Cessna Turboprop Completes First All-Electric Flight in Moses Lake, WA Written 29 May 2020
Cessna 208 Caravan assigned to the Iraqi air force Flying Training Wing flies over Northern Iraq during a training mission. | Lt. Col. Scott Voskovitch - afcent.af.mil; Wikipedia; Public Domain
The Seattle Times reports that a “modified Cessna Caravan turboprop that typically seats nine passengers flew Thursday for the first time powered not by a gas-powered engine, but by electricity.” Two Seattle-area aviation companies were “behind the airplane’s 30-minute-long, all-electric first flight at Moses Lake,” Washington. Redmond-based MagniX “designed the light electric motor,” while Seattle-based AeroTEC “modified the airplane.” The Moses Lake flight “follows a similar first flight in Vancouver, [British Columbia], last December of a modified de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver seaplane powered by the same MagniX 750-horsepower motor.” Because “these and similarly sized airplanes are certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for commercial flights, getting a modified e-plane model certified should be faster than certifying some all-new electric airplane design.” MagniX CEO Roei Ganzarski is “confident technology is advancing toward batteries light enough and powerful enough for his needs.”
Full Story (Seattle Times)