The Bye Aerospace Sun Flyer (also previously known as the Aero Electric Aircraft Corporation Sun Flyer) is an

electric aircraft An electric aircraft is an aircraft powered by electricity. Electric aircraft are seen as a way to reduce the environmental effects of aviation, providing zero emissions and quieter flights. Electricity may be supplied by a variety of methods, ...

that was developed from the PC-Aero Elektra One by Bye Aerospace's Aero Electric Aircraft Corporation division of

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, United States, introduced in 2015. The company had a license agreement and engineering contract for the design with Calin Gologan, the Elektra One's designer.

Design and development

The aircraft features

composite construction Composite construction is a generic term to describe any building construction involving multiple dissimilar materials. Composite construction is often used in building aircraft, watercraft, and building construction. There are several reasons to ...

, a cantilever

low-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing config ...

, a single-seat, enclosed cockpit under a

bubble canopy A bubble canopy is an aircraft canopy constructed without bracing, for the purpose of providing a wider unobstructed field of view to the pilot, often providing 360° all-round visibility. The designs of bubble canopies can vary drastically; so ...

, fixed

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', that is arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has one or more nose wheels in a single front undercarriage and two or more main wheels slightly aft of th ...

with

wheel pants An aircraft fairing is a structure whose primary function is to produce a smooth outline and reduce drag.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, Third Edition'', page 206. Aviation Supplies & Academics Inc, Newcastle Washington, 1997. ...

and a single

electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

tractor configuration In aviation, a tractor configuration is a propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft with its engine mounted with the propeller in front, so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. This is the usual configuration; the pusher configuration ...

. The Sun Flyer differed from the PC-Aero Elektra One by incorporating new landing gear, propeller and instruments. It provided a prototype for a proposed two-seater that was to have four Panasonic

lithium-ion A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible Intercalation (chemistry), intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically Electrical conductor, conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are c ...

batteries, along with

solar panel A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

s installed on the wings, horizontal tail and on the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

behind the canopy. This two-seater was intended to be

certified Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...

for day and night

Visual Flight Rules In aviation, visual flight rules (VFR) is a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better tha ...

. The proposed two-seat version of the Sun Flyer eventually led to a new design, the

Bye Aerospace Sun Flyer 2 The Bye Aerospace eFlyer 2 (formerly the Sun Flyer 2) is a light electric aircraft designed and under development by Bye Aerospace of Denver, Colorado. The aircraft was first publicly introduced on 11 May 2016, and first flew on 10 April 2018. ...

instead. The

Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology (Spartan) is a private for-profit aviation college with its main campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. Satellite campuses are in Inglewood, California, Broomfield, Colorado, and Riverside, Califo ...

had reserved the first 20 two-seat models that were to be produced.

Specifications (Sun Flyer)

References

External links

{{Bye Aerospace aircraft Sun Flyer 2010s United States sport aircraft 2010s United States civil utility aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Electric aircraft

Design and development

Specifications (Sun Flyer)

See also

References

External links