Electric Cessna 182 for skydivers

Hello,

We are thinking about converting a Cessna 182 to an electric Cessna 182 only for Skydive purpose.

The project task is:

• Flight autonomy 30 min + 5 min reserve
• 2-3 flights at FL100 or FL1200
• Quickly replaceable battery (a few minutes)
• Battery charging during descending
• Fast battery charger
• Unchanged center of gravity.

What is your opinion? would such a plane find application in the world of Skydiving?

my first reaction is no, you won't find any takers.

but the real answer can't be made until you say something about cost and performance.  I assume climb performance would be largely unaffected by altitude (like a turbo), which would be great. But what would it be?  And what is the cost of a conversion? 182 DZs are often running on a shoestring, so someone getting together $100s of thousands of dollars would be a severe challenge.

If I'm reading correctly, you aren't in the US.

If you were, I'd say this is pretty much impossible.
FAA rules for this sort of thing are a HUGE obstacle.
Here in the US, you can build just about anything you want, and fly it under "Experimental" category.
But carrying passengers for hire is "a whole 'nuther" proposition.

Over and above the cost factor mentioned above, the regulatory approval would be my biggest concern.

6 hours ago, banimir said:

What is your opinion? would such a plane find application in the world of Skydiving?

How much does it weigh? How much does it cost? Those would be the key things needed to know in order to answer your questions.

5 hours ago, SethInMI said:

my first reaction is no, you won't find any takers.

but the real answer can't be made until you say something about cost and performance.  I assume climb performance would be largely unaffected by altitude (like a turbo), which would be great. But what would it be?  And what is the cost of a conversion? 182 DZs are often running on a shoestring, so someone getting together $100s of thousands of dollars would be a severe challenge.

Hi Seth,

Well, that did it; you are no longer in the Wonderful World of Engineering.

Jerry Baumchen

Where is the "Skydive 024" dropzone. Rules in that country may be radically different than the USA. It might be that 100 octane low-lead gasoline is becoming scarce in  your country.

Last week I was looking at an electric-powered Pipistrel trainer that works at a flying school in Campbell River, B.C. Canada.

If I were you, I would start by talking with Pipistrels' engineers.

Another source would be the engineers at Harbour Air (Vancouver, B.C. Canada) who test-flew an electric-powered DHC-2 Beaver a couple of years ago and are hoping to convert a fleet of Cessna 208 Caravans to electric power. Harbour Air's short scheduled flights best match the mission profile of jump-planes.

Most of Harbour Air's scheduled flights from Vancouver, Nanaimo, Victoria, Seattle, etc. are last less than and hour. Their chief advantage is landing their floatplanes (Cessna 208 Caravans, DHC-2 Beavers, DHC-3 turbine Otters and DHC-6 Twin Otters) in the inner harbour, close to major businesses, tourist attractions, courts, provincial legislature, etc.