The Liberty Gazette
March 30, 2022
Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely
It’s complicated. While we abhor the thought of the World Economic Forum and a one-world government, optional energy should be just that–optional. The aviation world is unfortunately infiltrated with WEF proponents, but to try to keep an eye on the positive, at least it’s interesting to see the developments in engine manufacturing. Hydrogen, hybrid-electric, and purely electric are new competitors for research dollars, as well as refining ideas about piston and jet engines.
Despite the fact that aviation accounts for a very small (single-digit) percentage of carbon dioxide emissions, the aircraft and engine manufacturing industries intend to become “climate-neutral” by 2050. This affects a lot of people.
In what we call general aviation, which is everything other than the airline and military segments, innovation cycles are long. This is because development and government certification require hefty investments of both time and money and can take many years to recoup. The price the customer pays for new developments means that customer also should expect years before seeing a return on their investment. For instance, consider any large oil company or retailer, all of which have corporate flight departments, and the costs that factor into decisions whether to upgrade to aircraft flying on other than gas or kerosene.
But there’s another important factor, more critical–that of safety. The industry has achieved a high standard of safety. This is due in part to air traffic control, pilot training and other regulations, better access to meteorology, and new technology in aircraft and engines.
When it comes to new technology, we need to be able to rely on safety standards, that they don’t fall below current high standards no matter how happy it may make the control-glutton WEF. At least, that’s our hope. But after witnessing beatings in the name of public health in places like New York and Australia, who knows?
We don’t think severe, mandated changes to aircraft power sources will happen overnight. The tried-and-true internal combustion engines will be around hopefully for the rest of our lives. But we are already seeing new ideas being introduced into the market. Will one come out on top? Maybe. It will be interesting to see.
Another positive about this is cost. Lots of people are priced out of learning to fly. We expect to see the price tags of aircraft with new tech drop over time, and the operating costs even more so.
Among the challenges, lots of work is still to be done to address the problem of range. The engines in use since the dawn of aviation have been so well developed that you can hop a flight to Europe, Southeast Asia, or even Australia with few to no stops for fuel. That’s not yet the case for these alternative fuels, such as electricity. You’d be lucky to get an hour’s flight time in a battery-operated airplane.
Lots to think about for the future. Just get rid of that cancer, the WEF, and we’ll all get along fine.
ElyAirLines.blogspot.com
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