Alice Completes Hi-speed Taxi Rotation Test

DALLAS — Eviation has completed the high-speed taxi rotation test of its all-electric Alice aircraft as part of final preparations for the type's first flight.

The 16,500 lb. Alice, a nine-passenger aircraft built from the ground up to travel 440 nm on an 8,300 lb. battery pack, was initially scheduled to conduct flight testing from the company's Arlington, Washington, development, and assembly facility in late 2021.

To take advantage of the quieter airspace and longer runways, Eviation decided to move flight testing to Moses Lake earlier this year.

Eviation’s all-electric airplane Alice on its first flight at the Grant County International Airport, in Moses Lake, Washington, USA. Photo: Eviation

Preflight Testing

Preflight high-speed taxi tests culminate in runs up to rotation speed. “You get the aircraft right up there and then you essentially do a very gentle rejected takeoff. We have a 13,500 ft.-long runway so you don’t have to go hard on the brakes,” the company’s new CEO, Greg Davis, told Aviation Week.

Moses Lake also has a 10,000 ft.-long runway and three shorter ones. Arlington’s longest runway, in contrast, is 5,300 ft. long.

“The high-speed taxi-testing is... a critical milestone for us so we can validate all our aerodynamic models with those speeds. And then first flight proves that the system is integrated right,” adds Davis.

Davis, whose move from company president to full-time CEO was confirmed on Sept. 16, became interim CEO in February, taking over from co-founder Omer Bar-Yohay. Prior to joining Eviation in 2021, Davis held management positions at Viking Air in Canada and at Marshall Aerospace in the UK.

Featured image: Eviation