There’s an interesting lack of discussion of it all on one of the other, large aviation forums.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/10/airbus-french-pilot-first-electric-flight-channel
Airbus pussies cry foul 
Well done Mr Cri-Cri!
I find the idea of being the first across the English Channel in an ele3ctric powered aircraft pales into insignificance compared to what has been going on over the Pacific in recent days – that really is something to shout about.
The Cri Cri was launched from top of another aircraft. Very impressive.
I find the idea of being the first across the English Channel in an ele3ctric powered aircraft pales into insignificance compared to what has been going on over the Pacific in recent days – that really is something to shout about.
+1 !! That said, congrats to Mr. Duval and his Cri-Cri !!
I half agree – I’m just surprised that this hasn’t happened before. And TBH when I saw the airbus prototype at Farnborough, I’d assumed that they’d just flown it over. On the other hand, I suppose the Pipistrel and Airbus are at least practical aircraft, and crossing the channel has some pedigree as a demonstration of practicality.
It’s a complete charade anyway because Crossing the Channel is a ridiculous achievement. Electric airplanes have been flowing over much greater distances for a long time now and the fact that there is water means exactly nothing.
Just this week, the e-Genius crossed the Alps from Stuttgart to Italy and flew back after recharging. That is about 100x bigger an achievement than this Airbus eFan. The Cri-Cri was just hilarious, a real sportsman showed Airbus the middle finger.
http://www.ifb.uni-stuttgart.de/egenius/index.html
Impressive !! And yes, agree, more important than the Channel. That said, crossing the Channel has always been a sort of a benchmark, wether by boat, swimming, air or whatever. Do you know if the e-Genius was prop-driven throughout the flight? I ask, as in the image the prop looks stopped (and feathered). Of course that may well be down to the shutter speed of the camera. In any case crossing the Alps twice with the equivalent of 9L of fuel (according to the linked website) is a fantastic achievement!
Pipistrel did not do itself a favor by going public and shitting on Siemens. It’s a sign to all market players that the company is run by hot headed people and not by professionals.
If they had to announce that they’d had to cancel a planned event, it would be unreasonable for Siemens to expect them not to give any explanation. I don’t think I’ve seen any negative commentary against Pipistrel for their disclosure. Here’s hoping they find a more reasonable partner with whom to continue the project.
