Hopes To Show E430 To The U.S. At Oshkosh

It might not be time for Lycoming or Continental to start looking over their shoulders, but with the first flights of the Yuneec E430 electric-powered aircraft in China last week, there may soon be an alternative powerplant in the LSA market.

Yuneec describes the E430 as a twin seat, single engine, LSA class aircraft designed to be simple to use, easy to fly and with virtually zero vibration. Low noise, no emissions, no fuel, extremely low maintenance and best of all it’s environmentally friendly.

Test pilot Shun Xun reported that the airplane performed well on it's four short duration straight-line hops of about a minute each. The test flights were designed to test controls, responsiveness, and power systems. Xun said the E430 had plenty of power, ran very smoothly, and the cockpit noise level was low. The E430 rotates about 40 mph had flew at a sedate 56 mph on the short flights.

"We very much want to do everything we can so we can demonstrate the airplane at Oshkosh," said Clive Coote, Yuneec managing director located in the United Kingdom. "Everyone is very excited."

According to EAA, the company hopes to ship an E430 to Oshkosh for display at AirVenture 2009, if all goes well with additional flight testing. That will come at Camarillo airport in California, where the airplane will undergo FAA certification testing.

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