Airbus E-Fan Electric Aircraft Makes First Flight

An anonymous reader writes "The aviation industry has taken a tentative step toward electric power with the successful maiden flight of the Airbus E-Fan. The manufacturer known for the massive A380 jetliner began testing this small experimental aircraft last week, with the ultimate aim of lowering the huge carbon dioxide emissions from commercial flights. The E-FAN is powered by 120 lithium-polymer batteries, and can fly at speeds up to 136mph. Measuring just 19 feet from nose to tail, the compact aircraft show that Airbus probably isn't ready for commercial zero emissions flight just yet, but it does highlight the potential benefits."

Grammar are great

[Anonymous Coward]

the compact aircraft show that Airbus probably isn't ready for commercial zero emissions flight just yet, but it does highlight the potential benefits.

I really thought the grammar was wrong, but as I read it again, it looks like the subject-verb agreement may be just fine.
aircraft may be describing a fleet, and so can be plural, so the word "show" is okay.
isn't can refer to Airbus
it could also refer to that same company
Reading in this way, everything checks out.

Still, the presence of so many nouns and pronouns did result in plenty of room for potential confusion about whether everything was right.

Re:Flight time 1 hour

[Anonymous Coward]

And if Slashdot existed back in 1903, they would say that the Wright brothers flight wasn't long enough to be practical. Or they didn't go 175mph, so it's not fast enough.

I like the design. There are gliders that would work well as a platform. You could turn off the electric motors easily and just coast for a while to ride the air currents...

But this needs NASA's highway in the sky project to get it out to the normal pilots and future pilots if there are a lot of them.

Re:Flight time 1 hour

[RightwingNutjob]

Which is why battery-powered planes are stupid. But not necessarily electric propulsion. If you can actually fly an electric engine, you can get experience and improve on it, so that if and when you come up with a better way of providing electrical power (electrochemical fuel cells, fission reactor, Mr. Fusion, very long tether, microwave death ray), you will be able to mate it to a mature technology. I say kudos!