New Planes With Hybrid Engines are Making Flying in Utah Safer and Cheaper Than Driving

Hybrid engines on cars that combine a gas engine with with an electric engine to switch back an forth a save on fuel. This same technology is being used with airplanes with some amazing results that are getting fleshed out by the FAA right here in Utah.

Elevating Aviation: From Cars to Airplanes

Engineers have taken the technology used in hybrid cars and what we have learned with drones and have applied it to airplanes with some simple but impactful innovations. They have developed a something that will make it easier to fly between cities.

The planes using the hybrid technology in this video and the those being tested by the FAA in Utah are smaller light aircraft with props. In these planes, electric batteries that are big enough to propel an airplane, are too heavy to be useful.

Enhanced Takeoff: Thrust and Efficiency Combined

They installed smaller electric batteries that are not used to fly the plane, but for added thrust to the gas engine. This added thrust is directed downward at takeoff and means the plane needs very little runway to get in the air.

The electric engine also acts as a backup if the main engine fails. This redundancy makes the plane far safer. This growing technology is quickly changing how these planes can be used and how it expands people's ability to get from place to place.

Read More: Should Utah Use This Technology to Make Road Lines Glow?

For this reason the FAA is looking to adapt and facilitate this technology at the big and small airports around the country. They are working with UDOT and a company named Ampaire to better understand how airports can support it.

What does this mean for you? The time could soon arrive where it would be easier and safer to fly around the state and the west rather than drive. The cost may even be the same or even cheaper.