The first public flight of the Flight Design F2e took place at early June. The aircraft is based on the newly-developed F2 from Flight Design, equipped with an electric propulsion system.
The Flight Design F2 is a high-wing strutless design which is largely manufactured using carbon fibre composite materials.
With a wingspan of 9.2m (31ft) and a modular manufacturing concept, the F2e is based on standard components that are used in the Rotax 912iS powered F2 variant.
The propulsion system provided by Siemens eAircraft includes the 55 kW electric direct drive ‘SP55D’, an inverter and the modular control system ‘EPUIII’ consisting of the Vehicle Control Unit, Cockpit Control Unit, Battery System Master and Power Supply Unit.
The propulsion system has already been extensively tested in laboratory and ground tests as well as flight tested for hundreds of flight hours under the supervision of Siemens eAircraft.
Loaded with batteries for about 2 to 3 hours of flight with two people on-board, a maximum take-off weight of 1100kg is expected. The cruising speed is differentiated into maximum speed for short range, which Flight design expect to be approximately 210km/h (113 knots) and the optimum speed for long flight duration flight of approximately 170km/h (91 knots). Details will be available in the coming months.
