H55 Does a Grand Tour of America

Dean Sigler Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

H55, the Swiss electric light aircraft spin-off of the Solar Impulse Foundation under Andre’ Borschberg’s leadership, has toured America from sunny Florida to sunny California and back to New York’s Hamptons. H55’s Tour of America While Beta’s Alia is making the Grand Tour of Europe, the H55-powered Bristel B25 Energic has made its own Grand Tour of the New World. Completing a “landmark tour” of America, H55’s Bristell B23 Energic went literally from sea to shining sea, visited eight states, and proved its Electric Propulsion System (EPS) to be reliable and trouble-free.  According to H55, the small craft “completed 192 all-electric passenger flights, and [visited] 25 airports across Florida, Alabama, Arizona, Nevada, California, Colorado, Wisconsin, and New York. In Florida alone, the little Energic managed 14 Airport-to-airport flights, 36 demonstration flights, and 12 Static events.  H55 hosted 30 Certified Flight Instructors (CFI and CFII), aeronautical and aviation professors at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Liberty University, and Florida Institute of Technology, two aerospace …

Borschberg, H55 Introduce BRM Energic

Dean Sigler Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Leadership is about empowering people to make them owner of their world, and constantly challenging them to make them extend their known territory.” Andre’ Borschberg Andre’ Borschberg’s current challenge, shared with Bertrand Piccard, involves their Solar Impulse Foundation, whose goal is to foster 1,000 solutions “that protect the environment in a profitable way.”  “Profitable” helps produce results, and with Piccard being a psychiatrist, ensures the self-interest that drives many also drives a certain level of altruism in saving the environment. Borschberg and two other Solar Impulse leaders, Sébastien Demont and Gregory Blatt, founded H55 and produced a modification of the Silence Twister, a single-seat aircraft with a Siemens motor.  Their latest conversion, following their philosophy of, “Building up experience by flying existing airplanes with electric propulsion,” uses what looks like an Emrax motor in a Bristell Energic two-seat training craft. “Single Engine Dual Battery Pack System” Energic is an electric variant of a Czech Republic Light Sport Aircraft, with an …