Saturday, April 22, from 2:00 PDT to 3:00 PDT, you will be able to view the world premier of a documentary by Remy Oktay about his historic electric flight in a Pipistrel in 2022. This would involve a flyover at his alma mater’s homecoming football game, giving his classmates an opportunity to see an electric airplane in action for the first time.
The film will be shown at an event in San Francisco, but if you’re not in the neighborhood, you can register here to see it on line. The event’s announcement should help you find the venue.
”If this event has reached capacity or you would like to attend virtually, please register for the livestream here – https://lu.ma/7c8o06u9
”Silent Skies follows the groundbreaking journey of the college students who orchestrated and piloted the first-ever crewed electric airplane stadium flyover. Witness this milestone in America’s transition to electric aviation.
“This film premiere event features a presentation by students Remy Oktay ’24 and Zachary Fiske ’23. They will hold a Q/A session after the screening.
”On November 19, 2022, Lafayette College and Lehigh University faced off in the 158th installment of the nation’s most-played college football rivalry. As the national anthem rang out, environmental and engineering studies double major Remy Oktay took to the skies in a two-seater, fully electric airplane.
”Dubbed the ‘anti-flyover’ for the plane’s whisper-quiet electric motor, this historical event marked the first time the Federal Aviation Administration granted a flyover waiver to an electric airplane.
“The commercially available Alpha Electro aircraft flown by Oktay was produced by Pipistrel, a Slovenian company, part of the Textron eAviation segment of Textron Inc. It took a dedicated team of 28 students, Lafayette alumni and volunteers in seven electric trucks/cars and two filming aircraft to support the electric plane’s 168-mile flight from it’s home base in Hartford, CT to Lafayette College in Easton, PA in preparation for game day. Oktay made stops at five airports along the way to recharge the plane’s battery directly from the battery packs of the team’s caravan of electric Ford F-150 Lightning pickup trucks.
”Discover how innovation, passion, and teamwork converged to demonstrate a cleaner and quieter future in aviation.”
As the original flight was announced and unfolded, your editor published to entries, here and here. Let’s hope there’s a well-deserved turnout for this film and the discussion following.