Electra.aero has started test flights with the two-seat technology demonstrator it is using to develop its nine-passenger hybrid-electric STOL aircraft. On Monday, the company announced that the EL-2 Goldfinch first took off from the company’s headquarters at Manassas Regional Airport in Virginia on November 11 for an all-electric flight and used hybrid-electric power for a second flight on November 19.
According to Electra’s vice president and general manager, JP Stewart, the hybrid-electric flight lasted 23 minutes, reaching an altitude of 3,200 feet and covering a distance of around 30 miles. For both this and the earlier flight, Cody Allee was the pilot. "We have already explored the stability and control of the aircraft and will now start expanding the envelope at higher and lower speeds at higher altitudes, and will then work on STOL takeoffs and landings, as well as demonstrating the acoustics," Stewart explained to AIN.
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