WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Nov 1 (US): When he made history by being the first person to fly through New Zealand’s Cook Strait in an electric plane, Gary Friedman thought it was only fitting that the first thing he saw when approaching the Wellington coast was the rotating blade of a wind turbine that produce renewable energy.
Friedman’s solo 40-minute flight on the 101-year-old small two-seater came after the first person flew a conventional plane over a body of water separating the two main islands of the South Pacific nation.
Monday’s flight was intended to draw attention to the prospects for greener aviation and its timing to coincide with the opening of the pivotal United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.
Wellington International Airport officials believe it may be the longest distance traveled in an electric plane across any body of water, according to the Associated Press (AP).
“It’s a very exciting day for the airport. A world record day,” spokeswoman Jenna Raeburn said.
The day started poorly, Friedman said, with heavy rain at his departure point near the town of Blenheim. After a 15-minute flight delay, the weather cleared enough to take off and soon improved to sunny conditions over the ocean.
Friedman said he was ecstatic when he landed, and the technology was working better than he had hoped.
“We still have 40% left in the battery,” he said. “We could almost have gone back again.”
Friedman, 49, who founded ElectricAir, said he’s long been passionate about the environment and that the idea came when he was contemplating the contrast between driving an electric car and flying a gas-powered plane.
He made a trip to Slovenia to buy a Pipistrel Alpha Electro plane, then jumped through various hoops with New Zealand’s aviation regulators to get a permit for the plane.
Weighing less than 400 kg (880 lb), they are much quieter than conventional aircraft. In a flight of 78 kilometers (48 miles), Friedman flew 1,000 feet (305 meters) above sea level and at a relatively slow speed of 130 kilometers per hour (81 mph) in order to maintain its charge.
It takes about an hour to fully charge the plane, Friedman said. The maximum flight time is also about an hour, and he uses it mainly for training pilots.
An airport spokeswoman said Wellington International Airport is preparing for regular short flights for the new 12-seat electric planes that will begin in about five years.
She said electric technology is not advanced enough to power large passenger aircraft, but biofuels and hydrogen will likely provide environmentally friendly alternatives in the future.
RAE