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Electra Showcases Point-To-Point Connectivity With Virginia Flights
Electra's fixed-wing EL2 Ultra Short departs a heliport on the ramp at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport.
WASHINGTON—Using airport taxiways, heliports and even a drag strip, Electra has demonstrated short-haul regional flights connecting locations across Virginia in the US using its ultra-short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft to operate from novel access points.
The flights showcased the ability of Electra’s planned hybrid-electric, nine-passenger EL9 Ultra Short to use helicopter-style flight procedures to provide regional connectivity without adding traffic to congested airport runways.
Flying under the FAA’s Advanced Air Mobility Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), Electra’s two-seat EL2 technology demonstrator operated from small heliports, taxiways and other locations historically only accessible to helicopters.
Electra’s Ultra Short uses distributed electric propulsion to blow air over the wing and increase lift at low air speed, allowing the aircraft to take off and land with a ground roll of just 150 ft., short enough to operate from most heliports.
The Virginia tests were conducted under a multi-state eIPP project led by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and involved flights at Virginia Tech/Montgomery Regional Airport, Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport, Blackstone Army Airfield, Newport News/Williamsburg Airport and Richmond Dragway.
“We showed that fixed-wing ultra short aircraft can use vertical flight landing areas and a new generation of instrument procedures to reach places conventional airplanes were never designed to access,” Electra CEO Marc Allen said.
The EL2 flights used helicopter-style point-in-space instrument procedures and dedicated routing to enable the fixed-wing Ultra Short to use heliports and other non-traditional sites. Point-in-space procedures are satellite-based flight paths designed to enable helicopters to operate into locations lacking ground-based instrument landing infrastructure.
Use of novel access points is central to Electra’s concept of Direct Aviation, a strategy to reimage regional aviation by using quiet, clean, short-runway aircraft to provide point-to-point service to and from locations closer to customers, saving significant travel time.
“We demonstrated the core enabling principle of Ultra Short aircraft feeding into major airports in a manner that complements rather than burdens the air traffic system by accessing airspace and airport surfaces currently underutilized by conventional traffic,” Electra director product strategy Parker Vascik said.
Flight tests under the eIPP are intended to collect operational data to compare aircraft performance against procedure requirements and inform the development of fixed-wing advanced air mobility operations using helicopter-style procedures.
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