Airbus to attempt first electricity-powered cross-Channel flight
Airbus will attempt a milestone in the history of modern aviation by making the first 42-mile cross-Channel flight in an aircraft powered by electricity.
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The attempt, on Friday, comes 106 years after French aviator Louis Blériot accomplished the feat using an internal combustion engine.
The flight will operate an E-Fan 2.0. prototype, that uses batteries to power its motors, and will depart from Lydd airport at Kent to land in Calais, France.
“The aircraft flies like a conventional aircraft of its size, is very reliable and some of the big advantages are its zero emissions, almost noiseless flight and cost effectiveness," said Airbus’s chief technical officerJean Botti.
Pipistrel, a small Slovenian light airplane manufacturer, had plans, via its French distributor, for a Channel crossing on 7 July using the same fan. Although it had obtained permission from the French civil aviation authority to make the flight, it did did not succeed in the attempt.
Siemens, the E-fan 2.0. supplier, requested the company not to use its fan for the flight, urging it to return the prototypes and stopping the company from achieving the milestone.
"We deeply regret the action of Siemens which prevented the flight – especially because on the other hand, it would be Siemens that would enable the flight, being that our aircraft uses a Siemens electric motor," said Pipistrel head Ivo Boscarol.
"This is why we find this decision even more bizarre and incomprehensible.”
Airbus has invested €20m in developing this technology, which it expects to introduce commercially by 2017-2018.
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