Username Protected wrote:
[quote="
I would like to know how they are pulling that off. I used to be a CFI and the average lesson is around one hour of flight time. Is there an electric in France that can fly for an hour? The current electric trainers I have seen have a 15 min endurance.[/quote]
Day VFR only, 50 minutes flight with a reserve. Then, two hours to recharge.
The manufacturer recommends having a second plane to fly while one is charging.
"Pipistrel recommends using more Velis Electro aircraft in your fleet to enable quick turn-around times for students and instructors when using the superior SkyCharge line of Pipistrel in-house developed aircraft battery chargers."
So you buy two planes minimum for your school, and can only fly one at a time. That's how the school pulls this off. They have extra airplanes. Great idea.
Oh, and the pilots better be thin. 378 pound maximum payload. And of course, you can't leave fuel behind to increase the payload. The 308 pounds worth of batteries remain whether they are full of electrons or empty.
Let's see how this develops.[/quote]
From AVweb:
In Europe it has a 50 min flight time with a 10 min reserve at "normal cruise".
In the US test have shown a 20 to 24 min flight time with 30 min reserve if flown in low power mode and light.
With two pilots 18 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiNtLBLveeM