World’s first electric seaplane successfully completes first test flight

In another step towards decarbonisation, Canadian airline Harbor Air Seaplanes, which operates a fleet of seaplanes, has successfully completed the first all-electric point-to-point test flight. The company’s ePlane, a de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver, retrofitted in 2019 to operate fully powered by electrical sources, covered a distance of 72 kilometers in 24 minutes.

The flight completed a new milestone on the path to commercializing scheduled electric flights. The aircraft took off from the terminal located on the Fraser River, near Vancouver International Airport, at 8:12 am local time. It landed in Pat Bay, near Victoria International Airport, which serves the capital of British Columbia, at 8:36 am.

As reported by the website Aviacionline, the aircraft remained in Victoria to support Harbor Air’s partnership with the British Columbia Aviation Museum, which hosted an event last Saturday, August 20th.

“I’m pleased to report that this historic ePlane flight went exactly as planned,” said Kory Paul, Harbor Air’s vice president of flight operations and one of the company’s test pilots. “Our team, as well as magniX and Transport Canada, are always closely monitoring the performance of the aircraft,” he said. Finally, he assured that the operation demonstrated “the safety and reliability” of the project.

Path to electrification

In early 2019, Harbor Air entered into a new partnership with magniX, a Washington state-based company that develops and manufactures electric motors for aircraft. Their stated goal was to make the world’s first commercial airline to operate fossil-free flights a reality.

In less than ten months, the project’s technical team converted the De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver’s original engine into a 750 horsepower all-electric engine. On December 10 of that year, ePlane took off for the first time powered by electricity.

The plane is now in the process of certification with Canadian and US regulatory authorities. The company said that, if the stipulated deadlines are met, it will be able to start operating in 2023.

The characteristics of Harbor Air’s operation could mean a relevant position to lead the transition to electric air services. The size of the aircraft in its fleet and the short average duration of its routes (many of which do not take half an hour) facilitate the implementation of currently available technologies for the electrification of air vehicles.