa Rosa, California, and features a double box tail shape and a diesel-powered propfan located behind the fuselage.