ELECTRIC TRAINER CERTIFIED

摘要

SLOVENIAN AIRPLANE MAKER PIPISTREL HAS WORKED FOR SEVERAL YEARS to get an electric aircraft certified, and European regulators have signed off on the first such type certificate. The Velis Electro is a two-seat, single electric motor version of the Pipistrel Virus SW 121, which first flew in 1999 and is powered by a Rotax 912 S3 engine. Pipistrel has worked on electric aviation for many years and flew its first electric two-seater in 2007. Pipistrel won the NASA Green Flight Challenge in 2011 and has produced nine different experimental and serially produced electric aircraft. (The Velis Electro is a certified successor of the Alpha Electro.) The Velis was conceived as part of Pipistrel's Velis Training System, designed to electrify flight training and reduce both carbon footprint and cost. The switch to electric power, stored on board in lithium-ion batteries that Pipistrel designed and produced, reduces the complexity and maintenance cost of the aircraft.