He claims to be the first Canadian iPhone owner and the first to put a Tesla 6 on Vancouver roads. “I really like new, innovative technology,” says Greg McDougall. “I’m an early adopter.”
Meanwhile, Dan Wolf’s concerns about emissions damaging his coastal habitat led him to install enough solar panels on his outfit’s roofs to more than satisfy its electrical needs. And he has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to buy wind-generated electricity for future consumption.
The two forward-leaners have shared histories, interests and vision. Both are pilots with thousands of flight hours logged. Each founded and leads a successful regional airline—McDougall’s Vancouver-based Harbour Air Seaplanes and Wolf’s Cape Air in Massachusetts and beyond—and, notably, they so believe aviation’s future will cruise cleanly and profitably on kilowatts, they are committing to electric flight.
McDougall was intrigued with the numerous projects underway globally to bring electric propulsion to aviation. Although many efforts were in early development, he became convinced the technology’s promise of dramatically lower maintenance and energy costs combined with zero emissions is what commercial aviation needs.
So sure was he that upon his induction into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame last year, he told the gala audience the honor was premature since his company’s singular achievement would be its adoption of electric propulsion. He recalls the diners reacting with “disbelief, ridicule, all kinds of things.”
Undeterred, he became a vocal advocate of electrification, and his word traveled. Presently, he got a call from Roei Ganzarski, CEO of MagniX, a young company developing electric aircraft motors that recently established headquarters in Seattle. Days later, the two met for coffee and before a refill had agreed to collaborate.
McDougall envisioned refitting Harbour Air’s 22 workhorse de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter floatplanes with electric power. Years earlier, he had pioneered replacing the de Havillands’ radials with Pratt & Whitney PT-6s. Now, those turboprops would give way to MagniX’s 750-hp (560-kW) Magni500 motors.
Similarly, Wolf was evaluating which electric-aviation projects had the best chance of commercial success. He finally settled upon Eviation, a MagniX sibling developing “Alice”—an all-composite, nine-passenger aircraft that is propelled by three tail- and wingtip-mounted pusher props, all turned by three 375-shp (280-kW) Magni250 systems. He believes designing an aircraft around electric power from the outset results in a more efficient and better performing platform than applying such a system to an airframe initially fitted with an internal-combustion engine.
Moreover, Wolf is no stranger to developing aircraft. Knowing that Cape Air’s fleet of pampered Cessna 402Cs was nearing retirement, and unable to entice any U.S. manufacturer to build a replacement, the carrier worked with Italy’s eager Tecnam in the design, systems selection and outfitting of the P2012 Traveller, which the FAA certified last year. Cape Air already has 11 of the unpressurized, 9-10-passenger piston twins in service, expects 20 to be delivered this year and has options on an additional 92. Wolf sees Alice and Traveller as complementary and thinks an electric version of the latter could eventuate.
On Dec. 10, 2019, McDougall was first to put the shared vision to flight when he ascended from Harbour Air’s Fraser River terminal in a company de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver fitted with a Magni500, making good on his Hall of Fame prediction. “Today, we made history,” he said, calling the flight of the commercial, six-passenger “ePlane” an “incredible world-class milestone.”
That first flight lasted just 15 min. as a result of the low-density batteries used. However, McDougall believes that thanks to the ongoing improvements in battery technology, once his eOtters are operating in about two years, they should have performance and payloads similar to today’s and enough duration to satisfy Harbour Air’s network. The majority of the carrier’s flights average about 28 min. The battery will be recharged at each destination with 1 min. of charge equal to 1 min. of flight time.
Harbour Air plans to obtain and own the supplemental type certificate for the installation.
As for Alice, its first flight was scrubbed this past January when a fire during ground-testing in Arizona damaged the prototype beyond repair. A replacement is in the works. Unconcerned, Wolf stands by his MOU to put the first 15 trimotors into service. He describes Alice as “an amazing piece of technology,” which he expects to have in Cape Air livery in three or four years.
Meanwhile, early adopter McDougall says he is thrilled to be “pioneering something dramatically new in aviation.”
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