Airbus Electric Plane Flight Clouded by Controversy

(TNS) —  An Airbus electric plane crossed the English Channel from Britain to France on Friday, claiming the record for the first such crossing, but the event was marred by controversy over the cancellation of a rival flight. Test pilot and designer Didier Esteyne landed Airbus Group's E-Fan 1.0 plane in the French port of Calais after flying the 74 kilometres from Lydd in south-east England in 37 minutes, setting a "milestone for the all-electric aircraft technology," the company said.

The 100th flight by an E-Fan plane echoed the first Channel crossing by French pilot Louis Bleriot in 1909, Esteyne said.

"Like so many others in the aviation industry, Louis Bleriot has been a hero and inspiration to me and it gives me great pride that I am able to honour his legacy with the first ever electric-powered Channel crossing," he said.

"The 10th of July 2015 will now join the list of famous days in aviation history and I'm sure Bleriot would be proud of this achievement," said Jean Botti, chief technical officer at Airbus Group.

Finesse Max, the French distributor for Slovenia-based light-aircraft maker Pipistrel, had planned to fly an electric plane across the channel on Tuesday, said Ivo Boscarol, Pipistrel's general manager.

But the flight was cancelled after Siemens claimed a loan agreement for the plane's motor did not cover flights over water and asked the companies to return the motor.

"We deeply regret the action of Siemens which prevented the flight," Boscarol said, calling the move "bizarre and incomprehensible."

"Unfortunately it was once again the interest of the capital that prevailed, and we lost the competition [to cross the Channel first] on the account of fair play," he said.

Siemens, which cooperates with Airbus in developing electric-powered aircraft and was a sponsor of Friday's E-Fan flight, has denied recalling its motor to please Airbus, according to British media.

French pilot Hugues Duval also crossed the Channel in both directions in a tiny electric plane on Thursday, but his flight was apparently launched from the top of a larger plane.

Aviation websites reported that Duval decided to make his flight after hearing that Siemens had blocked the Pipistrel flight.

The E-Fan 1.0 uses two rear-mounted, battery-powered propellers in fan-like casings. With an 89.5-metre wingspan, its is capable of flying for up to one hour at a maximum speed of 220 kilometres per hour.

Airbus said it will invest 20 million euros to begin production of its E-Fan 2.0 two-seater plane next year at a new site in south-western France, with commercialization in late 2017. It also plans to build a four-seater E-Fan 4.0.

©2015 Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany), Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.