Aside from glass cockpits and digital fly-by-wire, basic commercial aircraft technology has changed little in the past three or four decades. But the next 5-10 years could see a revolution of sorts. Researchers are racing to design, develop and commercialize passenger aircraft that reduce emissions and noise pollution with Tesla-type battery power or cruise above the congested ground traffic of megacities. What’s the status of electric aircraft dreams? Where might they fit into the future commercial aviation scheme? AB INITIO TRAINERS? Despite the hype of recent announcements about regional airline-size aircraft, the initial application of electric propulsion is more likely ab initio flight training. “The transition from training on an electric airplane is ideally aligned with a turbine aircraft like an airliner,” said George Bye, founder of Bye Aerospace in Englewood, Colorado, US, and designer of the transonic Javelin advanced jet. He was also FlightSafety International’s projec...
