He took a trip to Slovenia to buy a Pipistrel Alpha Electro plane, and then jumped through various hoops with New Zealand aviation regulators to get the plane cleared. Mr 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. “We still had 40% left in the battery,” he said. The pilot said he was ecstatic when he landed, and the technology worked better than he’d hoped. The ElectricAir plane on approach before landing at Wellington Airport (Mark Mitchell/New Zealand Herald via AP)
After delaying the flight for 15 minutes, the weather cleared just enough for take-off and soon improved to sunny conditions over the ocean. Mr Freedman said the day began badly with pouring rain at his departure point near the town of Blenheim. A world-record-setting day,” said spokesperson Jenna Raeburn. “It’s a very exciting day for the airport. Wellington International Airport officials believe it may be the longest distance flown in an electric plane across any body of water. The flight was aimed at drawing attention to the possibilities of greener flying and timed to coincide with the opening of a pivotal UN climate summit in Glasgow. Mr Freedman thought it was only fitting that the first thing he saw when approaching the Wellington coastline was the rotating blade of a wind turbine producing renewable energy.
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