Dozens gathered in the doorway of an open hangar at Centennial Airport on Wednesday, watching as a first-of-its-kind electric plane touched down in front of a background of picturesque Colorado mountains and rolled into a press conference.
The plane’s quiet hum, sounding more like a fan than the roar of jets taking off further down the tarmac, is one of its boasted benefits, alongside being better for the environment, said Gregory Blatt, a co-founder of Swiss-based aerospace company H55.
Blatt said the company is a technology spinoff of Solar Impulse, the first electric airplane to fly around the world.
Centennial Airport is one of the busiest general aviation airports in the country and at the forefront of sustainable aviation. Airport officials are hopeful that electric planes will soon join the thousands that fly in and out each year.
The B23 Energic, showcased Wednesday morning at Centennial Airport, is the world’s first certified Part-23 electric trainer aircraft and the aerospace company’s first commercial application of the electric engine, Blatt said.
“It’s not some far-off vision,” Blatt said, addressing a group of airport employees, aviation enthusiasts and reporters. “We’ve proved it, the technology is mature.”
Blatt called Zach Gabehart, Centennial Airport’s noise and environmental specialist, in March before the Swiss group kicked off their eight-stop U.S. tour in April. Within minutes, Gabehart knew the airport wanted to be a part of the experience.
“It really underscores our commitment to being a global leader in sustainable aviation, and debuting technology like this to the community around our airport and tenants in our airport is huge,” Gabehart said.
The airport has consistently been an early adopter of sustainable aviation inventions, such as offering unleaded fuel to reduce pollution, and helping expose their community to this next step in technology felt like the right move, Gabehart said.
The Centennial Airport hosts six major flight schools with varying fleet sizes and is a major hub for flight training in the state, he said. It’s also one of the busiest general aviation airports in the country.
But that many flights can make a lot of noise.
Gabehart said the airport received roughly 12,000 noise complaints last year, though the numbers varied from month to month.
If the flight schools based at the airport start adopting electric trainer planes into their fleet, it could help address the noise that the community is worried about.
The planes last 70 minutes in the air on a single charge, long enough to complete eight or nine typical training circuits, Blatt said.
Blatt said the electric propulsion system that powers the plane will be certified in Europe next year. The company is also working with the Federal Aviation Administration to get it certified in the U.S. in 2027, he added.
“Aircraft like this can be used by flight schools to train the next generation of pilots,” Centennial Airport Executive Director and CEO Michael Fronapfel said. “We look forward to working with not only H55 but also local companies … that expand the use of this next generation of electric aircraft.”
Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter.