Electric sports plane the highlight of the e-flight initiative

Efficiency Enhancement:

Development of other enhancements to the existing AeroVee 2.0 and other existing and future AeroConversions products to increase fuel efficiency and performance for the sport pilot. These enhancements will be built upon an already strong foundation, as an AeroCarb equipped AeroVee powered Sonex aircraft already boasts a fuel economy of over 42 miles per gallon when cruising at 150 mph TAS.

Although E-Flight has been shrouded in strict secrecy to ensure intellectual property protection of its more cutting-edge components, public unveiling of E-Flight at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2007 has been a vital key to the Initiative since it’s inception. E-Flight is not only intended as a “push” for the Sonex R&D team, but also to help push the rest of the recreational aviation industry toward similar goals in the interest of preserving the future of the sport. Additionally, the public AeroShell Square unveiling and subsequent forum are intended to attract potential sponsors to help secure Sonex Aircraft, LLC and AeroConversions’ ability to continue E-Flight Initiative research and development.

“Our Initiative will broaden and refine our vision of what efficient, low cost sport aviation will be for the generations to come. It should serve as a beacon to attract serious sponsors for this important effort,” remarked Sonex Aircraft, LLC founder and President John Monnett.

Electric Power; project history:

Conceptualization of an electric powerplant project actually pre-dates the 1997 founding of Sonex Aircraft. In 1994, John Monnett and Pete Buck devised the concept to design, build, and fly a small electric powered and manned aircraft that would be capable of a short duration flight in order to set or establish speed records for this new class of aircraft. Pete Buck prepared a detailed feasibility study for the project dubbed "Flash Flight". Buck, who works full time as an engineer at Lockheed Advanced Development Company "Skunk Works" and is Sonex Aircraft's Chief Engineer, also spent two semesters of his engineering degree analyzing and building the battery/power system for a Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) sponsored by Ford Motor Company.

Buck’s study concluded that Flash Flight was feasible using many “off the shelf” components at relatively little risk. The aircraft would fulfill it’s record-attempt mission, however, it would only have an endurance of approximately 10 minutes. Other tasks associated with the founding of Sonex Aircraft, LLC took priority, and Flash Flight never came to fruition.

Since 1994 and Flash Flight’s feasibility study, the popularity of radio controlled electric powered toy vehicles, gas-electric hybrid cars, and the boom in wireless electronic devices such as cell phones and PDA’s have pushed the state-of-the-art in battery, ...continued