Received Letter From Siemens Saying It Could Not Use Its Engine For Over-Water Flight

Yesterday, we presented a story about the Airbus E-Fan airplane making plans to be the first to cross the English Channel and return un-recharged. But Michael Coates, the Master Distributor for Pipistrel, USA, says that the aerospace giant used its clout from preventing the smaller company from achieving that historic milestone on Tuesday, July 7.

In a communication sent to Aero-News, Coates says that "bad sportsmanship displayed by Siemens and Airbus" led to the cancelation of that attempt, and "I have no other alternative than to let you know what is happening behind the scenes to stop the Pipistrel's French dealer Finesse Max's historic attempt and aviation adventure."

According to Coates, "As you may be aware, the Pipistrel ALPHA Electro aircraft has been in development for more than two years with the aircraft recently receiving certification and is available for sale to aviation markets around the world. The Pipistrel ALPHA Electro is more than a proof of concept aircraft it is an aircraft that has proven already to be the first, real, practical training aircraft in the market and Pipistrel has already received a number of orders from our first excited customers.

"The plan today was to make the English Channel flight after the French Pipistrel dealer obtained all the permits and demonstrated the aircraft endurance to the French authorities by testing in France. The Pipistrel ALPHA Electro flew the same course distance overland demonstrating the endurance to cross the English Channel in both directions. Our testing overland demonstrated that we can take off from France, land in England and return to France and still have a remaining 25% battery capacity which validated the safety of this event

"It is unfortunate that Airbus managed to flex their muscle with Siemens who are supplying motors to Pipistrel and have the Pipistrel motor agreement immediately terminated. Airbus managed to have this longstanding agreement terminated within hours of finding out about Pipistrel's cross channel plans which had been months in the planning. Siemens in turn requested the immediate seizure of the engine before the channel crossing attempt could be attempted by Pipistrel. It is also interesting to note that while the Airbus E-Fan project does not use Siemens motors it does have Siemens stickers over the side of their aircraft and it also disturbs me that I have now found out it's the intention of Airbus to fly the E-Fan over the English Channel on Friday making Airbus the first electric powered aircraft to cross the English Channel and receive the notoriety and recognition that comes from this achievement and its important to note, they are only going one way and not a return trip on the same charge!

"Obviously this backhanded attempt by Airbus to pressure Siemens to immediately withdraw the engine agreement and stop the Pipistrel attempt can only be seen globally as very bad sportsmanship.  It has been mentioned to the Pipistrel dealer in France that Airbus has already invested 500,000 Euro in the Friday event and they cannot take the risk that any other company could be the first and this is why they flexed their muscle with Siemens.

"It seems the agreement between Pipistrel and Siemens for using their electric motors in the Pipistrel ALPHA Electro aircraft has been squashed by an aviation giant which in my opinion is straight out bad sportsmanship from a company with very deep pockets and a desire to be first, first, first at any cost.  I also feel extremely disappointed for the Pipistrel French distributor and his team who have invested many months preparation into this event only to be hobbled at the very last moment."

Coates provided GPS screenshots of the practice runs showing that the ALPHA could have indeed made the channel crossing and return. He also provided a copy of the letter sent by Siemens demanding the return of the electric engine.

(Images provided by Michael Coates)

FMI: www.pipistrel-usa.com