JUDY WOODRUFF: On a date when Exxon and Royal Dutch/ Shell made some ten-strikes in courtroom and among their shareholders, it’s clear there is increasing pressure to address climate change. Fuel for transportation is a big part of the problem. And aircrafts are especially difficult. Miles O’Brien looks at efforts to create electrical planes of the future. It is part of a special “NOVA” documentary tonight. MILES O’BRIEN: Chandler Airport in Fresno, California has been operational since the Wright brethren era, aviation 1.0. Today, the artwork deco glory has faded, but Joseph Oldham is using this old, underutilized situate to help launch a new age of flight, aviation 3.0. JOSEPH OLDHAM, New Vision Aviation: This is the third revolution of aviation. The first change, of course, was powered flight. The second coup was jet in the 1940 s, early 1950 s. Electric propulsion is the third revolution. MILES O’BRIEN: These are Pipistrel Alpha Electros, the first certified all-electric airplanes in the world.And he was courteous enough to give a fellow aviator the privilege posterior. All claim, we’re placed. Contact, huh? JOSEPH OLDHAM: Clear. MILES O’BRIEN: It was as simple as throwing a switch. It was weirdly hushed as we taxied to the runway. JOSEPH OLDHAM: The noisiest thing on this airplane are the brakes. MILES O’BRIEN: And watch what happened when we stopped to wait for traffic. JOSEPH OLDHAM: You simply sit here just like an electric car.MILES O’BRIEN: That only cracks me up. JOSEPH OLDHAM: Electric propulsion arrangements are so simple that really there’s just nothing that you really need to be that concerned about. MILES O’BRIEN: Are we flying the future right now? JOSEPH OLDHAM: We utterly are. MILES O’BRIEN: It was a hazy day, the result of some raging wildfires nearby, a remember of the atmosphere emergency which compiles the decarbonization of aviation so urgent.How important do you think that is to think about making fossil fuels out of aviation over the long run? JOSEPH OLDHAM: Well, it’s huge. It’s the only mode of transportation that really has not moved aggressively towards zero radiation. MILES O’BRIEN: Globally, about 15 percent of the human rights carbon footprint comes from transportation. We attend some signs of progress. Electric car auctions are rising as rates stop. But aviation? It’s one of the hardest transportation problems to solve. Pound for pound, liquid fuel contains 16 times more energy than the best artilleries. So, while short moves on smaller airplanes is permissible, the batteries needed to fly large-scale airliners on long flights would offset the plane way too heavy. Yet, all regions of the world, technologists, entrepreneurs and aviators are trying to meet the challenge. They are experimenting, starting big, composing some flying machines like never seen before. JOEBEN BEVIRT, Founder, Joby Aviation: Maybe we should step over and see how it is to sit in the aircraft.So … MILES O’BRIEN: JoeBen Bevirt Founded Joby Aviation in 2009. The aircraft he and his team designed is now in flight testing for FAA certification. It’s the current leader in the scoot to crowd the world with electric air taxis. It carries a pilot and four passengers under six tilting motors. JOEBEN BEVIRT: It provides us an aircraft which is incredibly good at hovering and improbably good at cruising. That effectivenes in cruise is what gets us our array and get us our speed.MILES O’BRIEN: He says it can fly 200 miles per hour and has a range of 150 miles. JOEBEN BEVIRT: In order to have the impact that we want to have, in order to transform the way everyone moves every day, it is necessary to constitute thousand of these. Our mission is to save a billion people an hour a day. MILES O’BRIEN: A billion people flying air taxis? How could that be safe? At NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, they’re tackling the air traffic control challenge. MAN: We’re tracking a UAM 003 currently. SANDY LOZITO, NASA’s Ames Research Center: Searches good. And the velocity is OK. MILES O’BRIEN: Sandy Lozito is chief of the Aviation Systems Division. SANDY LOZITO: We is not undoubtedly expect a centralized air traffic control pillar to get it on, with individual directives telling the captains how to come in and out of the vertiport.And so that’s a very different operation. There could be much more independence on the part of the aviators and the individual adventurers as they move in and out of these areas. MILES O’BRIEN: We live in times that necessitate action to address the climate emergency. But proponents of electrical aviation say their business mannequins do not rely on altruism. They believe they can win in the free market. JOEBEN BEVIRT: We want to be comparable in the cost to the price of a taxi at open and accompanying that expense down to the cost of personal gondola possession over the course of the year. MILES O’BRIEN: Those playing in the largest electrical airliner hasten are convinced a progressive instant like that is in the air. For the “PBS NewsHour, ” I’m Miles O’Brien in Santa Cruz, California.JUDY WOODRUFF: The future is here. And you can watch “The Great Electric Airplane Race” on PBS’ “NOVA” tonight . .
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