CAeS also has production organisation approval (POA) from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) for complex modifications, as well as a similar range of military approvals. The electric aviation space is heating up, and companies are finally moving past the concept stage and into real testing - you can expect continued growth and diversity in the next few years as the industry further embraces a greener, quieter future.You can read articles like this every month in the RAeS' flagship AEROSPACE magazine by becoming a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society.Ĭranfield Aerospace Solutions (CAeS) is a company owned by Cranfield University with aircraft design organisation capability/approval (DOA) for complex modifications to existing aircraft, which can also design and create new concept aircraft or flying demonstrators. DHL Express has also ordered a dozen planes, clearly preferring to dip its toe into the pool first. It’s a big investment, but the fuel and potentially maintenance savings would be enormous. Which is fair - you don’t just take the only prototype out for a spin when millions of dollars are riding on it.Īnd there are definitely customers waiting at the door: it might be a few years before Alice (or its successor - Bob?) is operational, but more than 100 aircraft have already been reserved.Ĭape Air and Global Crossing Airlines ordered 75 and 50 aircraft, respectively both are regional airlines that could use Alice type electric craft to cover a majority of their flights. The company declined to speculate as to the timing of its first major flight, which I defined as 50 miles or more, saying that all depends on the testing and certification process. Chandler, chairman, Clermont Group, Majority Shareholder of Eviation Greg Davis, president and CEO of Eviation. Left to right: Steve Crane, test pilot Richard F. This flight will be followed by more test flights as they explore the limits of the aircraft and how it performs under a variety of conditions. This wasn’t just a big press event to show off their shiny new aircraft - it was an incredibly important validation of what had, until it left the tarmac, been an aircraft only in theory. We will review the flight data to understand how the performance of the aircraft matched our models,” Eviation CEO and President Gregory Davis told TechCrunch. “Today’s first flight provided Eviation with invaluable data to further optimize the aircraft for commercial production. That’s just about enough to show that the aircraft can do what it’s meant to do, but it’s still a long ways to full passenger flights. It has a max air speed of about 260 knots.įor the test flight, it took off from an airport in central Washington, ascended to 3,500 feet, then landed again, for a total flight time of eight minutes. It’s powered by a pair of MagniX engines - that company just scooped up $74 million from NASA to develop more of them - and a hefty battery system from AVL. The Alice is a prototype of what will eventually be a passenger plane capable of carrying around 2,500 pounds total, which equates to nine people and their luggage (just don’t pack any bricks). It’s still a ways off, but today’s demonstration shows it’s at least just a matter of time and money. Eviation’s Alice electric aircraft took off for the first time yesterday, teasing a future in which regional flights of hundreds of miles will be done with zero emissions and a lot less noise.
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