EeVTOL aircraft are much in the news these days. I knew nothing about them, exceot that the batteries are not good for a long flight and recharging them can be difficult. But with global warming and the negative side effects of fossil fuels-and pressure from my ecologically- minded daughters, I took another look at battery-powered aircraft. My first contact was with my Victoria, BC-based nephew, Greg Murray, who has outfitted a number of sailboats with electric power and did the feasibility study for putting an electric motor conversion on a float-equipped de Havilland Beaver owned by Harbour Air. The battery-powered Beaver is currently in the testing phase, making flights lasting over half an hour. I looked into a number of smaller electric aircraft-it seems that everyone is making them, mostly in European countries, the UK, Japan and China. Many look like people-carrying drones, with clusters of small engines arranged on overhead rings or other projections. They are variations of the concept of the flying car or seem geared to the autonomous, parcel-carrying vehicles sought by UPS, Amazon and Uber. The FAA is busy trying to figure out how to control drones and this potentially new traffic and fit it in with current aviation traffic.
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