OSM Aviation Academy Orders 60 Bye Aerospace eFlyers

Bye Aerospace is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Englewood, Colorado, and for the past 12 years has specialized in the design and manufacture of electric aircraft, including unmanned aircraft for geospatial role and light aircraft for the flight training role. CEO George E. Bye founded the company to apply electric configurations along with aerodynamic advances to “design, build and market aerospace products that will offer significant economic benefits and increases in performance to aerospace markets.”

The centerpiece of Bye Aerospace’s recent innovative efforts is the eFlyer, an all-electric general aviation aircraft that will have zero CO2 emissions and drastically reduce operation costs due to the lack of need for fuel. The eFlyer has a two-seat and four-seat configuration which are both powered by a Siemens propulsion system. The eFlyer 2 began flight testing on February 8 at Denver Centennial Airport with the goal of being the first Part 23 FAA-certified all-electric aircraft to the flight training market. Check out the first flight of the eFlyer (previously named Sun Flyer) below:

In a recent interview documented by AINonline, CEO Bye stated that the “eFlyer’s primary markets [are] flight training and air-taxi services, [so] it makes more sense to make the price of the airplane as reasonable as possible.” This was after the announcement at Aero Friedrichshafen in Germany that solar cells would no longer be standard on the eFlyer wings.

It is evident that the Bye’s recent development and testing of the eFlyer has caught the eye of many operators, as nearly 300 orders have already been placed for the two-seat configuration. Up to 60 of the aircraft orders have come from Norwegian flight school OSM Aviation Academy, while another 18 orders have come from Norwegian partner Elfly AS. Elfly CEO Eric Lithun went as far as to say that the eFlyer will be the “Tesla of the general aviation industry.” OSM Aviation Academy is committed to the development and operation of more environmentally friendly transportation, and urges the airline industry to do the same.

Why its important: While the Bye Aerospace eFlyer has a traditional aircraft configuration and is not capable of vertical takeoff and landing, its electric powerplant may enable shorter range flights with quicker turnaround times. In addition to flight training schools, Bye is targeting air-taxi operators as a potential customer of its new all-electric aircraft, where the company may have a competitive advantage to other electric-aircraft manufacturers if it succeeds in being the first Part 23 FAA-certified all-electric aircraft.

Sources // AINonline; Bye Aerospace