|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||
|
By Bill Goldston |
||||
 |
December 5, 2010 - The Sonex Aircraft, LLC E-Flight
Initiative proof of concept electric powered Waiex
aircraft achieved its first flight on Friday, at
Piloted by Sonex Founder and E-Flight team leader John
Monnett, N270DC made a short hop on runway 27, intended
to be a conservative non-pattern flight to break
ground-effect and analyze in-flight system performance
as the next step in testing.
This short flight punctuates four years of development
by the E-Flight design team in engineering, building and
testing one of the most advanced electric flight
packages ever conceived. |
|||
|
?We are
very proud of this achievement. The core design team of Pete
Buck, Andrew Pearce, John Monnett, and myself would like to
thank our staff, families, business partners, and friends in all
of their help and understanding through this incredibly
challenging project,? said Jeremy Monnett, CEO and General
Manager of Sonex Aircraft.
?Every
first flight of a new aircraft or powerplant design is an
interesting experience,? said John Monnett, ?but with N270DC
more than any other aircraft we?ve built, I experienced just a
glimpse of what the Wright Brothers must have felt like flying
an unproven system for the first time. The flight was
uneventful, as expected, but it represents a huge emotional
victory for our team to check this item off the list.? Data from today?s flight will be carefully analyzed by the design team and compared to high power ground run data to determine any necessary firmware adjustments before proceeding to full traffic pattern and extended-duration test flights. N270DC is a standard Waiex kit aircraft modified with the installation of proprietary E-Flight electric power components: The E-Flight 54kw brushless DC electric motor, E-Flight electronic motor controller, a 14.5kw-hr lithium polymer battery system, the E-Flight battery management system, and E-Flight cockpit instrumentation and controls. |
||||
