I’m writing this in the first person, rather than the usual third-person voice that allows me to remain objective about things on which I report. In this case, I have been the recipient of much joy over the last ten years from being an observer of the ongoing progress in electric aviation. Dr. Brien Seeley, founder of the Sustainable Aviation Foundation, asked me to begin writing a blog about electric aviation in 2009. One of my original postings concerned a Kitplanes Magazine contributor, David Ullman – who was this year’s Sustainable Aviation Symposium’s keynote speaker. In 2009, he predicted a great future for electric aviation – most of which has come to pass, and some of which he is creating in his hangar with his fully-instrumented wind tunnel and ambitious blown-wing design. He proposes something called USTOL, Ultimate Short Takeoff and Landing, aircraft that will use a dynamic relationship between their power and lift systems. His vehicle for demonstrating this …
RX1E, Sun Flyer Both Score More than a Score (of Orders)
China Daily reports, “The world’s first electric passenger aircraft to gain an airworthiness certificate has been produced by China.” Whether the “first” certification statement is true will probably become a matter of debate, with Pipistrel’s Alpha Electro being certified in France and seeking more general approvals from other countries including America. Pipistrel has been selling a Taurus Electro G2 self-launching sailplane for the last several years, and makes the following claims for it. “Taurus Electro G2 is the only electric 2-seat aeroplane in serial production available on the market. Furthermore, Pipistrel believes it is the only truly useful electric aircraft out there, because the electric drive is applied to the glider airframe, where battery capacity is not a limiting factor in performance/endurance. Taurus Electro G2 represents a leap forward in performance, safety, functionality and user friendliness.” We noted the RX1E’s certification in the blog a few months ago. It’s in production in China with the first two aircraft delivered to Liaoning …