10 years ago, the 23th of December, 2007, took place the first flight of the BL1E Electra registreted as F-WMDJ, equipped with a 26 hp electric engine and Lithium-Polymer batteries. The team was composed of : Anne Lavrand (project manager), Jérémie Buiatti, engineer, and Christian Vandamme, the pilot who made this 48 minutes historic flight, from airfield of Aspres sur Buëch (South Alpen).
first flight of the Electra : click on the picture to see the video
In 10 years, what a long way !
– 3 enthusiasts in a garage => 23 employees in 1700 m² ultra-modern workshops
– Small association => Company with 100.000 € capital, which sells its products in 65 countries
– Electric motorizations for Aircraft (70 projects realized in 6 years) => carbon propellers of 3rd generation the lightest and the most efficient at this day (production of 22.500 blades / year)
The works on electric engines have allowed the team – particularly Jérémie Buiatti – to test many new propellers designs, to make a digital wind tunnel and to realize a propellers conception software (LmPTR: 57000 code lines today). The CNC machines which are now producing thousands of carbon blades per month have been designed and manufactured thanks to the knowledge developed in electric and electronics.
Without the experience acquired with Electra and the following electric aircraft (Cri-Cri Cristaline, Alatus-E, E-Trike, E-Spider, ElectroLight 2 …), the E-PROPS propellers would have not been created and would not have encountered their great technical and commercial success !
