{"id":2244,"date":"2010-12-05T07:56:41","date_gmt":"2010-12-05T14:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=2244"},"modified":"2010-12-05T08:04:53","modified_gmt":"2010-12-05T15:04:53","slug":"electric-waiex-makes-first-hop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/electric-waiex-makes-first-hop\/","title":{"rendered":"Electric Waiex Makes First Hop"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday, December 3,\u00a0Sonex Aircraft, LLC\u00a0achieved a long-sought goal at Wittman Field, Oshkosh, Wisconsin,\u00a0successfully flying their electric two-seater Waiex.\u00a0 Unveiling their craft at the 2007 AirVenture on the same field as part of their E-Flight Initiative<\/a>, the team quietly and with some back-to-the-drawing-board resolve worked for the next\u00a0three years\u00a0to\u00a0solve the many problems that confront any group reaching for that elusive\u00a0next best thing.\u00a0 Evidence of this are the version numbers on the motor and controller as noted in Sonex CEO and General Manager Jeremy Monnet’s comment.\u00a0 “We have also already started our motor v4.0 design and motor controller v12.0 to be integrated on N270DC. Many more great things to come on this project!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Major components of E-Flight Initiative's electric powerplant system. Sonex Aircraft illustration<\/p><\/div>\n

Having seen Peter Buck’s video of early testing at the Experimental Soaring Association’s fall workshop in 2008, in which the\u00a0controller self-immolated (later found to be the classic loose wire scenario)\u00a0this writer was impressed with the openness of the presentation and the reminder that such developments are never as easy as they appear.<\/dl>\n

John Monnet, Founder of Sonex, took first-flight honors, starting the motor and taxiing out to a sound not normally heard on the Volkswagen-based conversions the company sells.<\/p>\n