Does the plan proposed at this website sound reasonable?
http://www.fuellessflight.comTo me, it sounds an awful lot like something for nothing. If it does store the needed energy during the descent, then it sounds like a closed cycle without any external energy input. They try to explain this in the article
Flight Can Be Sustained Using The Forces Of Gravity but I'm skeptical. I think the name of the article is misleading since it seems to imply that buoyancy and gravity alone are enough for sustained flight. Buried in the article are hints that this isn't the case.
In case you are thinking -- perpetual motion device. Here is the explanation of why that thought is an incorrect assumption. Any qualified scientist knows that the use of heat as a power source in a closed thermodynamic cycle results in entropy – the loss of a portion of the heat energy due to friction, heat conduction, etc. The result is that each time a cycle is completed there is less energy returned as an output than went into the process; therefore, perpetual motion is correctly deemed to be impossible.
A scientist also knows that the world in which we live is not a closed system. There are forces provided by our natural environment, such as sunlight that produces heat energy and can produce electricity via photovoltaic modules, wind that may be harnessed by a wind turbine to produce mechanical drive that can be used to generate electrical power, used to compress air, or used to drive a hydraulic pump, and there is geothermal heat energy can produce electrical power, and yes the forces of gravity that may be used to our benefit. Just because scientists in the past failed to create practical devices that employ gravity does not mean that gravity cannot be used. Hunt has discovered how to harness gravity by the combined use of gravity’s dual properties – buoyancy to create an upward motion and gravity acceleration to create a downward motion – in an alternating cycle. However, other environmental energy sources will be harnessed by the gravityplane and used in conjunction with the dual properties of gravity, such as solar power, thermoelectric power generation, temperature differentials, current differentials, and pressure differentials, etc.
Note the phrase "thermoelectric power generation" which could simply mean using heat to create steam and turn a generator. In other words, plug it into the grid on the ground and get the power from whatever method is being used to generate electricity for the grid. Doesn't it seem like they're being a little coy about this? They don't highlight this fact and instead seem to be trying to give the impression that it will be fully charged by the onboard turbines during descent.
It still may be a good idea even if it does require external recharging, I'm not really qualified to judge, but the apparently misplaced emphases raises my skeptical alarms.