Cri-Cri, an-all electric aircraft jointly developed by EADS, Aero Composites Saintonge and the Green Cri-Cri Association, has successfully performed its maiden flight.
The Cri-Cri is the first-ever four-engined all-electric aerobatic plane.
During the seven-minute flight, take-off, climb and manoeuvrability of the aircraft were verified.
The aerobatic plane incorporates technologies including lightweight composite structures, four brushless electric motors with counter-rotating propellers and high energy-density Lithium batteries.
The Cri-Cri is capable of 30 minutes of autonomous cruise flight at 110 km/h, 15 minutes of autonomous aerobatics at speeds reaching up to 250 km/h, and a climb rate of approximately 5.3 m/sec.
EADS Chief Technical Officer Jean Botti said that the Cri-Cri is a low-cost test bed for system integration of electrical technologies for projects like EADS’ hybrid propulsion concept for helicopters.
“We hope to get a lot of useful information out of this project, ” Botti said.
