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In Brief: Airbus Shows Off Near-Silent Electric Plane of the Future at Paris Air Show
Jesse Tabit June 10, 2015
Airbus is set to unveil a new electric aircraft at the annual Pairs Air Show next week. The two-seater E-Fan 2.0 is a prototype that weighs less than a ton, has a 31-foot wingspan and can reach speeds of up to 136 mph. Dual electric motors keep the aircraft nearly silent in flight and allow it to fly for an hour at a time without emitting any CO2.
Airbus hopes to put the eco-friendly prototype into service sometime in 2017 or at the beginning of 2018. In the future, Airbus hopes to manufacture a 100-seat electric aircraft.
For more information on this story, visit The Telegraph.
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In Brief: Airbus Shows Off Near-Silent Electric Plane of the Future at Paris Air Show
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As a student pilot myself I just don't see this one working. Very limited mission possibilities, I'm assuming very little usable weight (similar to a 152?), and the 1 hour battery just doesn't seem to do it. By the time you taxi and leave the run-up to take off, assuming you aren't holding for incoming aircraft, adding in the necessary margin of safety you have, what, 30 minutes if power? Hopefully its a VERY early stage prototype. Or they partner with Tesla (half joking there...)
However, it is ultimately only productive, especially for a new student, to do all their training in the same plane. You learn one aircraft, set of systems, airspeeds, even what the horizon, descent, and position of the runway threshold relative to your wingtip all look like. I spent 46 hours learning all the ins-and-outs of my plane and of flying before I did my checkride, then was flung into a new aircraft to start my instrument training. I had to spend 10 hours just getting "checked out" (learning the systems, speeds, specs, and all the aforementioned aspects, not to mention the new G1000 glass cockpit) before I even started one minute of actual instrument instruction. So unless this could be developed into an airplane with a longer endurance similar to a typical GA plane, I don't see it being feasible. The tandem seating also sort of rules out that possibility (yes, the military does tandem, I know). Now if it was for a more seasoned pilot who was just doing recurrent training for day or night currency, etc, it could be a feasible opportunity.
Yes, if you exclude the cost of the battery.
With a one-hour flight endurance time, this may be a great general aviation trainer for building competence in the early hours of flight training... when the student and instructor are typically doing pattern work close to the airfield. Cost to operate, using electricity, should be considerably less expensive than petroleum fuels burned.