EAA Sport Aviation - October 2009

The latch, which was bonded in place and had no visible way to be disassembled, now sat in the same location, but as a mirror image. Now, when the latch closed, it folded into itself and out of the way. I’ve had 20 hours in this plane, and every time I open or close the latch, I wonder how they did that.

After two days of assembly, we called the FAA flight standards district office (FSDO) for our airworthiness certificate, and we found out that the two FAA inspectors who were championing the project had been reassigned. The FSDO had no idea what we were talking about. An electric plane? Really?

With their help, we found a designated airworthiness representative willing to take on the project and work under the supervision of the local FSDO, FAA manufacturing inspection district office, and FAA headquarters in Washington, D.C. To their credit, everyone who saw the airplane and learned about its systems left with a new understanding—and even support—for electric flight.

FLIGHT TIMES

Finally, we came to the part I was looking forward to: my first electric flight. I did a few runway hops before going up to 3,000 feet over Camarillo. The e430 flew much like a sailplane, which isn’t surprising. It has docile handling characteristics, great visibility, a quiet ride, and hardly any vibration—and then only when the prop is turning.

The endurance on my first flight disappointed me though. After only 40 minutes, I began running out of batteries. As it turned out, most of that was my doing.

Tian gently explained that I’d flown too fast. He had calculated that I should only need 7 kW (kilowatts) to maintain level flight, but I used almost twice that. After a few more flights spent comparing my airspeed to my GPS groundspeed—and after we installed a new static system, which models don’t need—I flew level flight at 7. 5 k W. By learning how to manage my kilowatts, I flew several times for more than 1. 5 hours, with reserves.

Yuneec plans to certify the e430 in Germany, which currently recognizes electric flight, and then seek LSA approval in the U.S. once the ASTM standards for LSA include electric motors.