On the 28th of May, we published a story announcing that the world’s largest all-electric aircraft got the green light to take to the skies for the first time. Today we’re here to tell you that the plane, a retrofitted Cessna Grand Caravan 208, succeeded in its first flight, exploring the airspace above Washington state for 30 minutes.
Seattle-based electric motor manufacturer Magnix teamed with local airline Harbour Air to retrofit the Cessna with a 750-horsepower zero-emissions motor. Observers of the 30-minute test flight say they could barely hear any noise from the plane. In fact, the much smaller, fuel-engine powered Cessna chase plane accompanying the test plane made far more noise, observers said.
Magnix CEO Roei Ganzarski knows this is just the first step in a long process through approvals and improvements that will permit his new generation of green engines to power larger commercial airliners.
Want to see the historic test flight for yourself? Have a look right here.
This wasn’t the only exciting news from the aviation industry in 2020. Recently, Airbus unveiled three hydrogen-powered zero-emission airplanes.