Posted on 09/28/2022 1:00:50 PM PDT by Red Badger
A historic moment for zero-emissions flight, as the 9-seat Alice commuter plane makes its first test flightEviation
After showing off with some extravagant runway wheelies last week, Alice, the "world's first all-electric commuter aircraft," lifted off overnight on a historic first flight. It's another major milestone toward zero-emissions medium-range air travel.
Alice took off at 7.10 am local time from Grant County International Airport in Washington state, and made a short, 8-minute circuit, reaching an altitude of 3,500 ft (1,067 m) before coming in and touching down.
"Today we embark on the next era of aviation – we have successfully electrified the skies with the unforgettable first flight of Alice," said Eviation President and CEO Gregory Davis. "People now know what affordable, clean and sustainable aviation looks and sounds like for the first time in a fixed-wing, all-electric aircraft. This ground-breaking milestone will lead innovation in sustainable air travel, and shape both passenger and cargo travel in the future."
Eviation is targeting 2026 for FAA certification and entry into service Eviation is targeting 2026 for FAA certification and entry into serviceEviation It is indeed a significant moment, although there's a way to go yet. The Alice we see flying in the video below is still an experimentally registered prototype, rather than a fully certified production aircraft. Eviation still has to run it through a full and rigorous flight test regime, and jump through the many hoops of FAA certification, not just for the aircraft and all its systems, but also for the company itself as a design organization and a production facility. The company hopes to have this all squared away and get Alice into service by 2026.
(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...
There’s no such thing as a zero emissions vehicle.
L
Yeah but it looks like you could pack 20 morons in it. How fast does it fly when the battery ignites?
Next they’ll be offering flights in rubber band powered planes
Humans are regressing a whole lot faster than we ever progressed. It is amazing to watch.
“ Next they’ll be offering flights in rubber band powered planes”
What happens if the hamster dies?
For old timers they kept the Tomahawk T tail, Many pilots
stall-spun it to the ground and others dub’d it the “Trauma Hawk”. Turn out it was weird wing surface flexing not the terror tail and enhancing the wing rigidity with strips made up for missing enough spars and it’s fine now.
You actually can get stuck in traffic in those nice little ovals required in some patterns.
Cargo trailers, not so much.
I bet they’re not going to rate that for going to places that can ice the wings. I don’t think there’ll be a lot of EV cars in Minnesota and northern Michigan either.
Isn’t it below freezing pretty much everywhere above 15,000 ft?
I had battery powered planes when I was a kid. Two D cell batteries in a flashlight shaped battery holder held in hand with a flex shaft tether leading to the prop plane. Round and round what fun.
Should used a canard
There is no such thing as a “zero emissions” vehicle, whether you are talking about cars or airplanes.
In flight fires are rare in turbine powered aircraft. Battery fires are common in electric powered vehicles, and you cannot put them out. I would not fly in this aircraft.
Are they using a very long extension cord?
BTW, dirigibles for short flights and long flights makes more sense, especially where cargo is the task. The top-side could be fitted with solar panels and the blimps travel above the clouds, to assist the batteries.
Not even a flight from Fairbanks to Anchorage, that takes 45 minutes, and is around 350-375 miles. What and incredibly sorry waste of someone’s money.
Except dirigibles have an unfortunate tendency to be turned into scrap metal by heavy winds. See our own experience with the USN’s dirigible aircraft carriers. They all wound up heaps of wreckage on the ground after heavy winds. And one in the ocean, the whole crew drowned because they weren’t issued life preservers.....
That plane is made of plastic derived from oil plus many minerals that are mined by big diesel machines. Then there are the batteries that are made from toxic stuff.
FTA: affordable, clean and sustainable aviation
HA!!
You'd get there quicker, and SAFER.....................
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