Grassroots Movement Propels Synergy Aircraft

Bethany Whitfield

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

Verified

Synergy

Key Takeaways:

Aircraft designer John McGinnis is developing "Synergy," an ambitious new aircraft aiming for 10 times the fuel efficiency and one-tenth the price of a small jet, featuring a double box tail and a diesel-powered rear propfan.
He is working on a full-scale, five-seat prototype, building on a successful 25-percent scale model that first flew in 2007, with the immediate goal of getting the prototype "on the wheels and powered up."
The Synergy project is successfully raising funds through a Kickstarter campaign, having surpassed its initial goal and accumulating over $86,000, with the team proudly labeling it "the first crowdfunded aircraft of the Internet era."

See a mistake? Contact us.

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.