Autoflight Lifts Off and Transitions

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

Autoflight, the latest outlet for Tian Yu’s creativity, has demonstrated a successful transition from vertical lift to forward flight.  Yu, the founder and CEO of Yuneec, fielded a wide range of drones, motors, and eventually an ultralight electric aircraft under the Greenwings name. Yuneec Goes to Oshkosh He managed to obtain FAA approval for flights of his Yuneec e430, an electric two-seat lightplane, at Oshkosh in 2009.  At that time, Ed Warnock, CEO of the Perlan Project, called your editor to allow him to hear Yuneec powerplants humming audibly in their display area on Wittman Field. Eric Lindbergh tested the Yuneec e-Spyder, a derivation of Tom Pehigny’s design.  A pair of e-Spyders showed up at AirVenture in 2013, becoming the …

AutoflightX Returns Tian Yu to Forefront

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

A Long Developmental Background Tian Yu headed Yuneec, a pioneering firm in electric flight.  In 2009 his company had several motors and one- and two-seat aircraft flying.  They even received certification from the FAA for the two-seat E430 and shipped it to Oshkosh, where it made its public flying debut at that year’s AirVenture.   At the 2013 AirVenture, Greenwing, an affiliate of Yuneec, fielded two e-Spyders, which pulled a first with several two-electric-airplane formation flights.  Despite being a major supplier of hobby drones and an early developer of powered parachutes, Yuneec seems to have gone into a dormant state, with a new company, AutoFlightX, coming to the forefront. First shown as the BAT600 concept vehicle in  2017 (There seems to …

China’s First Certified Electric Airplane Ready for Mass Production

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

China has seen Yuneec’s early entry into the electric aircraft field.  The parent company is now making drones and camera gear in China, but its Greenwing International subsidiary in Cable, California appears to be defunct, according to Bill Lofton’s EV Hangar.  Yuneec’s E430 two-seater and e-Spyder ultralight, all flown at the big AirVenture shows, will seemingly not come to market. A craft similar to the E430, the RX1E Ruixiang, is ready to go into mass production, however.  Developed by Shenyang Aerospace University in Shenyang City in China’s Liaoning Province, the long-winged two seater is the first electric aircraft certified by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Certification was a major accomplishment, according to Yang Fengtian, chief designer of the …

China Fields a Mass-Producible Electric Two-Seater

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

Dr. Seeley provided this link to a story from China Daily this morning.  The blog reported on this airplane last year following its public debut, but this year, two examples showed up at the 10th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, also billed as Airshow China.  Held in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, the show featured daily flight demonstrations by one of the two aircraft on display. China Daily followed its headline with this optimistic kickline, “Huge markets are expected for the versatile, eco-friendly 2-seat RX1E, then reports, “China will soon put its first domestically developed electric aircraft into mass production, and designers expect a huge market at home and abroad.” “First” may be a dubious claim, with Tian Yu’s Greenwing International …

Another Two-Seat Electric Airplane from China

Dean Sigler Uncategorized 1 Comment

China has a second two-seat electric airplane, the Rui Xiang RX1E, a high-wing, side-by-side craft similar to Yuneec’s E430.  Both are cantilever, high-winged configurations, with the Yuneec sporting a V-tail and the RX1E a T-tail.  Besides the difference in alphabetical empennages, perhaps something gets lost in translation, with several news items offering slightly different versions of this story. The English language version of the China News Service calls the RX1E China’s first electric aircraft, although it’s being introduced at least four years after the E430.   Most reports agree that it is designed by the Liaoning General Aviation Institute and that Shenyang Aircraft Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Under the Rui Xiang General name is responsible for manufacturing. Made of carbon fiber composite …