AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 31
DAVID TULIS
INDUSTRY NEWS
|
Mooney has a loyal following among
owners who emphasize speed, handling
qualities, range, and value, and the existing fleet of used Mooney aircraft was
its most serious competition. A new
Acclaim, for example, has a retail price of
$800,000, but 10-year-old models with
nearly identical performance are available for one-third or even one-fourth as
much. Value-conscious Mooney pilots
were reluctant to pay such a high premium for new airplanes.
Also, Mooney's corporate leadership
seemed strangely disconnected from its
pilot community. Jerry Chen, who led
the effort to revive the company, warned
Mooney pilots at a gathering at EAA
AirVenture that they simply weren't buying enough new airplanes. That was a true
statement, but one that seemed to alienate his audience. Chen was replaced as
Mooney CEO in 2016 by Vivek Saxena, a
former Pratt & Whitney executive and aviation industry consultant, but Saxena was
gone in less than a year.
Saxena's main misstep seemed to have
been an announcement at the Sun 'n Fun
Fly-In in 2017 that Mooney would halt
development of the M10 models-a move
that was already underway but apparently
embarrassed Mooney's owner.
After Saxena's departure, Mooney
closed its California research and development facility and fired its engineering
staff but bizarrely continued to insist that
its efforts to develop the M10 models were
continuing and that Saxena had taken a
leave of absence.
Mooney officials didn't respond to
inquiries for this story. But if past is prologue, the company will remain as a
corporate entity, keep producing parts,
and do whatever it must do to keep its FAA
production certificate viable.
During its last hibernation, that meant
producing farcical reports on periodic
safety training and environmental committee meetings, as well as undergoing
regular FAA inspections of its closed
factory.
HARBOUR AIR'S all-electric-powered de
Havilland Beaver took off for an inaugural flight test just after daybreak in
December 2019 to the cheers of about
two dozen people huddled on a chilly
dock in Vancouver, British Columbia,
as the distinctive seaplane ushered in a
new era of aviation.
Several thousand more also watched
online as the yellow-and-navy magniXpowered seaplane retrofitted with a
750-horsepower magni500 propulsion
system thundered into the air during a
live social media broadcast.
The fossil-fuel-free aircraft partnership between North America's largest seaplane airline and Redmond, Washington-based electric propulsion venture magniX was announced
in March.
Roei Ganzarski, the CEO of magniX, had said the six-passenger Beaver was to be the
test bed beginning in November. Strong storms that rolled through the Pacific Northwest
pushed the timetable to early December.
When the idea of converting Harbour Air's 42-aircraft fleet of de Havilland Beavers,
single Otters, and Twin Otters over to electric power was announced in March, it caught
traditional aircraft and engine manufacturers off guard.
Harbour Air's business model as a mostly short-haul operator with an average flight
time of 15 to 25 minutes on the airline's routes provided a platform that was well suited
to a battery-driven propulsion system that provides 30 minutes of flight plus a 30-minute reserve, he said.
At that time, Greg McDougall, founder and CEO of Harbour Air Seaplanes, said the
company was "once again pushing the boundaries of aviation by becoming the first aircraft to be powered by electric propulsion." The firm had previously purchased carbon
offsets in 2007 with a desire to become "the first fully carbon-neutral airline," he noted.
The electric motor manufacturer predicted that the tests would lead to certification in
the United States and Canada, and would proceed on two tracks, beginning with approval
of the propulsion system, and followed by application for a supplemental type certificate
for the converted DHC-2 Beaver.
The goal is to accomplish the regulatory chores by 2021 "so that in 2022 people can
buy tickets in an all-electric Beaver," Ganzarski said.
EMAIL dave.hirschman@aopa.org
EMAIL david.tulis@aopa.org
Pushing the
boundaries
Harbor Air launches first all-electric airplane
B Y D AV I D T U L I S
aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 31
http://www.aopa.org/pilot
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020
Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - Intro
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - Cover1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 4
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 6
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 7
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 8
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 9
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 10
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 11
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 12
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 13
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 14
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 15
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 16
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 17
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 18
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 19
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 20
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 21
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 22
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 23
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 24
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 25
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 26
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 27
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 28
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 29
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 30
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 31
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 32
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 33
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 34
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 35
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 36
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 37
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 38
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 39
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 40
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 41
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 42
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 43
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 44
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 45
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 46
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 47
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 48
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 49
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 50
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 51
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 52
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 53
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 54
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 55
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 56
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 57
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 58
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 59
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 60
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 61
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 62
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 63
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 64
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 65
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 66
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 67
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 69
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 70
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 111
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 112
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - Cover4
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