Following a 3,400-mile series of flights from Southern California, a hybrid-electric aircraft developed by Ampaire, landed successfully at Fairbanks International Airport earlier this month.
According to the press release “This historic flight represents a major milestone in electric aviation: It’s the first hybrid-electric aircraft deployment in Alaska, the first international hybrid-electric flight, and the first hybrid-electric aircraft to gain both FAA (USA) and TCCA (Canada) special airworthiness approvals. It’s the furthest north any hybrid-electric aircraft has ever flown, enabled by the first-ever deployments of mobile electric aircraft chargers in Alaska and Canada.
“Ampaire is a member of the Launch Alaska Portfolio and graduate of Launch Alaska’s Tech Deployment Track, and developed the hybrid-electric aircraft with support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). Designed as a testbed aircraft for the deployment of high-powered electronics, inverters, motors, and related systems, the aircraft is a retrofitted Cessna 337 Skymaster that now delivers 50-70% fuel cost savings and 25-50% maintenance cost savings.”
“To enable low-cost, low-carbon transportation, we need to commercialise electrified aircraft technologies and realise the full potential of regional airports,” said ARPA-E Director Dr. Evelyn Wang. “If we rise to this challenge, we can connect Alaskans and all Americans to one another, transport goods, and provide services including medical care. We can drive down the cost of travel and make it accessible for all communities.”
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(Image: DevDharm Khalsa / Projects in Motion.)
