GE Aerospace and Beta Technologies modify a Saab 340B for hybrid electric flight, from testing to the Atlantic crossing and Farnborough.
What the video covers
Written in our own words. It only describes what the video shows and says.Preparing the Saab 340B
The video opens at Beta Technologies, where the team says it has received the aircraft it will modify for hybrid electric flight. The speakers describe the objectives as flying at 30,000 feet and making a safe flight at Farnborough on July 20th. They say the timeline is aggressive because they want to be first at Farnborough. The aircraft is identified as a twin-engine Saab 340B. One side is to receive the hybrid electric propulsion powertrain system, so the aircraft will fly with one hybrid engine and one conventional engine. The speakers say 38,000 parts will be installed. They describe tedious installation work and say they have not previously cut apart an aircraft and spliced their own parts into it. The video also shows load testing. The speakers describe this as the final exam for the structure, checking it before test flying.
Flight testing and high altitude
The video then covers the start of hybrid operations and the first flight of the converted Saab 340B. The pilots are named as Nick and Chris. Test objectives include hybrid characterisation. The speakers say the campaign moves at pace because of extensive ground testing and integrated system testing at Peebles. They state that the aim is commercial operation of a parallel hybrid electric system at commercial grade altitudes in the 30,000 feet range, and say this would be the first aircraft to do so. A test event is described as climbing to flight level 300 for high altitude hybrid operations. The video says the 747 is GE's flying test bed, and the team prepares to fly it in formation with the Saab 340. The speakers say they completed the flight test campaign and hit every milestone they set out to reach, then head to the area used to simulate what the Farnborough crowd will see.
Transatlantic route and Farnborough
The route to England is described as challenging and dating back to before World War II. The legs are Plattsburgh International to Goose Bay, Labrador, then Goose Bay to Nuuk, Greenland, then Nuuk to Keflavik, Iceland, then Iceland to Wick in Scotland, and Scotland to Bournemouth in southern England. The first leg arrives in Canada without issues. Before the ocean leg, the speakers discuss weather, winds, contingencies and getting into the raft if the aircraft goes down, and note that a Part 25 size aircraft will be flying hybrid at commercial grade altitudes over an ocean. Later they describe Greenland weather, low visibility, low ceiling, precipitation, icing and high terrain around the airport. The video also mentions electric boost during climb and says hybrid makes it possible to optimise the aircraft design to deliver different power for different phases of flight, adding efficiency. At Farnborough, the speakers announce the industry's first high altitude hybrid electric flight and describe the first public flight of GE Aerospace's hybrid electric flight demonstrator. Nick Wilson is named as one of the pilots of the Saab 340B, which the crew flew across the North Atlantic, and daily displays are to use all hybrid operation mode. One speaker mentions 15 years of investment and innovation, another 10 years of innovation led by GE Aerospace, and the next goal is given as integrating the system into the RISE engine.
