General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. (GAMA) recently published a document providing standard performance measures for aircraft using hybrid and electric propulsion. “Publication No. 16 – Hybrid & Electric Propulsion Performance Measurement” was developed by the association’s Electric Propulsion Innovation Committee (EPIC) for use by both manufacturers and consumers.

The publication offers various scenarios on which performance measurements are based — the fourth and final being vertical flight. All measures have been calculated on a standard day (29.92 in/Hg at 59 deg F) with standard lapse rate with no wind. “It is acceptable to calculate standard day no wind performance based upon correlated data,” the document adds. It also admits that since the field of hybrid and electric aircraft propulsion is quickly growing, new or changing scenarios may occur. This means the document may need to be revised, but GAMA said it aims to minimize changes once standards come into use.

A destination trip from A to B is shown in the first scenario. In this case, those points are two non-towered regional airports with a 2,000-foot obstacle in between them. The second scenario is a local training flight from A to A — a non-towered airport into a practice area, then back to the same airport. The document gives traffic pattern flight as the third scenario, simulating traditional traffic pattern training work at a non-towered airport. Vertical flight from A to B is addressed in the fourth scenario, simulating a transportation activity between two off-airport locations, like helipads.