Autoflight Lifts Off and Transitions

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

Autoflight, the latest outlet for Tian Yu’s creativity, has demonstrated a successful transition from vertical lift to forward flight.  Yu, the founder and CEO of Yuneec, fielded a wide range of drones, motors, and eventually an ultralight electric aircraft under the Greenwings name. Yuneec Goes to Oshkosh He managed to obtain FAA approval for flights of his Yuneec e430, an electric two-seat lightplane, at Oshkosh in 2009.  At that time, Ed Warnock, CEO of the Perlan Project, called your editor to allow him to hear Yuneec powerplants humming audibly in their display area on Wittman Field. Eric Lindbergh tested the Yuneec e-Spyder, a derivation of Tom Pehigny’s design.  A pair of e-Spyders showed up at AirVenture in 2013, becoming the first electric airplanes to fly in formation at that event.  They were joined by Mark Beierle’s eGull in the ultralight area, an electric threesome that showed great promise. Yuneec faded from the American scene for a while, seeming to concentrate …

Electrify Your Reading Pleasure

Dean Sigler Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Flying Magazine, in its November issue, has its usual stunning photo review of this year’s AirVenture at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, but adds a three-page review of the electric aircraft that showed up at the fly-in.  Robert Goyer, senior editor, is enthusiastic about the planes he saw, and gives the largest number of column inches to Yuneec’s E-430 two-seater.  Goyer has reservations about the aircraft’s performance and limited range, and turns to another Yuneec-powered craft, Tom Pehigny’s FlightStar e-Spyder, propelled by a 27 hp, single-battery pack system, with the assessment that this type of craft seems more suited to electric power in its current state of development.  Although Pehigny admits restrictions in terms of range so far, he “does point out some benefits we can see already. The e-Spyder…is whisper-quiet, smooth-running, dirt simple to start and smoke and odor-free.” Goyer includes a brief note on Randal Fishman’s Electra-Flyer C and new two-seater X, but gives little detail on either. Goyer foresees a …