Electric aircraft have been the talk of the town of late, especially considering the recent buzz surrounding the development of electric vertical take-off and landing air taxis. Many examples of these were shown at the recent 100th anniversary of the first ever flight around the world event at Santa Monica Airport.
But last week, Eco-Aviation, a Santa Monica nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting all aspects of green aviation, including electric aircraft and sustainable airports, showed off the first FAA-certified electric aircraft, the Pipistrel Velis Electro, which has been contracted to the Proteus Flying School, also based at Santa Monica Airport. In a few weeks, another Electro will be arriving at Santa Monica Flyers, a flight school recently acquired by entrepreneur Natasha Jai.
"What we're talking about [here] is the impact of this aircraft and the new technology. It's clean, quiet, much lower cost, and it's going to be more inclusive. It's all electric. It's like an EV in the sky. It's all electric, no emissions," said Eco-Aviation President Scott Burgess.
Reporters and camera crews from national news networks gathered under the overcast skies, on the runway, outside the headquarters of UP.Partners, a transportation-focussed venture capitalist firm. That thick marine layer however, meant that pilot Luke Ferrene was sadly not able to take the Electro off the ground since cloud cover was at about 400 ft and in order to fly a pattern around Santa Monica Airport, cloud cover must be higher than 1,400 ft.
Credit: Scott Snowden
That said, having heard the noise — or lack thereof — it makes from inside the cockpit (more on that shortly) it was interesting to hear the amount of noise the Electro makes as it charges down the runway at full throttle. And let’s put it this way, most lawn mowers are louder.
According to the manual, the Velis Electro has a maximum noise level of 60 decibels, which is the equivalent of a normal conversation between two people standing about one meter apart or the average sound level in an office or restaurant.
"When the very first EVs came out, they were short range, clunky and it was difficult to find a place to charge. Well, now aviation is going down that path," Burgess said, adding, "Every single year they're going to get better, take less charge time, longer endurance, more payload, more passengers and more cargo."
The Velis Electro is a Slovenian light aircraft, designed and produced by Pipistrel of Ajdovščina. The airframe features a cantilever high-wing, two seats in a side-by-side configuration. It has fixed tricycle landing gear and a single electric motor in a standard "tractor" arrangement.
Credit: Scott Snowden
Less than two weeks ago, this reporter was offered the chance to ride in a Velis Electro, courtesy of the Proteus Flying School. Having been lucky enough to have seen the Bay from the cockpit of a single engine Mooney M20K fixed-wing aircraft last year, I thought I knew what to expect and while I was surprised at how lightweight that aircraft was, in comparison, the Electro is a streamlined, slimline, sugar-free, no-frills, zero-carb, diet aircraft-lite.
In fact, it has an empty weight of 428 kg (944 lbs) and a maximum take-off weight of 600 kg (1,320 lbs), offering a payload of 172 kg (379 lbs). It is powered by a 58 kW (76 hp) liquid-cooled, E-811 electric engine driving a three-bladed, fixed-pitch composite propeller at a cruising speed of 90 knots (105 mph).
And while all that sounds impressive, it’s not much use if you can’t shoehorn yourself into the cockpit. I faced a similar problem with my previous flight, heck, I face a similar problem every time I fly economy. I’m a 6’1″ former rugby-playing 220 lbs, so some friendly assistance was needed to manhandle me into my seat.
Ferrene was also my pilot for this flight and following the safety briefing, he asked if I’d ever flown an aircraft before. I told him about the flight last year and he said, to my complete surprise, that I would be taking the controls on what was fast becoming an edge-of-seat adventure. This particular Friday afternoon, the skies had cleared and the sun was shining, but the wind had picked up a little. Ferrene said had that not been the case, he would’ve let me actually take off. I wondered what kind of insane individual would let me do that given the cumulative total of my piloting experience comes from the Afterburner arcade game and a visit to the cockpit on a transatlantic British Airways flight in 1997.
Credit: Luke Ferrene
The instrument panel was surprisingly basic; in fact, that statement resonates with many elements of this aircraft. For instance, the Electro cannot fly solely on instruments or at night.
As we taxied down the runway I was instructed to use this as an opportunity to familiarize myself with the pedals that control the rudder, which itself dictates the yaw, or direction, of the aircraft. Despite having to wear the headset for obvious reasons like listening to instructions from the control tower, Ferrene and I could’ve had a normal conversation because there was such little noise, even after he powered the engine to full for take off.
And then about 60 seconds later, I heard him say, "Your aircraft," to which I replied, "My aircraft," probably not sounding anywhere near as confident as I perhaps I’d hoped. But in all honesty, it was much easier than I thought. I’m sure with more practice I’d spend more time looking out of the window at the rolling blue waves of the Pacific Ocean rather than at the altimeter, but I was determined to keep the aircraft at a steady 600 ft, as instructed.
As we cruised northwards towards Malibu, Ferrene said that early in the morning he’ll often see whales, dolphins and even sharks in the water. At Malibu Pier it was time to make a gentle 180-degree turn to port and fly back, southwards still hugging the coast. By this time, I’d got a feel for the sensitivity of the joystick and I gently applied pressure to the left pedal. Because the aircraft is turning, some altitude is automatically lost and it’s easy to accidentally end up in a dive.
Credit: Scott Snowden
By simultaneously and very gently pulling back on the joystick, it was possible to maintain more or less exactly 600 ft while completing the turn. To the extent that Ferrene actually asked, "Are you sure you haven’t flown before? That was a perfectly executed turn." But I’m sure he says that to all the new pilots.
All too soon we approached Marina del Rey and it was time to turn the aircraft to port once again and prepare for our approach. Rather than being fearful now, I was actually reluctant to relinquish control of the aircraft, but since I’d quite like to see my next birthday, it was the sensible thing to do. Ferrene landed the Electro without so much as a bump and we touched down like a feather on a pond.
The Electro is exclusively available to take flying lessons at the Proteus Flying School, which is located at 2501 Airport Avenue. A "discovery" lesson, which serves as a taster of the aviator experience is $249 and subsequent lessons start from $268. A minimum of 40 hours of flight time is needed to qualify for a Private Pilot License. For more information, visit proteus.aero or call (310) 398-6929.
scott.snowden@smdp.com
