Hybrids, rather than fully electric planes, are likely to triumph
|BLACKBUSHE AIRPORT|4 min read
TAXIING TOWARDS the runway, the propeller stops turning as your correspondent pulls the throttle back to await take-off. On a single-engine light aircraft, that is usually a worrying sign of engine failure. Yet this plane is powered by an electric motor and, just as when you come to a halt in a Tesla, the motor stops until it is needed again. On advancing the throttle the propeller springs back to life and the aircraft is soon briskly climbing, in an eerily quiet manner.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Flying the future”
From the July 25th 2026 edition
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