- Joined
- Oct 16, 2014
- Messages
- 314
I'd be awfully surprised if the FAA relaxed fuel reserve regulations for electric aircraft. At least in Pipistrel's case, that advertised endurance includes a daytime VFR reserve.
I agree.
And endurance is just the Operational side of it (FAR91), long after it's Certified.
Just getting Certified (FAR23) will be the tough part.
There are several Experimental planes flying on electrics - always have been for many decades. There are several companies actively and busily bilking naive investors into dropping huge sums on the promise of Certification. I know of one near Denver that's convinced some investors they'll have it wrapped up "soon". They don't stand a chance of being done in 5 years and a 300 million more dollars,. at least.
The failure modes ALONE, that have to be demonstrated to FAA witnesses, will be colossal. Every chip, resistor, cap, etc. Every MOSFET in the charging circuit. The boards, the solder. Every component; they all have to be shown what will happen when they fail, partially fail, intermittently fail, etc. And the software controlled charge/discharge? Every line of code has to be reviews and approved. Every winding on every pole of the motor.
You wonder why avionics are so incredibly expensive? You already know this, probably.
And after they do that, they have to show that every plane they build will be identical to the one they just held up as their prototype(s). That means every wire cut and terminated by a regulated and controlled process. That means every board wave-soldered in a controlled manner. That includes the exact windings on every pole of the aforementioned motor. Nope, can't just go buy that stuff unless THOSE guys can show the FAA they can make it exactly the same, too.
Now remember, we haven't even begun flight testing with extreme CG displacements (far beyond the Pilot Manual), spins, phugoid, etc.
This process prohibitively expensive to do on a "regular" small plane, with known components and known powerplants. Electrics? Enormous costs: which has been among the sticking points so far.
And just so there's no question. The Pipistrel isn't Certified, either.
Category: Experimental