{"id":11588,"date":"2017-09-19T15:07:50","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T22:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=11588"},"modified":"2017-09-19T15:07:50","modified_gmt":"2017-09-19T22:07:50","slug":"sun-flyers-two-and-four-seat-electric-aircraft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/sun-flyers-two-and-four-seat-electric-aircraft\/","title":{"rendered":"Sun Flyer\u2019s Two and Four Seat Electric Aircraft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>George Bye has spent the last decade developing a viable two-seat training aircraft that would be electrically powered.\u00a0 His efforts included a Cessna 172 that took wing on battery power, and have evolved to the current product, a sleek two-seater that has 105 deposits to buy worldwide.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bye Aerospace: A Company to Watch in 2017 and Beyond\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TQ4sRKowS3I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ainonline.com\/aviation-news\/general-aviation\/2017-07-26\/electric-sun-flyer-plans-fall-first-flight\">At AirVenture 2017, George displayed the Sun Flyer 2 and announced plans<\/a> to introduce a four-seater, the Sun Flyer 4.\u00a0 With ground tests complete on the aircraft and its 45-pound Emrax motor, George envisions flight tests coming this fall for the 2.\u00a0 Even given successful flight tests, certification may take two to three years.\u00a0 George has been working with the FAA to enable certification under Part 23 rules, and has made great headway in obtaining acceptance of electric powerplants on training aircraft.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flyingmag.com\/electric-aircraft-developers-hail-part-23-rewrite\"><em>Flying Magazine<\/em> reported in February<\/a> that, \u201cDevelopers of electric aircraft are rejoicing now that the Part 23 rewrite is complete. Unlike before, the new rule will allow for certified airplanes to be developed with electric propulsion.\u201d\u00a0 The magazine quoted George on the gains to electric aircraft developers.\u00a0 \u201cOne particularly important benefit for Sun Flyer is that by being able to increase the weight of the initial two-seat training airplane, additional batteries can be carried, resulting in improved flight endurance, greater utility and broader market acceptance.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_12204\" style=\"width: 538px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12204\" class=\"size-large wp-image-12204\" src=\"http:\/\/sustainableskies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/sunflyer_oshkosh_16x9-528x297.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"528\" height=\"297\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-12204\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sun Flyer 2 at Oshkosh AirVenture 2017<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Training may be where it&#8217;s at in the new General Aviation.\u00a0 Boeing predicts a need for 617,000 new commercial pilots by 2035, due to the retirement of currently licensed personnel and the anticipated expansion of airline and commuter travel.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/simulators.redbirdflight.com\/\">Redbird Flight\u00a0<\/a>is partnered with Sun Flyer to help deliver simulators and ground school for all these new students.<\/p>\n<p>Prices for the two airplanes, $249,000 for the 2 and $349,000 for the 4, may seem high, but compared to equivalent internal-combustion-powered aircraft, not out of line.\u00a0 As Sun Flyer premises, operating and maintenance costs will be much lower \u2013 only $16 per hour in direct operating costs for the 2 and $18 per hour for the 4.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.georgebye.com\/sun-flyer\"> In what Sun Flyer describes as \u201cdisruptive affordability<\/a>,\u201d about $3 of those amounts pays for the electric charging bill for each hour of flight.\u00a0 Compare that to the $88.31 per hour and $122 per hour operating costs Sun Flyer claims for a Cessna 172 and 182, respectively.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_12207\" style=\"width: 538px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12207\" class=\"size-large wp-image-12207\" src=\"http:\/\/sustainableskies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Motor-Cowling-Shot-1-528x413.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"528\" height=\"413\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-12207\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Emrax motor weighs a mere 45 pounds, hides neatly behind spinner<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Brushless electric motors have only one moving part, and are extraordinarily reliable compared to their internal combustion cousins.\u00a0 Lower operating and maintenance costs could bring more student pilots through the doors of flight training centers, something on which Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology, is counting.\u00a0 It has reservations for the first 25 two-seaters, after all.\u00a0 The College is even implementing a course that will teach aircraft and engine mechanics the art of maintaining aircraft with this new technology.<\/p>\n<p>George Bye\u2019s aerospace endeavors extend to large drones, a high-speed, vertical takeoff and landing craft, and expanding the role electric aircraft will play in future flight training and general aviation.\u00a0 The work he\u2019s done in gaining acceptance for clean energy in light aircraft is a substantial first step.<\/p>\n<div id=\"facebook_like\"><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fcafe.foundation%2Fblog%2Fsun-flyers-two-and-four-seat-electric-aircraft%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=500&amp;action=like&amp;font=segoe+ui&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=80\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:500px; height:80px;\" allowTransparency=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>George Bye has spent the last decade developing a viable two-seat training aircraft that would be electrically powered.\u00a0 His efforts included a Cessna 172 that took wing on battery power, and have evolved to the current product, a sleek two-seater that has 105 deposits to buy worldwide. At AirVenture 2017, George displayed the Sun Flyer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7568,15,14],"tags":[8061,2670,46,253,5334,5833,8155,8156],"class_list":{"0":"post-11588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-announcements","7":"category-electric_powerplants","8":"category-sustainable_ga","9":"tag-airventure-2017","10":"tag-bye-aerospace","11":"tag-flying-magazine","12":"tag-george-bye","13":"tag-redbird-flight-simulators","14":"tag-spartan-college-of-aeronautics-and-technology","15":"tag-sun-flyer-2","16":"tag-sun-flyer-4"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sun Flyer\u2019s Two and Four Seat Electric Aircraft - CAFE Foundation Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/sun-flyers-two-and-four-seat-electric-aircraft\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sun Flyer\u2019s Two and Four Seat Electric Aircraft - CAFE Foundation Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"George Bye has spent the last decade developing a viable two-seat training aircraft that would be electrically powered.\u00a0 His efforts included a Cessna 172 that took wing on battery power, and have evolved to the current product, a sleek two-seater that has 105 deposits to buy worldwide. 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