Live data from Hacker News

Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

heartaerospace.com

121–130 of 170 posts

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#121
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Electric aircraft that use normal propellers are significantly quieter than their combustion counterparts. Here's a short video of some takeoffs and landings from both.[1] 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXm4TnaXDWc

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 live near an airfield that has been in operation for over a century. If I found airplane noise particularly annoying, I would have chosen somewhere else to live. I find loud cars & motorcycles to be worse, so I prioritized being away from busy roads.

I think pilots are of a similar mindset. New airfields are rarely built near populated areas, so what usually happens is that nearby land gets developed, people move there, then they try to get the airfield restricted or shut down. It's a similar story for other noisy businesses like outdoor gun ranges or race tracks. I can see how that creates resentment for those who enjoy such hobbies. They're probably thinking something like, "We were here first. Why should we have to change or leave?"

I do dislike that leaded gasoline is still common in general aviation, so I look forward to a future full of electric aircraft.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#122
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best use case might be short flights over water or other geographic obstacles where driving routes might be much longer or impossible. Like Kahului Airport to Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport for example.

What happens when a large amount of these batteries get submerged in fresh or salt water?

They burn. But generally speaking, if the plane's structural integrity is degraded enough that the water gets into the battery casings, everyone onboard is probably already dead.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#123
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Electric aircraft that use normal propellers are significantly quieter than their combustion counterparts. Here's a short video of some takeoffs and landings from both.[1] 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXm4TnaXDWc

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.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#124
post #121

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 live near an airfield that has been in operation for over a century. If I found airplane noise particularly annoying, I would have chosen somewhere else to live. I find loud cars & motorcycles to be worse, so I prioritized being away from busy roads. I think pilots are of a similar mindset. New airfields are rarely built near populated areas, so what usually happens is that nearby land gets developed, people move t…

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 to move again in 15-20 years

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#125
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. The closest I can think is to have a solid rocket booster and that has obvious risks as well.

[flagged]

>Chat told me this type might be an option:

but why do you think this was a meaningful contribution to the discussion?

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#126
post #74

Does anyone know if there is a theoretical limit for how energy dense a battery could be? I wonder if there is a possible future where some sort of commercial long haul flights could be done by a fully electric plane. I've never gotten a great answer on this, and maybe we don't have an answer for certain since battery chemistry is some sense is still early days

Lithium air batteries theoretically can reach 10000-12000w/kg though they have only reached 1200w in labs so far. Gasoline is 13000w/kg. We don't need to match gasoline as it is inefficient. CATL just got it's 500w/kg batteries for commercial aviation approved I am betting China is going to do the same with electric planes that it did with cars. They can't build a efficient enough jet engine to be competitive yet but they already can build the narrow body planes replace the jet engine with electric take over the market for short haul aviation once the battery densities cross 1000w/hr.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#127
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live near an airfield that has been in operation for over a century. If I found airplane noise particularly annoying, I would have chosen somewhere else to live. I find loud cars & motorcycles to be worse, so I prioritized being away from busy roads. I think pilots are of a similar mindset. New airfields are rarely built near populated areas, so what usually happens is that nearby land gets developed, people move t…

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…

Hey! I’m one of the people who moved to that area. I could sit on my back patio and watch a line of planes land at night.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Island hopping is the usual sales pitch for these planes.

Maybe from mainland to islands if there's enough range for the round-trip. Otherwise many islands are not going to have the electrical infrastructure to handle the charging demands.

Plopping down solar panels and big batteries for an of-grid charger for these planes seems like a solvable problem.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"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." It's about feeding the existing network. Millions of people in the US live in places a 2+hr drive to the nearest major airport, but have plenty of smaller municipal fields nearby. Electric aviation could finally…

> Millions of people in the US live in places a 2+hr drive to the nearest major airport If its >2 hour drive to the airport this plane probably isn't going to take you there on pure-electric power, that's my point. If you drive 65MPH for two hours, you've gone further than this thing can fly (on pure battery).

Ish. Cars are constrained by having to stay on roads (mostly). Planes can go "as the crow flies", although they're limited to airports. Long range electric helicopters is what's really gonna change the game.

Re: Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

#130
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live near an airfield that has been in operation for over a century. If I found airplane noise particularly annoying, I would have chosen somewhere else to live. I find loud cars & motorcycles to be worse, so I prioritized being away from busy roads. I think pilots are of a similar mindset. New airfields are rarely built near populated areas, so what usually happens is that nearby land gets developed, people move t…

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.

Post reply on HN