First electric aircrft, sucessful flight in France.

[grounded27]

Hmm?

Business - Video: World?s first electric plane takes off in France - France 24 (http://www.france24.com/en/20140426-video-world-first-electric-plane-takes-off-france/)

[ruddman]

Geez, how long must the power cord be? :ooh:

[JEM60]

World's first?? I don't think so!!!. Isn't there a large solar powered manned aircraft that has been flown for some time?. It may be solar power, but it's still powered by electric motors, surely!!!

[SpringHeeledJack]

All well and good (And I think it is!) but until there is a proven jump in battery technology and efficiency in electric motors that will keep craft in the air for at least 2 or 3 hours it's just another experimental maybe.

[Denti]

Certainly not the first. The electric powered motor glider Antares 20E has been in serial production for the last 10 years. There are numerous others in the light aircraft market that have electric aircraft (non gliders) flying, especially chinese companies are pretty far along already.

Germans DLR has a research aircraft (DLR-H2) flying that is based on the antares, but not operated as a glider, it is generating its electricity on board with a fuel cell, range is currently only 750km, the successor (DLR-H3) is planned with a range of 6000km using a similar but improved technology.

[Donkey497]

So that's what happened when the Energiser Bunny got his paws on an A-10 Warthog and an F4U Corsair........... :D

[onetrack]

Add some high-energy capacitors for take-off punch, and regenerative power ability on the descent, and we could be talking viability for a light aircraft here - even with current battery technology.
I have to agree with SHJ, though - that elusive quantam leap in battery power reserve and a lowering of battery weight, is still a long way off.

Caterpillar entered into a JV with a company called Firefly several years ago, to produce a new battery with vastly better output - and using elements or compounds that weren't rare or difficult to extract, to ensure they couldn't be held to ransom on costs by the miners/producers of the raw materials.
The Firefly JV ran for several years, burnt up 10's of millions in funding - and produced precisely zilch - so Caterpillar wound it up.

[DaveReidUK]

Certainly not the first. The electric powered motor glider Antares 20E has been in serial production for the last 10 years.Quite so - it's hard to know where to start in demolishing this particular bit of BS.

If we assume that by "aircraft" the French mean heavier-than-air, then it seems to be generally agreed that the first to fly was the Militky MB-E1 in 1973, featured in the 1975-76 Jane's.

Good summary of electric aircraft development here:

http://aerosociety.com/Assets/Docs/Events/602/%282%29%20Graham%20Dorrington-Part%201.pdf

http://aerosociety.com/Assets/Docs/Events/602/%282%29%20Graham%20Dorrington-Part%202.pdf

And if we include airships, we can go back a bit farther: :O

http://prints.encore-editions.com/500/0/airship-powered-by-an-electric-motor-developed-by-albert-and-gaston-tissandier-departing-from-auteuil-paris-france-october-8-1883-poyet-del-e-a-tilly.jpg

Of course the French have a time-honoured tradition of claiming to be the first to have done things when they weren't. :ugh:

[Capetonian]

The French invented everything that moves in the air, on land, and underwater, if you believe them (who would?) They invented sex (it took them a while to realise that women are involved). They invented food and wine, beauty, and fashion, and television, and radio ........ well, they think they did.

They did invent the hot air balloon, they certainly have plenty of that to spare.

They're on holiday today, celebratiing their glorious 'workers' day in their socialist/communist republic. Odd that, seeing as 'work' is a pretty alien concept to most of them.