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e Training<br />
SOLAR EQUIPMENT FOR E-Airfields<br />
Specifically, this project will look like this: First of all, a fleet<br />
of Alpha Electro airplanes will be distributed across this alpine<br />
republic among 10 flying schools under the leadership<br />
of «Eco<strong>flight</strong>» in Mollis. In addition, each of these e-<strong>flight</strong> bases<br />
will receive a charging station with a solar system for the<br />
ecological generation of electricity. This would allow the stations<br />
to recharge the e-airplanes at the airfields.<br />
All FOCO-registered <strong>flight</strong> schools in Switzerland are invited<br />
to participate in this project. The corresponding applications<br />
have to be submitted by the end of April. The cost for the aircraft,<br />
charging stations and solar power add up to around<br />
200,000 Swiss francs, but a leasing model is also possible<br />
on a per hour basis, in particular for the solar system. In principle,<br />
<strong>flight</strong> school partners should operate their e-airplane<br />
for at least 300 hours per year. The corresponding monthly<br />
reports will be collected and evaluated by the project initiator<br />
AlpinAirPlanes GmbH, since the project also aims to improve<br />
and further develop the technology.<br />
Beginning in Summer <strong>2017</strong><br />
The project will start in summer <strong>2017</strong> and will run until<br />
September 30, 2018. The delivery of the e-aircraft will be with<br />
a frequency of one airplane per month. Therefore, the last<br />
<strong>flight</strong> school partner will not receive their aircraft until spring<br />
2018. They are, of course, not obligated until September<br />
2018 to reach the planned 300 hours of use. Rather, the project<br />
tends to bring all ten aircraft together to 2500 <strong>flight</strong> hours.<br />
The maintenance and upgrades of the fleet are organized<br />
and implemented by AlpinAirPlanes in collaboration with<br />
local certified CAMOs. In this first phase, AlpinAirPlanes will<br />
incur the maintenance costs. A replacement aircraft, which<br />
is based at the base of AlpinAirPlanes, will ensure the permanent<br />
availability of ten aircraft from spring 2018 onwards.<br />
The AlpinAirPlanes will also draw up a curriculum for the<br />
<strong>flight</strong> schools. The necessary permits in Switzerland have<br />
already been obtained.<br />
Fresno, California<br />
Subsidized by local funds from Fresno County, a fleet of four<br />
Pipistrel Alpha Electro trainers will be made available for primary<br />
training in California’s Central Valley late this year, program<br />
organizers hope. Fresno County will be installing chargers<br />
for the aircraft at four local airports: Mendota, Reedley,<br />
Fresno Chandler and a fourth airport is to be determined.<br />
The Alpha Electro has an 85-knot cruising speed making<br />
round-trip, cross-country <strong>flight</strong>s a stretch. Joseph Oldham,<br />
Sustainability Manager for the City of Fresno, said that the<br />
fourth airport will ideally be just over 50 NM, permitting the<br />
Alphas to make one-way <strong>flight</strong>s meeting private pilot crosscountry<br />
training requirements, recharge in about 45 minutes<br />
and return home. The fallback plan is for students to<br />
do cross-country training in the piston-powered version of<br />
the Alpha.<br />
Fresno county hopes to have the new aircraft on hand and<br />
high-voltage chargers installed at the four chosen airports<br />
by the fall of this year. The FAA has not yet released a paradigm<br />
for approving electric propulsion airplanes, either in<br />
certified aircraft or in light sports, as Pipistrel plans for the<br />
Alpha Electro. Oldham is working with the FAA about approval<br />
of electric LSAs, the last major hurdle in Fresno’s<br />
Pipistrel Alpha‘s<br />
electric<br />
identity is<br />
distinctive,<br />
indicating the<br />
company‘s<br />
faith in the<br />
technology.<br />
All four of the<br />
current training<br />
programs<br />
chose Alpha<br />
as the trainer.<br />
e Flight Journal<br />
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