Range. It seems to be the word that is in the middle of any debate about electric vehicles. As we discovered in our short flight in the E-Spyder, electric airplanes won’t be crossing the country any time soon on battery power. But there is already plenty of interest from pilots who look forward to the quiet, smooth flight, even if the early electric aircraft won’t provide anything close to the range of traditional small airplanes.
But flight schools are showing a strong interest, liking the low cost and simplicity of electric flight.
Flight times for two-seat electric aircraft in development already exceed 90 minutes. That might not be enough for a long cross-country flight, but it’s longer than the typical flight lesson lasts. And this is what has caught the attention of flight schools.
The commercial side of electric airplanes may be less about going places, and more about teaching student pilots how to fly. And the first electric student pilot has already flown solo, learning the basics entirely in a battery-powered airplane.
The history of electric aircraft is a relatively short one. At least the list of aircraft is short. Sure, the Tissandier brothers flew an airship flying under electric power in the 1880s. But it wasn’t until the late 1970s that electric airplanes started to take flight, and it was far from commonplace.
Many of those early electric airplanes flew on solar power, such as Larry Mauro’s Solar Riser, Paul MacReady’s Solar Challenger and Eric Raymond’s Sunseeker, which he flew across the United States in a series of 121 flights during the summer of 1990.
But these aircraft were pioneering, experimental airplanes, not the kind of airplane an average pilot could hop into and take off for an easy flight.
The short history of electric aircraft aimed at pilots who could buy one and fly only started in 2007 when Randall Fishman first flew his battery-powered trike hang glider and unveiled it to the world at Airventure Oshkosh.
Randall Fishman's ElectraFlyer-X
Since 2007, Fishman has gone on to build and fly an single-seat electric airplane based on a motor glider design and is currently finishing the design and construction of a two-place composite airplane he believes will compete with similarly sized light sport aircraft.
And Fishman isn’t alone. EADS, the parent company of Airbus, has converted the tiny Cri-Cri to electric power. And an Italian team flew the electric SkySpark at more than 150 miles per hour in 2009.
Airplanes closer to production include the E-Spyder ultralight we described yesterday and its big brother, Yuneec’s E430.
With a serious commitment of funds, China’s Yuneec appears poised to be the first company to sell an electric powered airplane to the public. Five of the two-seat E430s undergoing flight testing already include a pair here in the United States.
The company recently opened a 270,000-square-foot factory near Shanghai dedicated to electric aircraft manufacturing and will add another 200,000 square feet this spring.
Yuneec’s managing director Clive Coote says after first unveiling the E430 in Oshkosh last year, they received a lot of interest from pilots and flight schools. The company listened to the feedback and made several changes to the design.
The updated E430 includes easily removable wing tips that allow it to be stored in standard aircraft hangars, and the batteries can easily be swapped in less than four minutes. Coote says several flight schools were impressed by the design and, perhaps more importantly, the operating costs he says will be less than $10/hour.
“I think the flight school side in the states is going to be very, very big for electric.”
Coote says the two-seat E430 will sell for just under $90,000, tens of thousands of dollars less than many traditional gas-powered light sport aircraft. He says Yuneec is set to begin production next year and deliver the first models to customers in early 2012. With the swappable battery, Coote believes a flight school can operate the airplane all day with just two batteries. A boost charger can refill the electrons in less than 90 minutes and he adds the batteries can be balance-charged every night to increase longevity.
With more than 1500 cycles per battery, each battery pack should last between 2,000 to 3,000 flight hours, more than the typical gasoline engine the electric-power system replaces. An additional battery pack isn’t cheap though, they cost around $20,000 each.
The Federal Aviation Administration currently does not have any rules in place for electric aircraft. The FAA says before regulators could recognize electric propulsion systems for certification, several standards including performance, installation and maintenance would have to be developed in order to certify an electric airplane.
ASTM International, the standards organization that oversees the light-sport-aircraft industry is in the process of drafting documents for electric light-sport aircraft that it will present to the FAA. These standards could cover aircraft such as Randall Fishman’s ElectraFlyer-X and Yuneec’s E430.
The E-Spyder is able to fly under the regulations outlined for ultralight aircraft weighing less than 254 pounds empty that have been in place since the ultralight boom of the 1980s. And the small airplane has already served as the learning platform for the first student pilot flying electric.
Tom Peghiny who has been flying ultralights for more than 25 years began carefully instructing one of his employees in the E-Spyder during the past month. Mathew Fortin is an experienced pilot of remote-controlled aircraft and competes at the national level in r/c aerobatics.
Before his first taxiing lessons down the runway in the E-Spyder, Fortin had only flown a few times in small aircraft with no formal instruction.
“This is my first real experience with takeoffs and landings,” he said of flying the E-Spyder.
Student pilot Mathew Fortin learning to fly in the E-Spyder
With Peghiny’s instruction and supervision, Fortin made several trips up and down the runway before making his first small hops off the ground. In the end, he estimates he made around 25 trips up and down the runway without flying more than just a few feet above the runway.
With this experience under his belt, Fortin made his first flight to altitude last Thursday and says it was an incredible feeling to pilot an aircraft for the first time. And he does think the electric motor makes learning to fly more enjoyable.
“It was less intimidating having the electric motor, not some loud clanky gas engine” Fortin says. “It really makes it easy to focus on flying.”
There are still no electric airliners on the drawing boards, or even an airplane capable of a long cross-country flight. So, until the much dreamed of super batteries are developed, student pilots learning to fly in an electric airplane will of course need some transition training to fly normal gas-powered aircraft.
But in the near term, there could be a generation of pilots who not only learn to fly, but learn to enjoy the pleasure, and challenges, of flying with only the flow of electrons powering their flight.
Photos: Yuneec International, Electric Aircraft Corporation, Mathew Fortin
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/10/electric-airplanes-coming-to-a-flight-school-near-you/
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