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ICAO4U – aviation language The First Electric Airline.

The First Electric Airline.

Summary:

  • The regional battery-powered airline with 40 seaplanes operates half-hour flights carrying up to 19 passengers between Vancouver, Seattle and communities in coastal British Columbia.
  • The short flights make it well-suited for a battery-powered engine.  
  • The aircraft is able to fly for 30 minutes with a 30-minute reserve on a one-hour charge.
  • They will plug-in and charge at the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre dock, and pull from BC Hydro, the provincial energy utility’s hydroelectric power grid, itself a renewable source of energy.

Film + Vocabulary

Film

  • 0:26′ instant
  • 0:26′ torque 
  • 0:34′ electric propulsion
  • 0:42′ way more expensive
  • 0:54′ sustainability
  • 1:07′ short hauls 
  • 1:28′ venture
  • 1:40′ designed from scratch 

Text:

  • on the environmental benefit side 
  • in the long run 
  • make flights affordable
  • large audience 

On the environmental benefit side, there is zero carbon burn. In the long run, the operating economics will allow us to make more flights more affordable for a larger audience. Consider travel between Seattle and Pullman, Wash., the home of Washington State University. It’s a five-hour drive to see my daughter, but an expensive $450 commercial flight. An electric plane is so much cheaper to operate and the result is lower fares — maybe $100 return. There are thousands of cities in the United States where it is inconvenient to drive between them but too costly to fly.

  • effcient
  • business case 

If you can find an aerodynamically efficient aircraft like the Beaver seaplane that Harbour Air flies, or, say, a lightweight composite aircraft, there is a business case for this mission profile

  • advance climate-friendly policies
  • expeditious 

Our city wants to advance climate-friendly policies in an expeditious way, so we celebrated their achievement

  • signal a change

The most exciting thing about this flight for me personally is that it signals a change in how we look at aviation, and how my kids will travel in the future

Inspired by’Is 63 Year-Old Seaplane With an Electric Engine the Future of Air Travel?’ nytimes.com

AVIATION MARKET / AVIATION TECHNOLOGY / AVIATION FUTURE