Elektra One Has First Flight

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

The brief press release and single photograph from PC-Aero says it all: “ELEKTRA ONE from PC-Aero performed successfully its First Flight for about 30 minutes. Using only 3 kWh of energy. “The internal First Flight was performed by the well known testpilot Jon Karkow.  He did the first check for the flight performance and characteristics of the electric aircraft and briefed the german testpilot Norbert Lorenzen for the next official First Flight.” Although static tests were completed late last year, speculation that Germany’s tough certification laws held up test flights ran through some of the aviation press.   The angle of the photograph makes it difficult to tell whether the center-line landing gear was retracted or not, but the low energy use indicates the gear might have been tucked up.  Energy use certainly reflects designer Calin Gologan’s assertion that “Elektra One needs only about 6.5 kW/h at 100 MPH. This will be equivalent with about 500 passenger MPG.”  Elektra One is …

First Rollout of a Green Flight Challenge Flyer

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, GFC Leave a Comment

On November 22, 2010, PC-Aero rolled out Elektra One with a running motor, the Geiger HP-13.5 unit normally found on paramotors, trikes, and the Swift flown by Manfred Ruhmer.  Testing and the public unveiling took place at the Rotortec Company in Gonsried, Germany.  The airplane had shed the tricycle gear  it displayed at the Friedrichshafen Expo for Sustainable Mobility, where it had been a centerpiece in June, 2010.  It now sports what looks like a center-line retractable gear much like that of the Fournier motor gliders. A month later, December 22, the team “performed successfully the static tests of Elektra One for the German Ultralight Certification. The structure of the aircraft (wing, fuselage and tails) [were] loaded up to limit load.”  Test flights are set for January, and the aircraft is scheduled to participate in the Green Flight Challenge in July at Santa Rosa, California.  There, it will have to fly a  200 mile closed course on a single charge of its batteries at …

The Future is Electric, and Attracting Attention

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

FlightGlobal.com, the online version of Flight International Magazine, has an overview of the electric aircraft scene in its April 6, 2010 release.   Among the many producers and proponents of electric flight noted in the article, Dr. Brien Seeley of the CAFE Foundation is quoted extensively, as is Calin Gologan of PC-Aero in Germany, both to present at the fourth annual Electric Aircraft Symposium, at Rohnert Park, California on April 23 and 24.  The article ponders the hopes of two hybrid electric aircraft powerplant developers, George Bye, featured in a February 21 entry in this blog, and Flight Design’s Oliver Reinhardt, the firm’s technical director.  Both face the issue of retrofitting existing light planes with their new engines, and the challenge of obtaining supplemental type certification for such modifications. Highlighted is the 2011 Green Flight Challenge, in which an airplane achieving 200 seat miles per gallon at 100 mph (or an alternative energy equivalent mileage) can earn the CAFE Foundation’s $1.5 …