Sport Flying Goes Electric

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jul 27th 2007 at 2:03PM

In these days of global warming and high gas prices, flying for pleasure seems increasingly wasteful. Sonex Aircraft is working on the problem. They have announced their E-Flight initiative for sport aircraft and have created a prototype electric sport plane. The E-Flight Initiative also includes improving the efficiency and performance of existing planes. The company is focusing on electric power, ethanol fuel and efficiency enhancement as part of their three-part plan.

The E-Flight electric project uses a purpose-built AeroConversions brushless DC cobalt motor, controller, and battery and charging system. The plan is to develop E-Flight electric systems that will be able to power a larger aircraft to higher top speeds with greater lasting time. For the prototype, top speeds will reach approximately 130 mph and are expected to range between 25-45 minutes with plans to push the envelope up to an hour or more eventually. No dates yet on when an actual electric kit plane might be available to the public.

[via General Aviation News]

Tags: airline, airplane, electric plane, flight, sonex