Altitude Aerospace supports composite door development for Alice aircraft

In October, Altitude Aerospace (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) was awarded a contract by Potez Aéronautique (Aire-sur-l'Adour, France) to support the engineering development of three composite doors for Eviation’s (Qadima, Israel) all-electric aircraft program, Alice (see “Potez Aéronautique develops composite doors for Alice aircraft”).

Altitude Aerospace and Potez Aéronautique have been successfully collaborating on several aircraft programs since 2017 including the Dassault Aviation F6X program and Aerion AS2 supersonic aircraft. This new contract for the nine-seater aircraft is said to reinforce and demonstrates the value of partnerships to drive collaborative innovation. Alice’s first flight is planned in 2021.

“We are pleased to be working with Potez Aéronautique on this project as it is an additional opportunity for Altitude Aerospace and Potez to reinforce our respective positioning as a leader of aircraft door development and innovation. The agility of this partnership allows us to address engineering and manufacturing challenges in a new industrial era,” says Nancy Venneman, president and founder of Altitude Aerospace.

Alice is a battery-electric passenger aircraft currently under development by Eviation Aircraft. Built 95% from composite materials, it will be controlled by fly-by-wire and powered by three electric engines, in a wingtip and pusher configuration. The aircraft, said to have a range of 640 miles (1,000 kilometers) at a cruise speed of 240 knots, will reportedly have much lower direct operating costs than turboprop aircraft.