The media are catching on. CBS News this morning and Public Broadcasting next week are presenting reports on electric aircraft. Your editor became aware of CBS’s report this morning at 3:00 a. m., being awakened after falling asleep earlier mid-joke during Stephen Colbert’s show. It was a pleasant way to face the day. CBS explains, “Of all the major industries that spew out planet-warming greenhouse gasses, one stands out as unfixable – so far. Fossil fuel power plants can be replaced with wind and solar power. One can switch to electric cars. But as Mark Phillips reports from the British Aviation History Museum for the ‘CBS This Morning’ series Eye on Earth, the one thing aircraft have had in common down through the ages is aviation fuel. A commercially viable electric airplane cannot yet be made, aviation fuel is too powerful to replace with batteries.” The tone seemed somewhat negative, even though the report showed several examples of electric aircraft …
Faradair BEHA, an Electric Triplane for the Future
Triplanes were popular in World War One because they allowed great maneuverability for dog-fighting, a supreme survival necessity. Their success in designs by Fokker and Sopwith, among others, gave them a certain panache. Now, a Bristol, England-based company hopes to revive the triplane as a commuter aircraft ready to fly from regional airports. Faradair®, named after English physicist Michael Faraday*, hopes to craft an airplane that will allow flight from smaller regional airports and compete with even well-established rail service. Their craft, BEHA – Bio-Electric Hybrid Aircraft, will fly six to eight lucky passengers on a quiet inter-city ride powered by a 300-horsepower internal combustion engine and two electric motors in a parallel-hybrid arrangement. Neil Cloughley, Managing Director and Founder of Faradair, wants to return Britain’s regional air services to a point where they were between WWI and WWII, when a small group of passengers could board a DeHavilland Dragon Rapide for a leisurely and sight-filled journey over England’s green …