Future of aviation, or flash in the pan??

On 1/24/20 12:29 PM, Eric Greenwell wrote:
kinsell wrote on 1/23/2020 6:17 PM:
The nine px Alice prototype suffered a setback in Arizona as a fire on
the ground damaged the plane significantly, ahead of planned taxi tests.

https://www.flightglobal.com/air-tra...136327.article


In other electrifying news, a U.K. company is working on another
electric conversion of a small commuter airplane, this one featuring
an innovative turbine powered generator tucked inside the fuselage to
top up the batteries on those long flights.Â* So it will be powered by
electricity, JET-A, and a $12 million government grant.

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/...tric-airliner/


Why are we talking about electric airplanes instead of electric
sailplanes? Even stodgy Schleicher now has a really nice 18M electric
self-launcher at at an interesting price. It should be very appealing to
pilots that want a really good motorglider without the cost, operating
complexity, and maintenance of the fossil fueled motorgliders.

An the 15M GP15 also looks like a good choice: smaller, lighter,
cheaper, but still very good gliding performance. The miniLak and Silent
2 FES gliders seem perfect for pilots looking for decent performance and
freedom from the tow plane.

So why are we talking about electric airplanes? Sure beats talking
about phoney movies on ballooning in the 1860's, doesn't it?

I see some great similarities between stuffing lithium-cobalt batteries
in a glider and adding an electric motor, and doing the same with a
power plane. They both suffer from limited battery capacity, safety
concerns, significant cost, and charging hassles. Lots more work being
done currently on power planes than gliders. When a Pipistrel Alpha
Electro goes for a swim in a cold lake in Norway, it's hard to tell if
that's a power plane or motorglider.

I'm less impressed with the current crop of electric gliders than you
are. Couple of friends got in the very first orders for GP-15's and
have been waiting years for delivery. I keep seeing gliders certified
for self-launch taking tows, because they can self-launch or
self-retrieve, but not both. The gas-powered solutions aren't great,
but IMHO better than the electrics, or heaven forbid the jets.

-Dave