Wind Tunnel Testing Validates Design With Scale Model

Electra, the aerospace company developing hybrid-electric aircraft, conducted wind tunnel testing at the MIT Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel that confirmed its blown wing design delivers the high lift for takeoff and landing within just 150 feet, or about 10% of the distance required by conventional aircraft of similar size.

Using a 20% scale model of its EL9 Ultra Short aircraft, the wind tunnel results show lift coefficients greater than 20. This is about 7 times the typical range of 2.5-3 seen with unblown wings. The results validate the capability of electric blown lift to generate higher lift at low speeds and enabling safe takeoff and landing in small spaces like soccer-field size.

In addition, Electra said the tests confirm the EL9’s approach and landing profile meets all FAA Part 23 requirements for safety and stall margin, and ensure safe and predictable handling at slow speeds.

Chris Courtin, Director of Technology Development at Electra said, “This is a major milestone in demonstrating the EL9’s ability to take off and land in spaces never before possible for fixed-wing aircraft. Verification of the effectiveness of the optimized EL9 wing shows that the EL9 is both transformative and practical.

“These results give us high confidence in our ability to accurately predict the impacts of electric blown lift on the aircraft, bringing us closer to making our vision of Direct Aviation a reality.”

Electra was supported with collaborative funding by the U.S. Army’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to explore the potential of blown wing technology. The company is refining the EL9 production aircraft design based on the results of the wind tunnel testing as well as the flight testing of its EL2 demonstrator aircraft.

Electra says it has more than 2,200 pre-orders for the EL9 from over 50 operators globally. The orders are worth a total value of over $10 billion.

FMI:  www.electra.aero/