A Big Day in Fresno Following certification for Pipistrel’s Alpha Electro trainer in Australia, China, and Canada, the FAA presented this highly-valued acknowledgment that the aircraft meets current airworthiness standards. After waiting for the agency to remove the restrictive word “reciprocating” from its Light Sport Aircraft regulations, electric aircraft designers have permission to field aircraft with truly modern powerplants. With FAA inspectors painstakingly perusing every part of the Electros, a formal presentation followed, enabling the Sustainable Aviation Project to move forward with plans to bring low-cost pilot training to the Fresno, California area. Officials from the four cities in which Alpha Electros will be hangared were on hand to lend encouragement during the public flight displays of the aircraft. For a thoroughly modern design, the Alpha Electro is very light, at 368 kilograms (809 pounds) with batteries. Compare that to a Piper J3 Cub, which with a 65-horsepower Continental engine weighed 765 pounds empty. Adding 12 gallons of gasoline to …
