NASA and electric propulsion developer Magnix are moving forward with plans to advance cleaner regional aviation, revealing on 22 August a De Havilland Canada Dash 7 turboprop that will receive hybrid-electric modifications.
The ceremony to unveil the testbed at Boeing Field in Seattle kicked off another phase of NASA’s Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) programme, a broad effort by the agency to evaluate electric-propulsion technologies. The Magnix project involves replacing two of the Dash 7’s four Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) PT6A turbines with Magnix’s electric motors.
Reed MacDonald, Magnix chief executive, calls the effort a “significant programme to make electric flight a reality”.
”We’re going to lead the transition to the future of sustainable aviation with technology that, at this point, has matured, and is being demonstrated and working,” he says.
The Dash 7 was provided by Air Tindi, a Canadian charter carrier headquartered in Yellowknife.
The type represents a relative departure for low-emissions demonstrators, as now-defunct start-up Universal Hydrogen, as well as P&WC and De Havilland Canada, have chosen to use the twin-prop Dash 8 as a testbed for advanced propulsion technologies.
“For us, the [Dash 7] is not just another flight demonstrator,” says Ben Loxton, Magnix vice-president of EPFD and electric storage systems. ”It’s a key part of proving and maturing our technology and overcoming those key barriers that still remain for entry into service by the end of the decade.”
A source selection statement filed by the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center explains why the companies opted to use a four-engined aircraft in the Dash 7.
The configuration ”enabled the use of a hybrid system and a significant amount of battery power while limiting aircraft modification and power/propulsion system integration issues”, NASA says.
”Depending on the mission requirement, the use of the combination configuration allowed easy exchange of batteries or passenger count,” it adds.
The companies plan first to replace one of the Dash 7’s PT6As with a Magnix electric powertrain, with flight tests to begin in 2026.
Then, a second electric powertrain will be retrofitted to the aircraft – a configuration that will reduce fuel burn an estimated 40%, Magnix says.
Bob Pearce, associate administrator for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, describes the project as a step toward a “more sustainable future” in which regional aircraft are less expensive to operate, allowing more people to fly commercially.
“In many communities, it’s really hard to get access to aviation,” he says. “Everything we can do to continue to open up access to aviation and bring the economic benefits and the cultural benefits of aviation to communities is good,” he says.
Magnix cleared the project’s preliminary design review phase in February, establishing a design for the retrofitted Dash 7. Then, in April, a Magni650 electric engine successfully passed its first round of testing at NASA’s Electric Aircraft Testbed in Sandusky, Ohio – including tests at a simulated 27,500ft.
In June, the partners concluded baseline tests on the Dash 7 that gathered performance data before the aircraft will be retrofitted with an electric propulsion system.
Magnix has powered five aircraft with its electric power trains to date. It anticipates that the first commercial flight with its technology will be a DHC-2 “eBeaver” operated by British Columbia’s Harbour Air.
This story has been corrected to reflect that the event was held at Seattle’s Boeing field.
