THE END OF THE ERA OF GAS-GUZZLING AIRCRAFT The entire fate of electric and hybrid aircraft will essentially be driven by one technology — namely, batteries. In fact, because of the lack of novel commercially-viable
battery technologies, the industry is forced to move in an evolutionary manner from pure gas-powered aircraft to hybrid aircraft, rather a pure electric aircraft for wide-scale commercial use. This change will happen over the next 20 years, paralleling the experience of the automotive industry, which has only recently been able to provide commercially- viable hybrids (and some electric vehicles) after many decades of research and development. Another pertinent example of this industry-wide
evolutionary approach is the lighting industry, and pointedly the replacement of light bulbs. Incandescent bulbs have been around for decades with only slight improvements to their efficiency (or lack of) and reliability over time. Compact fluorescents (CFLs) were launched with great fanfare despite their many drawbacks since they were designed to be an exact replacement for existing bulbs, and were several times more efficient. But, the ultimate goal in lighting is the move to LED technology — that is, until some other solution emerges — since it promises even better reliability, greatly reduced operational costs and new use cases (i.e., new types of designs, new implementations, and eventually reduced- cost fixtures once we transition society away from legacy bulbs and related fixtures). Aviation will need to do the same, and slowly move
toward a hybrid aircraft that can be supported easily with existing industry infrastructure, and move toward operating and maintaining electronic power on aircraft over time. Think of how each airport and MRO facility will need to be upgraded to support electrically-powered aircraft, not to mention handling much more secured aircraft data which will be bi-directionally communicated to e-Enabled aircraft. (If you think your wireless connections for your smartphone are not adequate today, just imagine when we have many more devices sending and receiving critical data loads and status updates.) This goes far beyond installing a few more Wi-Fi routers around each terminal or maintenance facility. With more airports going green to reduce their carbon
footprint and use less energy for their operations, such facilities will need to re-think how they will need to support electrically-powered aircraft and their ancillary equipment. New staff who understand power and communications-related issues will need to be hired and trained as well. New facilities with greater capabilities will undoubtedly need to be built.
WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN FIRST The key issue that needs to be addressed is how to store enough power on an aircraft to be able to operate it safely. Currently, petroleum-based fuels (and this includes those mixed with biofuels to a lesser degree) have the highest energy density per weight, which is difficult to match with any other power source (as shown in Figure 1).
When a customer comes to Duncan Aviation with an exclusive interior or a unique request, our teams make that dream a reality. That process starts on the drawing table with engineering, and Engineering Manager Michael Hill helps the engineers combine the customer wants with the realities of aviation and helps to remove the hurdles that pop up during the process.
Because Duncan Aviation has its own engineering department and Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) in house, we can design, approve and complete customized modifications at our Battle Creek, Michigan, and Lincoln, Nebraska, locations.
For the rest of the story visit
www.DuncanAviation.aero/experience/
michael.php.
Who ensures a customer’s desires meet flight demands and become reality?
Experience. Unlike any other. +1 402.475.2611 | 800.228.4277 05 2015 29
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