Earlier quoted context omitted.
> if a plane crashes there's a good chance everyone dies anyway That's actually not the case. Overall your odds of surviving an accident in a plane are something like 95%. Still above 50% for "serious" incidents. Sure, if the plane drills the ground everyone is going to die, but planes crash somewhat regularly with most/all surviving.
Also one of the most dangerous places to be in a plane, statistically, is on the ground. A surprisingly large proportion of historic fatalities in air accidents have been crashes on the taxiway or runway between two aircraft (eg plane lands on top of another or taxis across a live runway when it shouldn't do).
The age of electric flight is finally upon us
141–150 of 272 posts
Re: The age of electric flight is finally upon us
#142https://twitter.com/BenBrelje_says/status/106484220091004108... https://twitter.com/BenBrelje_says/status/106485722028904038... https://twitter.com/BenBrelje_says/status/106491195862390374... To recap, based on financial statements the company: used to be a "waste management" company that failed and was sold as a "public shell" to enable the formerly private company to go public and sell shares (the waste management…
Re: The age of electric flight is finally upon us
#143From the article: conventional fuel for a 100 mile flight costs $400, while electric energy would cost $12. This seems like such a tremendous difference that the market would be in an arms race to make it a reality. Especially considering electric motors have fewer moving parts and so require less maintenance. Oh and it would be so quiet.
It's a game changer for airlines such as Harbour Air in British Columbia and Mokulele Airlines in Hawaii. These are small regional airlines which operate from the water or from small airports with flight times usually less than an hour, and most of their operational expenditures are in fuel costs. Typically for these airlines you show up 15 minutes before the flight and there is no security screening, so it's very ha…
Re: The age of electric flight is finally upon us
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> off-field forced landing that went badly. Parachutes. They are now a very practical option for GA aircraft. More than a few cessnas have been saved. The concept of "off-field forced landing" should too be going away. https://brsaerospace.com/cessna-faqs/ " Q. How many aircraft saves are credited to a BRS Whole Aircraft Rescue Parachute System? A. As of August 2017, 376 ."
"Q. How much damage will be done to my plane if I land it with a parachute? A. In all likelihood the aircraft will suffer some significant damage. The terrain where you land will affect this greatly. Though the extent of damage has varied from plane to plane, most GA aircraft that have come down under a BRS deployment have eventually (or will soon) fly again." Call me a skeptic until they provide hard numbers and det…
A 172 or similar that has been retrofitted with a BRS? Yeah, not so much.
Re: The age of electric flight is finally upon us
#145This plane wouldn’t even be capable of getting me to the closest aircraft hub at its maximum range, let alone with a safety margin (I live an hour and a half, by jet, from Denver). Not to mention it will be slow and badly impacted by storms (since it has an operating ceiling of 10,000 ft).
There are flights shorter than 650mi.
Re: The age of electric flight is finally upon us
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's probably OK: having to replace a motor would be a small cost compared to that of an off-field forced landing that went badly.
>> off-field forced landing that went badly. Parachutes. They are now a very practical option for GA aircraft. More than a few cessnas have been saved. The concept of "off-field forced landing" should too be going away. https://brsaerospace.com/cessna-faqs/ " Q. How many aircraft saves are credited to a BRS Whole Aircraft Rescue Parachute System? A. As of August 2017, 376 ."
This is a 9-passenger airplane, maybe too large for current recovery parachutes? (though I imagine that will change.)
[1] https://www.cirruspilots.org/copa/safety_programs/b/pull_ear...
Re: The age of electric flight is finally upon us
#147This plane wouldn’t even be capable of getting me to the closest aircraft hub at its maximum range, let alone with a safety margin (I live an hour and a half, by jet, from Denver). Not to mention it will be slow and badly impacted by storms (since it has an operating ceiling of 10,000 ft).
It's a prototype.
Re: The age of electric flight is finally upon us
#148I'm surprized hydrogen fueled flight isn't looked into more. Hydrogen can be produced using electrolysis and it's packs significantly more energy per weight even than kerosene. The main drawback is the low density which would require larger fuselages, but that should be offset by the significantly lower weight.
Re: The age of electric flight is finally upon us
#149https://twitter.com/BenBrelje_says/status/106484220091004108... https://twitter.com/BenBrelje_says/status/106485722028904038... https://twitter.com/BenBrelje_says/status/106491195862390374... To recap, based on financial statements the company: used to be a "waste management" company that failed and was sold as a "public shell" to enable the formerly private company to go public and sell shares (the waste management…
Those tweets have been deleted, and where’s the evidence of these claims?
I don't believe them. The design is sound, if radical in the decision to be mostly-battery. And I think that's partly why people are so skeptical: it definitely goes counter to the industry grain. But it IS the right way to build a serious electric aircraft for regional/commuter passenger travel. Pressurized, extremely high lift-to-drag ratio, very high battery mass fraction, focus on high propulsive efficiency by ingesting boundary layer with the pusher propeller and countering wing-tip vortices with wing-tip propeller. The passenger count is also right, at the limit of FAR-23, allowing you to use a single pilot.
The only thing I would do differently is probably have a higher cruise altitude and higher aspect ratio wings (and probably counter-rotating dual-motor pusher propellers) instead of using wing-tip propellers and gettin, but theirs is a valid design choice as well.
So much group-think especially with the larger aerospace companies. They insist on hybrids for flight (notice how whenever Airbus or Boeing buy one of these exciting electric flight startups, they all of a sudden switch to hybrid?), which ends up compromising the design and adding a whole new propulsion system to validate and certify. Others have a valid approach of retrofitting electric onto older airframes, but that is not going to get anywhere near the operational efficiencies of a clean-sheet design. And still others insist on VTOL, but I have my doubts as to whether the focus on VTOL by so many of these electric flight startups is going to really be worth it in the end except for niche cases.
Re: The age of electric flight is finally upon us
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's probably OK: having to replace a motor would be a small cost compared to that of an off-field forced landing that went badly.
>> off-field forced landing that went badly. Parachutes. They are now a very practical option for GA aircraft. More than a few cessnas have been saved. The concept of "off-field forced landing" should too be going away. https://brsaerospace.com/cessna-faqs/ " Q. How many aircraft saves are credited to a BRS Whole Aircraft Rescue Parachute System? A. As of August 2017, 376 ."