The Elektra One made its first flight last Saturday at Augsburg, Germany, piloted by renowned test pilot John Karkow and followed up with a second, 30-minute sortie on Wednesday. The small, composite airplane is powered by a 13.5 kW electric motor. Geiger Engineering, a German firm, supplied the motor, controller, battery management system and prop.
Elektra One will be a busy airplane over the next few weeks. Its developers, PC-Aero, plan to equip it with retractable landing gear and a variable pitch prop for better aerodynamic performance and battery life. They plan for the craft to fly at Aero in Friedrichshafen in two weeks, and to compete in the NASA/CAFE challenge in Southern California in June.
