Sustainability and Environment
OEMs embrace more-electric aircraft systems
Business jet manufacturers are quietly progressing toward more-electric architectures, where electricity replaces hydraulic and pneumatic power in systems

Business jet manufacturers are quietly progressing toward more-electric architectures, where electricity replaces hydraulic and pneumatic power in systems such as brakes, landing gear or even control-surface actuation. This avoids the use of environmentally unfriendly hydraulic fluids and ultimately should help reduce fuel burn.

The use of hydraulics has several disadvantages. First, hydraulic fluids sometimes leak, a negative for an industry looking to improve its perceived environmental impact. In addition, hydraulic fluids complicate maintenance and are difficult to recycle.