MIT class project becomes $850M plan for 8-motor hybrid aircraft factory

Electra takes a different approach to hybrid aviation. Instead of a traditional engine operating the propellers, the aircraft has a gas-powered generator in the nose. (Image: MIT News) A class project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2017 studied a new type of aircraft; now, it has ballooned into a $850 million Ohio factory plan for an 8-motor hybrid plane that can take off from an area the size of a soccer field. According to MIT Campus News report, a classroom experiment at MIT could soon change how people view air travel over short distances. As reported, a hybrid aircraft capable of operating without conventional runways is migrating from the university workshop to an intended $850 million manufacturing facility in Ohio, with the potential to enable quieter, faster and more accessible regional flights. The plane is from Electra, a company that grew out of an idea first explored by MIT graduate students in 2017. The end result is an eight-motor hybrid aircraft that can transport nine passengers, travel about 1,200 miles and cruise at around 200 miles per hour.From the MIT classroom to the runwayThe idea was born in the MIT course 16.886 Air Transportation Sy...