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I've seen the Pipistrel Alpha Electro in action. Almost silent, quick-change battery packs. Cute as hell.

And short legs: an hour plus reserve in the air. If it was good for two hours I'd be interested in getting checked out in one and renting it for local flights. Four hours and I'd look thoughtfully at my bank account. Here in B.C. it would plug in to hydro dams, so its carbon footprint is nil.

...laura

The Pipistrel Alpha Electro (the world's first mass-produced electric plane) has running costs (energy, mantenance) one fifth of the gasoline-powered version.

Citation needed. That plane can stay in the air all of 60 minutes. A typical small plane like a Cessna can stay aloft 4-6 hours and carry more cargo. Even the company's website says it is "optimized for traffic pattern operations" which is PR speak for it can take off and circle the airport and that's about it.

In any case this has nothing at all to do with autonomous piloting systems which have no inherent relationship to the type of power used to propel the aircraft. ICE, jet, EV, etc doesn't matter for purposes of steering.

This actually has almost nothing to do with Norway. The plane was designed, built, and initially tested in Slovenia.

Alpha Electro

The only connection to Norway is that a journalist happened to show up while it was being flown there.

i think it's wildly optimistic.

Nope. Pipistrel went ahead and built one.

Yes. They have.

Why not for flight training? Fuel is the biggest cost in running an aircraft, and if you don't need the range, battery powered is fantastic. It's the same trade-off as with electric cars.

http://www.pipistrel.si/news/e...

The even more disgusting thing is that the motor doesn't even need to be running to make a cross-channel flight.

The aircraft in question has a 15:1 glide ratio and a 16,000 foot service ceiling (per spec). That means it can do a 45 mile glide. At the Straights of Dover the channel is only 20 miles wide; that's a over a factor of 2 safety factor. Wind could be an issue, but if there are headwinds, they could run the engine to make the crossing against the wind, but abort backwards *with the wind helping them* if there were an engine failure.

I think this just confirms my dislike of Airbus; they've had a good number of shady dealings in the past, and given the extensive time period such things have gone on, I don't think that leopard is going to change its spots.

The 747 is based on a design from fifty years ago.
Planes are getting better.

This plane gets 45 mpg at 207 mph, but was modified akin to a hypermiling car.
This little guy gets about 38 mpg at 124 mph, but is unmodified off-the-shelf.

It's still a helluva lot cheaper to buy a ticket instead of a plane.

If you're willing to accept a 2 seat self-launching electric glider (which can glide that far in the right conditions), such a plane is already in production.

indeed, it's a company from Slovenia, see here: http://www.pipistrel.si/news/pipistrel-won-the-nasa-green-flight-challenge-for-the-third-

have been winning this challenge for 3 years on a row now...

funnily enough, the winner is a European company, called Pipistrel, see here: http://www.pipistrel.si/news/pipistrel-won-the-nasa-green-flight-challenge-for-the-third-

they have been winning this award for 3 years in a row...

funny how they seem to hide the fact that the winner is a small glider company from Slovenia, EU, called Pipistrel, see here: http://www.pipistrel.si/news/pipistrel-won-the-nasa-green-flight-challenge-for-the-third-

and they have been winning this challenge for 3 years in a row now!

This plane has been revised this year: http://www.pipistrel.si/plane/taurus-electro/overviewTaurus Electro Comes with a trailer with battery storage and solar pannels on the roof.