The ElectricAir plane is on approach before landing at Wellington Airport in Wellington, New Zealand, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. Seeking to highlight the potential for green aviation as a pivotal climate change conference opened in Glasgow, New Zealand pilot Gary Freedman made the first-ever flight over Cook Strait in an electric plane. (Mark Mitchell/New Zealand Herald via AP)
By Nick Perry
As he made history by becoming the first person to fly across New Zealand's Cook Strait in an electric plane, Gary Freedman thought it only fitting that the first thing he saw when approaching the Wellington coastline was the rotating blade of a wind turbine producing renewable energy.
Freedman's 40-minute solo flight in the small two-seater came 101 years after the first person flew a conventional aircraft over the body of water that separates the South Pacific nation's two main islands.
Monday's flight was aimed at drawing attention to the possibilities of greener flying and timed to coincide with the opening of a pivotal U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.
Wellington International Airport officials believe it may be the longest distance flown in an electric plane across any body of water.
“It's a very exciting day for the airport. A world-record-setting day," said spokesperson Jenna Raeburn.
Freedman said the day began badly with pouring rain at his departure point near the town of Blenheim. After delaying the flight for 15 minutes, the weather cleared just enough for takeoff and soon improved to sunny conditions over the ocean.
Freedman said he was ecstatic when he landed, and the technology worked better than he'd hoped.
“We still had 40% left in the battery,” he said. “We could have almost flown back again.”
Freedman, 49, who founded the company ElectricAir, said he's long been passionate about the environment and the idea came as he thought about the incongruity of driving an electric car and flying a gas-powered plane.
He took a trip to Slovenia to buy a Pipistrel Alpha Electro plane, and then jumped through various hoops with New Zealand aviation regulators to get the plane cleared.
It weighs less than 400 kilograms (880 pounds) and is much quieter than a traditional aircraft. For the 78 kilometer (48 mile) trip, Freedman flew it at just 1,000 feet (305 meters) above sea level and at the relatively slow speed of 130 kilometers per hour (81 mph) in order to preserve its charge.
Freedman said it takes about one hour to fully charge the plane. The maximum flight time is also about an hour, and he mainly uses it for pilot training.
Wellington International Airport is preparing for regular short-hop flights of new 12-seater electric planes that will begin in about five years' time, said Raeburn, the airport spokeswoman.
She said electric technology is not yet advanced enough to power large passenger planes, but biofuels and hydrogen will likely provide greener alternatives in the future.
Catching you up on what you Need to Know on Mar 23, 2022, as NATO meets in Brussels to discuss Ukraine, mortgage rates rise, Justin Trudeau is set to lead Canada until 2025, tornadoes sweep through Louisiana, California may do away with SATs, and a Starbucks in Seattle unionizes.
MacKenzie Scott donated $436 million to Habitat for Humanity International and 84 of its U.S. affiliates – the largest publicly disclosed donation from the billionaire philanthropist since she pledged to give away the majority of her wealth in 2019.
The government can't afford to keep paying some Covid bills, a cheerleader gets an NIL deal for March Madness rescue, and fans will get to watch Beyoncé during the Oscars. Here is all the news you Need2Know for Wednesday, March 23, 2022.
Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code and author of "Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It's Different Than You Think), joined Cheddar to discuss the many challenges for women in the workplace after the upheaval caused by the pandemic and the solutions she presents.
Companies are leaning towards hybrid workforces due to the pandemic as a means of bringing back workers to the office — especially women employees. Head of HR technology at Capital One, Maureen Jules-Perez, joined Cheddar News to talk about initiatives and technology that the bank is taking to set up a successful hybrid workplace. "Do we have the experiences or the spaces for everyone to feel belonging or included? Do we feel heard? And of course, when it comes to building products, we have all the different, diverse perspectives and thoughts and ideas being incorporated to have the optimal solution or delivery," she said.
Hate crimes from the start of 2022 against Asians reportedly more than doubled compared to 2021, according to the NYPD. Amid the surge of attacks, Amber Reed, the president and co-founder of the grassroots organization AAPI Montclair, joined Cheddar News to talk about how it's looking to help Asian Americans with classes and techniques to defend themselves. “We're seeing racism literally killing people who look like us, and these self defense classes are a chance for us to rewrite a narrative of victimhood into one of empowerment," she said. "We learn first how to be aware of our surroundings because we know that being distracted, appearing weak can make you a target, and then that we focus on disengagement."
