In Operation at Lorenzen Flight School in Southern Germany

Elektra Solar recently put the first aircraft from its Elektra Trainer Fixed-Gear (FG) family into service. The electric aircraft will be used to train students at the Lorenzen Flight School in Landshut, Germany.

“Those interested will have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the innovative technology of a modern electric aircraft and will learn the special features of electric flying in practice,” the manufacturer stated.

The Elektra Trainer has been flying since 2011 and is a member of the German ultralight class. It is a modified version of the company’s Elektra One, given a longer fuselage and reinforced wings. The aircraft has an impressive 25:1 glide ratio, 10 m/s (1969 fpm) climb rate, and 120 km/h (75 mph) cruise speed.

The fully-electric trainer uses a 12 kW incorporated charging system to juice up an empty battery within three hours. The 30 kWh provides 2.5 hours and 300km (186 mi) of uninterrupted flight.

“The excellent flight characteristics of the Elektra Trainer, such as stable attitude, responsive control, good-natured stall behavior, short takeoff and landing capability, and safety thanks to redundancy of the drive are also ideal for training beginners,” Elektra continued.

Though the FG has, obviously, fixed landing gear, the manufacturer optimized the fairing to ensure that the aircraft maintains its aerodynamic characteristics. It has larger winglets than the retractable gear (RG) version to further reduce drag. Also, the space saved from pinning the landing gear gives customers the option to install additional batteries. This raises the ensured flight time from 2.5 to 3 hours.

Lorenzen Flight School, being the first to utilize the Elektra Trainer for its intended purpose, will be Elektra Solar’s first maintenance and inspection partner. The manufacturer designed the aircraft to be as maintenance-friendly as possible, recommending battery replacement after 2,000 flight hours and other drive parts after 10,000. It includes a Digital Aircraft Platform (DAP) to monitor the condition of components between inspections.

FMI:www.elektra-solar.com