Flight schools use electric planes to train pilots; understand

It’s not easy to be sustainable – especially if you’re learning to fly.

Air travel has been slow to embrace clean energy, but while the next generation of aviators expect commercial airlines to move away from fossil fuels, that doesn’t mean they can’t train with less carbon emissions.

The Velis Electro, the world’s only fully certified electric plane in the EU and UK, is taking off as a greener option for trainee pilots.

Manufactured in Slovenia by Pipistrel, the Velis Electro is a light two-seater aircraft designed for flight schools.

The single-engine aircraft can fly up to 12,000 feet and has a top speed of 98 knots (approximately 181 km/h).

It has a flight time of around 50 minutes (plus reserve) per charge, with two batteries that take up to two hours to fully recharge.

Tine Tomažič, Chief Technology Officer at Pipistrel Slovenia, says that while the Velis Electro offers a number of advantages over regular aircraft, a key attraction is that many of the fundamentals remain the same.

“You can literally take this plane home and use it from day one for what you were using other non-electric planes for before,” he told CNN Business.

In addition to producing no carbon emissions in the air, the plane is silent – ​​around 60 decibels, says Pipistrel, which is equivalent to normal conversation.

Tomažič says that as a result, he can fly at much smaller airfields — which are often closer to built-up areas and closer to potential pilots — without disturbing nearby residents.

Shopping for a greener future

Since it was launched in 2020, Pipistrel says it has sold around 100 electric planes, priced at €175,000 ($175,500).

With rising gasoline prices and increasing scrutiny of the carbon footprint of air travel, there is growing interest in the segment.

Green Flight Academy in northern Sweden has three Velis Electros as part of its private and commercial pilot license training programs, which use sustainable energy-powered planes wherever possible.

About 30% of the flight hours required for a commercial pilot’s license take place on the electric aircraft, Johan Norberg, the academy’s head of flight training, told the BBC. CNN .

There is “a huge difference” in the operating cost of energy, he says, estimating that a 40-minute Velis Electro flight uses $2 to $3 of renewable electricity, compared to about $45 of jet fuel. for the same traditional single-engine trainer aircraft, such as a Cessna 172, using a Lycoming O-360 engine.

Pipistrel says the batteries need to be replaced after about 2,000 flying hours (an indicator on the batteries tells you exactly when) and the price of a new pair is roughly $20,000.

Even with the cost of replacing the batteries, Norberg estimates the electric aircraft is cheaper to operate than the academy’s diesel equivalent, though he adds that “long-term operating costs still need to be verified.”

A potential $40 billion industry

Training for a private pilot license costs 14,500 euros ($14,500) at Green Flight Academy, about the same as at flight schools that use conventional aircraft.

“When we can do more of the training on electric planes, there will be a significant cost cut across the entire training program,” explains Norberg.

In addition to shorter flights, qualifying for a private license requires pilots to complete two-hour flights, says Norberg, who is currently possibly not on Velis Electro.

But developing the next generation of electric aircraft with longer flight times could mean that, in a few years, pilots will be able to fully train without burning fossil fuel.

Pipistrel was acquired this year by the American conglomerate Textron (owner of the Cessna and Lycoming brands), and is now part of Textron eAviation.

The global electric aircraft market is expected to quadruple by 2030, according to market research firm Precedence Research – which estimates the value could reach nearly $40 billion by the end of the decade.

The Velis Electro is currently awaiting approval for commercial use in the US by the Federal Aviation Administration, but is already being privately piloted.

While trainee pilots are now being given the opportunity to fly green, large aircraft have yet to be weaned off fossil fuels, and zero-carbon long-haul and cargo flights are far away.

But Tomažič hopes that is not always the case.

“What Velis Electro is already doing today is training the generation of pilots who will fly these great green aviation products of the future,” he says.

“Not only does it represent a shift in technology applied to training, but it is definitely changing the mindset of future pilots who will inevitably want to fly cleaner, electrified planes as part of their pilot careers.”