The French company VoltAero has reached a significant milestone in the development of its all-new family of
Cassio e-aircraft with the start of flight testing, using Safran Electrical & Power’s ENGINeUS ‘smart’ electric motors.

This keeps the company on track in evolving a family of airplanes (with four to nine seats) tailored for ‘point-to-point regional travel’ by private owners, air taxi/charter companies and commercial airlines.

Jean Botti, VoltAero’s CEO (www.voltaero.aero), said: “I am very pleased with the testing, as we accumulate time aloft and open up the aircraft’s flight envelope.

“The current test phase is with the powertrain for our six-seat Cassio, to be followed by validation of the final aerodynamic and powertrain configurations on both the four- and nine-seat Cassio versions.”

The current flight evaluations use VoltAero’s Cassio 1 test-bed aircraft, with the two ENGINeUS 45 electric motors installed in forward-facing positions on the wings.

Cassio 1 is being piloted by technical director Didier Esteyne, operating from the company’s headquarters at the Royan-Médis Aérodrome in France.

He said: “Flying on the power of Safran’s motors is truly remarkable, with no vibration and extremely low noise levels.

“It confirms that our Cassio aircraft will bring an entirely new experience to aviation.”

The nine-seat version will use electric motors along with VoltAero’s proprietary aft-facing hybrid power module, which brings together an internal combustion engine and three electric motors.

The prototype VoltAero hybrid power module continues its validation on a ground-based rig.