Went out today to go practice approaches. As I drive towards my hangar, I see a bunch of pilots lined up to watch something on the runway.

I thought maybe somebody’s teenage kid was doing their first solo or something.

Turns out it was just the new Cirrus V tail taking off and landing.

Interesting. Same thing happened to me on Friday. - on the other side of the country. We were out at some friend's charter company hangar, and saw the main runway being closed in Arlington, WA. They were doing taxi tests on a large and very strange electric aircraft called an "Eviation Alice". Sounds weird when powered up... just prop noise. Hope they're using Energizer batteries. Imagine flying 200 miles nonstop on a single charge... in a world with no recognizable noises, and that comfort we love to hear. All you'll hear on the road is tire noise, and blade slap in the air. No more cool cars and trucks rumbling by, and beefy engines taxiing up to an airport ramp. Is it progress to lose feeling??


https://www.heraldnet.com/business/arli ... ne-design/

No, just old age.

My grandfather grew up in the horse and wagon era. At one time he owned a fairly new Model T. My dad relates the time his dad was talking about the noisy vehicles in the context of progress and offered that one day they would be so quiet that the only sound would be the tires. To my grandfather, that was something to look forward to. It was progress, it was the future.

No more cool cars? Define 'cool'. Does 0 to 60 in under 2 seconds count if it doesn't make engine noise? No more noisy trucks? Is that a bad thing?

Our nostalgia for these things stems from their familiarity. Think how you would feel if you were twenty and looking at these things. Would you weep for the loss of the rumble and vibration, or would you celebrate the modernity, comfort, and quiet of the new? The loud and rumbly engines that you love will be around at least as long as you will. Enjoy them if they make you happy. Their replacements will be just as cool to your grandkids.

That future is already here. As a bicyclist, I get passed by lots of cars, both gas and electric, and for the vast majority tire noise is all you hear now anyway. At traffic speed a passing Tesla is just as loud as a similar gas car. Only with muscle cars, motorcycles and trucks are engine sounds noticeable above the tire and wind noise.

As for airplanes, inside noise will depend on where the prop is. Paul Bertorelli posted a video of flying in an electric Pipistrel and the propwash against the windshield makes it just as loud inside as gas. And it will be a while before they can afford the weight of noise-deadening insulation.

You don't need noise deadening insulation, you need to put the props out on the wings where they belong

The only thing constant is change.

Although in aviation, change occurs more slowly.

I kind of miss the headroom and comfort that the noisy-engined cars and SUVs provide. Some of the newer electric SUVs have what my long torso desires.
..but they come with a huge price tag!

Being old school I'm glad I'll be able to finish my flying days flying a piston powered plane. I wouldn't have an electric powered plane.

To me inflight management of a piston engine is a part of flying I enjoy, plus the care and feeding of the engine is another enjoyable part of ownership as a hobby.

But electric airplanes will become the norm, and owners can say "well, I think I'll go out to the airport today and change the brushes in my motor.

Paul, you missed your calling as an engineer on a steam locomotive.

Paul, you missed your calling as an engineer on a steam locomotive.

I don't miss piston engines in GA planes since going to turbofans (mostly because the Continentals in my Cirruses were unreliable POSes) but I'm with you on the electric cars. Blah... Hope I can keep driving my fleet of ICE cars until I am gone.

If it doesn’t make any sound how are you supposed to know when you are flying over a large body of water?

It doesn't matter. If you're flying an electric plane over a large body of water you probably don't have the range to make it across anyway. :P

It will start making noise it never made before