Embry-Riddle Partners on Electric Airplane Project

Stephen Pope

Thursday, April 24, 2014 at 08:12 PM ET

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Key Takeaways:

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is partnering with Erik Lindbergh's Powering Imagination to develop electric and hybrid power systems for aircraft.
The collaboration aims to reduce aircraft emissions and noise, addressing a significant public relations challenge for the aviation industry.
Embry-Riddle's Green Flight Program will convert a Diamond HK36 motorglider to electric power for testing new propulsion components.
The first flight of the electrically powered motorglider is expected to occur in mid-2015 from Embry-Riddle's Daytona Beach campus.

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Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is partnering with a company founded by Erik Lindbergh, the grandson of Charles Lindbergh, to curb emissions and noise from aircraft engines by developing new electric and hybrid power systems.

Lindbergh, CEO of Powering Imagination, and Dr. Richard Anderson, Director of the Eagle Flight Research Center at Embry-Riddle, noted that pollution and noise from aircraft engines is becoming a serious P.R. problem for aviation.