IN THE WORLD TODAY

World’s first electric flight takes to sky

APILOT has made history by becoming the first person to fly across New Zealand’s Cook Strait in an electric plane. Gary Freedman’s 40-minute solo flight in the small two-seater plane came 101 years after the first person flew a conventional aircraft over the body of water that separates the South Pacific nation’s two main islands.

The flight was aimed at drawing attention to the possibilities of greener flying and timed to coincide with the opening of the UN climate summit in Glasgow.

Wellington Airport officials believe it may be the longest distance flown in an electric plane across any body of water.

“It’s a very exciting day for the airport. A world-record-setting day,” said spokesperson Jenna Raeburn.

Freedman said the day began badly with pouring rain at his departure point near the town of Blenheim. After delaying the flight for 15 minutes, the weather cleared just enough for take-off and soon improved to sunny conditions over the ocean. The pilot said he was ecstatic when he landed, and the technology worked better than he’d hoped.

“We still had 40% left in the battery,” he said. “We could have almost flown back again.”

Freedman said it takes about one hour to fully charge. The maximum flight time is also about an hour, and he mainly uses it for pilot training.

Freedman, 49, who founded the company ElectricAir, said he has long been passionate about the environment and the idea came as he thought about the incongruity of driving an electric car and flying a gas-powered plane.