682 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

This is a good video about Joby.  Kind of the Uber of short flights.

 

 

https://youtu.be/a717YZnhQ-s

 

It's still estimated to be $3/mile per passenger.  Which for Nanaimo to Vancouver or Victoria to Vancouver or even Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen would still be quite expensive.  Nanaimo to Vancouver is 30+ miles. 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 01 January 2022 - 04:54 AM.

[spanky123]

This is a good video about Joby.  Kind of the Uber of short flights.

 

 

https://youtu.be/a717YZnhQ-s

 

It's still estimated to be $3/mile per passenger.  Which for Nanaimo to Vancouver or Victoria to Vancouver or even Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen would still be quite expensive.  Nanaimo to Vancouver is 30+ miles. 

 

Cheaper than Harbour Air!

[Victoria Watcher]

Harbour Air:

We’re excited to be taking part in BC Aviation Museum’s Annual Open House this Saturday in Sidney, B.C. A great event for the whole family, take your weekend to new flight and learn more about aircraft and aviation history. Activities include a display of vintage aircrafts and cars, military reenactors, children’s activities, food trucks and more!

Members of Harbour Air’s ePlane team will be on-site showcasing the future of sustainable flight, answering any burning questions and of course our all-electric Dehavilland Beaver will be on display.

Experience an insiders look at our electrifying journey, we hope to see you there!

[Victoria Watcher]

Harbour Air completed the first point-to-point test flight using its all-electric plane on Thursday, calling the journey from Richmond to Sidney a “historic flight.”

The e-Beaver, a modified de Havilland Beaver aircraft with electric engine powered by batteries, flew 72 kilometres in 24 minutes.

The aircraft left Harbour Air’s terminal on the Fraser River, next to Vancouver International Airport, and landed in Patricia Bay, adjacent to Victoria International Airport.

“This is a major milestone in the advancement of all-electric commercial flights,” the company said in a statement,

“Take-off was at 0812 with ample reserve power upon landing at 0836.”

 

 

https://www.timescol...-flight-5715455

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 18 August 2022 - 10:16 PM.

[sebberry]

The nice thing about a battery powered seaplane is when the range starts to worsen as time goes on, you can just use a tug boat to move the seaplane terminal closer to where the plane can land.

[Spy Black]

 

Harbour Air completed the first point-to-point test flight using its all-electric plane on Thursday, calling the journey from Richmond to Sidney a “historic flight.”

The e-Beaver, a modified de Havilland Beaver aircraft with electric engine powered by batteries, flew 72 kilometres in 24 minutes.

The Beaver is one amazing aircraft.

This is the third historical engine swap into the Beaver airframe, after the original rotary, and the subsequent turbine.

 

That's three different engines, each one more contemporary and technically advanced than the one before it, and all in an airframe that first rolled out in 1947.

All remaining Beavers are still going strong with their rotary and turbine engines ... and now on the cusp of a  state of the art electric engine ... and all 75 years after first rolling off the assembly line!

[Mike K.]

It’s a symbol of our nation, for sure.

[LJ]

This is a major milestone in the advancement of all-electric commercial flights,” the company said in a statement,

“Take-off was at 0812 with ample reserve power upon landing at 0836.”

 

Wonder what the "ample reserve power" would be if they had a plane load of passengers?

[Nparker]

Wonder what the "ample reserve power" would be if they had a plane load of passengers?

Adrenaline?

[Victoria Watcher]

Electric aircraft "star attraction" at aviation museum's open house

You can see the electric Beaver today at the B.C. Aviation Museum, 1910 Norseman Rd. near Sidney, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

https://www.timescol...n-house-5720574

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 20 August 2022 - 04:59 AM.

[North Shore]

The Beaver is one amazing aircraft.

This is the third historical engine swap into the Beaver airframe, after the original rotary radial, and the subsequent turbine.

 

That's three different engines, each one more contemporary and technically advanced than the one before it, and all in an airframe that first rolled out in 1947.

All remaining Beavers are still going strong with their rotary radial and turbine engines ... and now on the cusp of a  state of the art electric engine ... and all 75 years after first rolling off the assembly line!

 Ahh..point of order...it's a *radial* engine, not a rotary..

[Mike K.]

Seaplane crash west if Whidbey Island. It’s not looking good.

From the US Coast Guard:

The Coast Guard is responding to a report of a plane that crashed Sunday afternoon in Mutiny Bay west of Whidbey Island.
Wacthstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound Command Center received a report at 3:11 p.m. (Pacific Standard Time) that a float plane crashed with nine adults and one child aboard. The plane was en route to Seattle Tacoma International Airport after departing from Friday Harbor.
The following assets are currently involved in the search:
Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles MH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter crew
87-foot Coast Guard Cutter Osprey and crew
87-foot Coast Guard Cutter Blue Shark and crew (en route)
Coast Guard Station Seattle 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crew
Coast Guard Station Port Angeles 45-foot RB-M crew
Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento C-27 aircraft and crew
Additionally, first responders from South Whidbey Fire, Island County Sheriff’s Office and Snohomish County Sheriff’s office are on scene.
One deceased individual was recovered by crews on scene. Nine individuals remain unaccounted for, and a safety zone has been put into effect to help facilitate search efforts.
The cause of the incident is unknown at this time.

[Mike K.]

USGS has just issued an update. They were headed for Renton Municipal, not SEATAC.

[Barrrister]

God rest their souls this does not sound good at all. 

[Victoria Watcher]

Sounds like they hit the water at a tough angle.

[LJ]

If it was just an engine failure, they should have been able to safely put down on the water, so likely an elevator control issue.

[Victoria Watcher]

American air-safety regulators have identified what potentially caused a seaplane to nosedive out of the sky and crash off Whidbey Island in September and issued an urgent safety notice to other operators of the plane model, a workhorse for B.C.’s coastal airlines.

 

Investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board found that parts in an actuator that operated the plane’s horizontal stabilizer — the control surfaces of the tail — had become detached, which may have caused the aircraft, a de Havilland DHC-3 operated by Friday Harbor Air, to crash over the Labour Day weekend, killing all 10 onboard.

 

 

The NTSB has issued an urgent safety recommendation to the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority and Transport Canada that the planes, also commonly known as the de Havilland Otter, be grounded until those parts can be visually inspected.

 

 

_______________

 

Vancouver Island Air declined to comment. Harbour Air didn’t return Postmedia phone calls, but in an emailed statement vice-president of marketing Meredith Moll said maintenance staff have returned all 22 of its Otter aircraft to service after completing the additional inspection.

 

______________

 

The NTSB’s urgent notice said the Sept. 4 incident involved a Friday Harbor Air Otter, which took off from its base and reached level flight, continuing for 18 minutes before climbing slightly then plummeting about 1,000 feet in a near vertical dive into the water of Mutiny Bay. The Seattle Times reported that witnesses observed the plane spinning on the way down but without any “pitch change” to the engine’s sound during the descent.

 

Sweeney wouldn’t comment on the NTSB’s preliminary findings in this crash specifically but said, generally, that the work of regulators to identify the causes of crashes “is invaluable to us.”

 

Manufacturing of the Otter, most of which were built in the 1950s and ’60s, was discontinued decades ago, but Sweeney said 161 of the 466 made are still flying and Viking still puts considerable resources into making sure the planes remain airworthy and manufactures spare parts.

 

Despite the age of remaining aircraft, Sweeney said that because they’re not pressurized during flight, “there’s no end date, or best-before date” on the airframes, so long as they’re properly maintained.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...l-crash-6030731

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 31 October 2022 - 04:47 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

With a new chief executive at Harbour Air, the airline’s Victoria-based president says he plans to step back behind the scenes.

 

Randy Wright, who has been with the company for 21 years, will assume an advisory role with the new chief executive — former Westjet executive Bert van der Stege — and board of directors.

 

Van der Stege replaces Greg McDougall, who assumes the role of founder and chairman on the company’s board.

 

“They’re going to bring someone in who can take the company to another level — we’re full of confidence in this fellow,” said Wright, who said he may take on some hospitality consulting contracts, spend more time with his family or hit the golf course more often with the additional down time. “We’ll see what happens down the road.”

 

Van der Stege previously had responsibility for Westjet’s low-cost carrier Swoop.

 

McDougall, who started Harbour Air in 1982 as a two-plane operation, said he is “immensely proud” of how the company has grown over the years.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...new-ceo-6035939

 

 

 

 

 

This 2016 article has Wright in "his late 50's".   Hard to get a full read of his age though.

 

https://www.theglobe...rticle29420558/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 01 November 2022 - 02:28 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

[Victoria Watcher]

Electric plane could be flying between Island, mainland in two years: Harbour Air

 

The company is hoping the plane, at Victoria Harbour until Wednesday, will grab the attention of the federal government and convince it to contribute funds.

 

 

https://www.timescol...our-air-6973026

 

Initial passenger service would likely be offered between Richmond and Nanaimo and Richmond and Victoria. Scenic tours could be offered, too, McDougall said.

 

A Beaver normally carries five passenger plus the pilot, but adding the electric motor and battery would reduce that to three passengers and a pilot.

 

Harbour Air says on its website that certifying installation of components where no certification path exists has been difficult. “Adding to the challenge has been using novel engine and battery technology.”

 

Fundamentally, “the technology has been outpacing the regulators,” the company states.

 

A different electric engine, called the magni650, will be replacing the current magni350 in the Beaver, McDougall said, bringing a high level of operational security in case of loss of power.

 

New batteries arriving in June are expected to be much lighter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's no good that it takes on so much extra room/weight.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 09 May 2023 - 06:52 AM.