How many motors can NASA cram on its fryer-oil flier?

[Nipuna]

(Image: NASA Langley/David C. Bowman)

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The movie Grease ends with the car Greased Lightning magically flying off into the sky. This must have been bugging someone at NASA – the agency has named this weird aircraft after John Travolta's ride.

Publicly, though, it says the name refers to the drone's two-step propulsion system: diesel engines inside the fuselage that can run off fuel derived from fryer oil (grease) and which generate electricity (lightning) that powers 10 propellers.

The propellers festoon the wings and tail of the 3-metre-wingspan GL-10 Greased Lightning. For take-off and landing, the wings and tail point upwards and all 10 propellers spin to allow the drone to hover. Once airborne, however, the wings and tail pivot to horizontal and the two outer propellers on the wings drive the GL-10 forwards.

Engineers at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, recently took Greased Lightning for a successful tethered test flight. Free-flight tests are scheduled for later this year, and it may only be a short while before these hybrid aircraft are let loose in the sky. Unfortunately for Travolta, however, this Greased Lightning doesn't have a pilot's seat.

Using electricity or biofuels should hopefully reduce the carbon cost of flying, something that NASA is keen to achieve.

Need something to propel your interest further? Follow the links to find out how copter-planes have soared through the skies in the past, although some have been more successful than others.