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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

#161

Post by klaff »

dghlsakjg wrote: post #158
klaff wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, fully charging my EV (0-100%) at home on night-time discounted electricity of $0.07/kWh would cost me $6, so even allowing for really cheap electricity this doesn't feel right. A Dornier 328 (roughly similar in size) has two 1625 kW engines. Heart stated they "delivered more than one megawatt of power" during the flight, so maybe comparable to one of the Dornier's engines at 60% power? Even the DC-3 could take…

The funny thing is that it’s still going to be a fraction of the cost of jet A1 if they had the math right. The Dornier is burning around 300 gallons per hour, at current US fuel prices that’s more than $1k/hour.

Jet A prices near me range from $6.75 to $8.52 (I used https://www.airnav.com/fuel/local.html) so more like $2k/hour!

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#162

Post by quickthrowman »

SECProto wrote: post #153
quickthrowman wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Planes still need like half throttle to maintain altitude, that’s why airplane engines are rebuilt every few thousand hours vs lasting hundreds of thousands of miles (tens of thousands of hours) for a car engine that only uses a small fraction of its power to keep a car moving.

> Planes still need like half throttle to maintain altitude, Yes, bit less than half, but anyway that is exactly why I said takeoff would be the peak power output. > that’s why airplane engines are rebuilt every few thousand hours vs lasting hundreds of thousands of miles (tens of thousands of hours) for a car engine that only uses a small fraction of its power to keep a car moving. Ratio of max power to average powe…

> Ratio of max power to average power is very low on the list of reasons why a gas turbine engined plane needs maintenance more frequently than a piston engined car.

I meant for the comparison to be between an internal combustion engine in a car and an air-cooled piston engine in a plane, I should’ve clarified in my post.

I’m amazed we even figured out how to make reliable gas turbines (single crystal blades still astound me) so any required maintenance makes sense, they operate at the edge of engineering in a way that most machines don’t.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#163

Post by quickthrowman »

nick238 wrote: post #130
CableNinja wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny (stupid) story. Denvers original airport was built in the "middle of no where", for noise reasons. Continue on for 30 years and lots of housing built up around it. People start complaining about noise. City decides to move the airport. Moves it 30 miles away, in the middle of no where (now DIA). Yep, you guessed it. People start building close to the airport, and then complain about the noise. I fully expect it…

Laguna Seca, a fairly famous California race track, was opened in 1957 built out in the middle of nowhere. In 2024, people that moved near the racetrack sued to get it shut down. I know there's some level of caveat emptor when buying a house, and realtors are guaranteed to not have any showings when it's noisy, but maybe just spell it out and the purchaser needs to be made aware.

> Laguna Seca, a fairly famous California race track, was opened in 1957 built out in the middle of nowhere. In 2024, people that moved near the racetrack sued to get it shut down.

“I swear, the race track just materialized out of nowhere!” -A wealthy liar living in California

I assume it was dismissed immediately since Laguna Seca is almost 70 years old.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#164

Post by gruturo »

M95D wrote: post #154
gruturo wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure passengers will object to being catapulted. Kids may love it though. But realistically you're either imparting 2G and hurting 10% of the passengers, or you may as well not bother with one. The "JATO-like" solution of a modular prop+battery unit giving you a takeoff+climb boost for 10 minutes and then heading back to the airport seems less objectionable.

At a comfortable 1G acceleration it would reach 500 Km/h in less than 1000 m or 750 Km/h in 2000 m.

I'm guessing a 1km long catapult - if not 2km - would be really really tricky. Maybe a long winch with a super super super safe way to detach it as soon as the nose is pointing up?

But, regardless, it's actually shorter than I thought! Although 1G forward acceleration is still quite a bit. Imagine elderly passengers with osteoporosis... and the lawsuits.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#165

Post by CableNinja »

quickthrowman wrote: post #163
nick238 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Laguna Seca, a fairly famous California race track, was opened in 1957 built out in the middle of nowhere. In 2024, people that moved near the racetrack sued to get it shut down. I know there's some level of caveat emptor when buying a house, and realtors are guaranteed to not have any showings when it's noisy, but maybe just spell it out and the purchaser needs to be made aware.

> Laguna Seca, a fairly famous California race track, was opened in 1957 built out in the middle of nowhere. In 2024, people that moved near the racetrack sued to get it shut down. “I swear, the race track just materialized out of nowhere!” -A wealthy liar living in California I assume it was dismissed immediately since Laguna Seca is almost 70 years old.

It was not

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#166

Post by dghlsakjg »

klaff wrote: post #161
dghlsakjg wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The funny thing is that it’s still going to be a fraction of the cost of jet A1 if they had the math right. The Dornier is burning around 300 gallons per hour, at current US fuel prices that’s more than $1k/hour.

Jet A prices near me range from $6.75 to $8.52 (I used https://www.airnav.com/fuel/local.html ) so more like $2k/hour!

I was going by wholesale prices.

I use Mogas in my plane and even that is painful these days

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#167

Post by sokoloff »

echoangle wrote: post #159
ortusdux wrote: post #107

All FedEx express packages in my area come and go via a dedicated twin-prop plane that flies 35 miles to the hub. I'm sending a package today, and $14 of the 54$ total is a fuel surcharge. I wonder if I will be seeing electricity surcharges in the future.

Do you happen to live in Alaska? Or is this common in the US?

Most of the Fedex feeder aircraft are single-turboprop Cessna 208B Super Cargomasters (stretched Caravans). There are also larger feeder routes served by ATR twin turboprops, but most of the small out-stations are served by 208Bs for air freight.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#168

Post by ggreer »

nick238 wrote: post #123
ElijahLynn wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for this! My local airport is so freaking annoying with all the Cessnas flying over our heads. I can't wait for electric to be the better choice. I don't think most pilots realize how annoying they are in disturbing the peace.

I'd be more worried about all the leaded gas that GA planes use. Oh no, there are all these old engine that can't use unleaded gas. The hobby pilots just have no choice but to continually dust the surrounding area with lead vapors. They certainly can't be forced to update their engines/aircraft. Cry me a river.

The reason they use old engines and leaded fuel is mostly due to FAA rules, not personal preference. Pilots spend a lot of time around airfields & avgas, so they want to get rid of lead additives as well.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#169

Post by rswail »

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

The problem of the jets on September 11 is the use of the jets themselves as weapons.

Even without the jet fuel on board, the destruction would still have been substantial. Whether the Twin Towers would have fallen without the fuel is not really relevant.

Most of the security is security theater. The primary improvements to security have not been people taking their shoes off or emptying water bottles. It was locking the cockpit doors and passengers knowing that they cannot rely on the hijacker wanting to survive. Other than that, making sure passengers are on board if their luggage is has meant no more Lockerbies.

All the other stuff is pretty much a waste of time.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#170

Post by alistairSH »

gruturo wrote: post #164
M95D wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a comfortable 1G acceleration it would reach 500 Km/h in less than 1000 m or 750 Km/h in 2000 m.

I'm guessing a 1km long catapult - if not 2km - would be really really tricky. Maybe a long winch with a super super super safe way to detach it as soon as the nose is pointing up? But, regardless, it's actually shorter than I thought! Although 1G forward acceleration is still quite a bit. Imagine elderly passengers with osteoporosis... and the lawsuits.

Instantaneous 1g might feel like a lot, but a relatively "soft" ramp to 1g would surely mitigate that complaint? I mean, we'd all be buckled into seats. And some sports cars can hit 1g with a good "drag race" start - and yes, that's definitely not something I'd do with granny in the seat, only pointing out it's not a crazy amount of acceleration if a factory-spec Mustang can do it.
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