Elektra Solar successfully completes test flight

The Elektra Trainer was in the air over Memmingen for twenty minutes. The results of the test flight are better than the developers expected.

On Wednesday, Elektra Solar's Elektra Trainer aircraft took off for its first flight. Test pilot Uwe Nortmann spent twenty minutes in the air before landing the electrically powered ultralight aircraft back at the airport in Memmingen.

The test flight was successful: the aircraft took less than a hundred meters to take off and produced no CO2 emissions in the process. At a flying speed of more than 8 meters per second, the aircraft consumed about 10 kilowatts of energy. In total, the Elektra Trainer can stay in the air for 2.5 hours, covering around 300 kilometers. This makes the two-seater particularly suitable for flight schools and flying clubs. According to the company, operating costs amount to less than 60 euros per hour - which is less than for classic ultralight vehicles. The aircraft is also equipped with a cloud infrastructure that collects data during the flight. An algorithm then evaluates this data. This should make it possible to increase flight safety.

Elektra Solar now wants to undertake further test flights and is aiming for certification of the aircraft by the end of the year. The spin-off of the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics of the German Aerospace Center has already prepared for series production and plans to enter the European market in the next few years. Elektra Solar also wants to develop a ten-seater that will have a range of more than 500 kilometers.