On Monday, Magpie Aviation revealed a cutting-edge new strategy for electric aircraft. The practicability of zero-emission aviation is severely constrained by current battery technology (even CATL’s new, more efficient battery), leaving clean-energy inventors with two inadequate options: operating an aircraft packed with batteries or one loaded of passengers — but not both. The California-based business plans to connect them in order to greatly increase the range of the rear plane.
Aircraft towing is not a novel idea; military applications date back to World War II, when aerial tows were used to pull smaller planes carrying personnel and supplies. However, it is novel to use it in the context of green transportation. A lengthy cable is used in Magpie Aviation’s proposal to pull a passenger (or freight) aircraft behind one or more electric aircraft acting as a tractor plane. According to AeroTime, the towed plane’s battery power would be adequate for takeoff, landing, and flying to alternative airports but not for independent flight over the entire route.
The lead plane would be responsible for the majority of the traction, and when its battery runs out, it may transfer the towing responsibility to another electric towing aircraft to increase the range of the back plane. In the words of Magpie CEO Damon Vander Lind, “You get towed until you’ve drained down to your reserve in the lead aircraft, and then you switch in another tow aircraft.” Vander Lind claims that it could enable a trip from San Francisco to Seattle, much beyond the sub-regional lengths that battery-powered passenger planes can travel on their own. However, it is still a regional solution that is unfeasible for cross-country or international flights.
Magpie claims to have carried out successful small-scale experiments using a synthetic fibre rope around 330 feet long; the company plans to utilise almost mile-long cables in a later commercial version. The startup thinks it might be used commercially by 2030 and aims to gradually ramp up testing. It anticipates that improvements in battery technology will eventually enable it to tow single-aisle aeroplanes. According to Magpie, the concept, which primarily targets electric aircraft, might also be applicable to hybrid, hydrogen, and regular aircraft when operated in low-power modes. The business also claims to be collaborating with the FAA, or Federal Aviation Administration, on certification.
Vander Lind added, “I know that seems kind of strange, but we kept going back to it since we couldn’t come up with any excuses why we couldn’t do it. We get a big advantage due to the more expensive and crucial passenger- and cargo-carrying’main aircraft’ has similar requirements to today’s aircraft and thus adjusts effectively to current in-operation and already-in-development platforms, even though our modelling demonstrates that doing a custom tow aircraft like this has benefits. Remember that an aeroplane has a 30-year life, so we’re already at the stage where airlines need to carefully consider the operational lifespan of the assets they are purchasing today if we want to achieve a zero-carbon objective by the year 2050.
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