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Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

heartaerospace.com

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Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#41

Post by catketch »

voakbasda wrote: post #34
wffurr wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't VTOL aircraft significantly more complex and riskier to operate than fixed-wing prop aircraft? There's certainly many fewer moving parts and tricky transitions from hover to airfoil flight regime.

And there’s that whole pesky problem of not being able to glide to a safe landing when something goes catastrophically wrong.

that varies with the design (they could have small fixed wings). Beta have full-airframe ballistic parachutes i believe. That is feasible at least for smaller aircraft.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#42

Post by panick21_ »

vel0city wrote: post #11

At 120 miles of useful pure electric range, I can't imagine there are many US corridors where that pure electric range makes sense. That's still a range where the door to door time of a car can still win. I wonder why they don't push the idea of it being a hybrid more, as it seems to me a lot of useful routes are going to rely on the generators. I'd love to see something that can do around 250mi. It would be nice to…

They want to push the 'all electric range' angle, but the people who buy it know what it can do.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#43

Post by toss1 »

spongebobstoes wrote: post #18

could we relax the security around electric planes, because they don't carry as much highly explosive material? that could make it much more convenient and appealing as a travel method

Interesting thought, but I'm not sure the (admittedly flammable & explosive) fuel load is the main threat posed by a hijacked aircraft — the large mass at velocity can still to major damage and casualties wherever it is crashed.

Plus, depending on the battery chemistry, that material could also create a serious fire; it is a lot of stored energy either way.

So, I would not wait for it

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#46

Post by Skwid »

spongebobstoes wrote: post #18

could we relax the security around electric planes, because they don't carry as much highly explosive material? that could make it much more convenient and appealing as a travel method

Total energy is going to be comparable for aircraft with similar ranges, I don't think a lithium fire is any less unpleasant than a Jet-A fire for for anyone nearby.

Even if the batteries could be made entirely inert, the ability to deliver a plane sized slug of kinetic energy to a building of your choice retains most of the danger.

Even if that could be avoided, a plane must remain operational enough throughout all flights to avoid falling out of the sky.

It would take a large bomb to take out a whole bus load of passengers, a very small one to put safety critical systems of a plane out of action.

As much as I would appreciate this happening, I don't think electric planes are going to make it happen.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#47

Post by toasty228 »

moralestapia wrote: post #44

Electric aircraft makes no economic sense, but I'd want to see them flying one day nonetheless.

> Electric aircraft makes no economic sense

You better start working on them now if you want them to be ready when they'll make economical sense, which might be in a not so distant future

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#48

Post by toasty228 »

spongebobstoes wrote: post #18

could we relax the security around electric planes, because they don't carry as much highly explosive material? that could make it much more convenient and appealing as a travel method

They cary the same amount of energy

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#49

Post by its_ethan »

griffinkelly wrote: post #25
mikeyouse wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who lives in the Great Lakes region - there are a ton of 100 mile flights that would take 4 hours to drive - often as the first leg in a two-flight trip. Also places like Denver -> Ski resorts (Vail/Aspen/Crested Butte) are 2 - 3hr drives, heavily dependent on road conditions all within the pure-electric range.

There's regular DEN to COS flights by United, every hour on the hour. Sometimes can be faster than driving, would be a great one to replace. Also ORD to MKE. A lot of small routes that are about 100 miles that are equally inconvenient to drive.

ORD to MKE is a 60-90 minute drive depending on traffic. When you account for going through ORD security, boarding, taxiing at ORD, etc. I'm not so sure that it's a win for travel time. Depends on where you're starting from in the Chicago area, I suppose.

Your DEN to COS suggestion would probably be quite popular for skiers coming in that want to avoid renting a car and would enjoy the electric hop to avoid a 2hr drive.

The real winning route would be two airports separated by ~100miles that still have a 3+hr drive, or two small regional airports where security time is negligible (that's certainly NOT O'hare, in my experience at least lol) Flights leaving GRB to northern Michigan would be perfect for this though since the alternative is to drive around Lake Michigan.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#50

Post by tiahura »

vel0city wrote: post #11

At 120 miles of useful pure electric range, I can't imagine there are many US corridors where that pure electric range makes sense. That's still a range where the door to door time of a car can still win. I wonder why they don't push the idea of it being a hybrid more, as it seems to me a lot of useful routes are going to rely on the generators. I'd love to see something that can do around 250mi. It would be nice to…

Appx 5% of us domestic flights, 1200 per day.
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