The Extra 330SX features high performance ailerons, with 60 percent larger horns and modified wing tips, along with a reduced fuselage length. The combination leads to its stunning roll rate—which the company measures by mounting a GoPro in the airplane, taking it out for a series of rolls, then returning that video to the engineering team who analyze it and calculate the rate.

• READ MORE: Extra Aircraft Reveals New Aerobatic Monoplane

Other improvements in the cockpit are proposed to deliver greater pilot comfort, including a taller stick with reduced side-to-side travel to better accommodate larger pilots—like Extra, who flew the airplane earlier this summer in a competition in Germany for the first time. 

The company has doubled its footprint in DeLand, Florida (KDED) to make room for the production of more models.

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For a long time, Walter Extra steered clear of developing an aerobatic aircraft made from carbon fiber, understanding its limitations in terms of residual strength following extreme loads—such as those from impact. But when a concept came to him that would allow the design to capitalize on the material’s strengths, he dove into development of the aircraft unveiled on Monday, July 22, at AirVenture, the Extra NG.

Powered by a Lycoming AEIO-580 B1A 315 hp, 6-cylinder engine, the new design makes leaps forward not only in the balance between controllability and stability, but also in cockpit ergonomics. Says Extra, “It makes the pilot feel good,” with additional elbow room and comfortable positioning.

Building on the Extra Aircraft philosophy that the pilots should only need to put fuel in, check the oil, and stick to a 50-hour inspection program, the company intends to continue the high-end customer support that it has provided through the years, via dealers such as Southeast Aero, based in St. Augustine, Florida.

With lines from Modena, Italy-based industrial design firm Aircraft Studio Design, the airplane hits high notes from an aesthetic perspective as well. Certification under EASA will come first, and is expected in the coming weeks. Following that milestone, Extra will import the NG for flight under Experimental/Exhibition status until FAA certification in the Aerobatic category is achieved. Price during AirVenture 2019 is $420,000; price reverts to $450,000 after the show.

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The thought of an Extra 300 tearing up the sky in near total silence is unfathomable to aerobatic fans expecting a routine that’s part gyrating airplane and part roaring piston engine. But that was in the old days, before Siemens announced in April it was planning to hitch its new 260 kw electric motor to the popular aerobatic platform.

The German engineering powerhouse this week successfully flew the nearly 2,200-pound Extra 300LE from Schwarze Heide Airport near Dinslaken, Germany, using a Siemens electric motor the company says delivers a continuous power output five times greater than its competitors. The company believes the ability to fly the Extra for even half an hour per charge proves a hybrid-electric aircraft with four or more seats is not far away. The Extra 330LE was created in cooperation with Siemens, Extra Aircraft, MT-Propeller and Pipistrel (battery).

Siemens is determined to establish hybrid-electric propulsion systems as a solid business segment by contributing this new technology to the cooperative electric-aircraft project it began working on with Airbus earlier this year. Believing electric drives are scalable, the two manufacturing giants see the record-setting motor as the basis for developing general aviation airplanes and even regional airliners powered by hybrid-electric propulsion systems.

“The first flight of our propulsion system is a milestone on the road to electrification of aviation,” said Siemens chief technology officer Siegfried Russwurm. “To continue this journey successfully, we need disruptive ideas and the courage to take risks.”

Frank Anton, head of eAircraft at Siemens’ central research unit Corporate Technology, said that by 2030 “we expect to see initial aircraft with up to 100 passengers and a range of around 1,000 kilometers.”

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Extra Aircraft unveiled a wild aerobatic testbed for Siemens’ new SP260D electric propulsion system at AERO Friedrichshafen in Germany that could be a harbinger of the future of emission-free airshow performances.

The 330LE is based on the German-built Walter Extra 300L tandem two-seater. Siemens intends to use the 330LE for flight test and optimization of a electric propulsion system based on the SP260D electric motor.

Full power with Siemens’ 260 kW motor (5 min. max), with its massive torque from the very start, should fit well with heart-stopping acrobatic flight. Endurance at wide-open power is probably not more than 15-20 minutes, but that’s plenty to complete an airshow routine — albeit one absent of the usual growl of the Extra’s Lycoming IO-540 piston engine.

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The EA-500 is a turboprop version of the Extra 400 six-seat single built at Extra’s 64,000-square-foot production facility at Dinslaken Airport near Dusseldorf. The EA-500 is powered by the Rolls-Royce 250-B17F/2, flat-rated to 450 horsepower. With full fuel and at 75 percent power, the airplane has an initial rate of climb of 2,000 feet per minute and a takeoff roll of under 1,000 feet. The optimum cruise level is FL 180 where, with a true airspeed of 230 to 240 knots, operators are seeing 23 gallons per hour fuel flow. The range with 45-minute reserve is close to 1,700 nm.

The airplane is currently certified only in Europe by EASA, but can achieve U.S. registration with some additional cost. Purchase price is less than $2 million.

“We are excited to have our Entegra Release 9 system as the flight deck on the EA-500,” said Dan Schwinn, Avidyne’s founder. “Extra’s high-performance business-class aircraft is a perfect match for the Release 9 system, which was designed specifically to make single-pilot IFR flying safer and easier.”

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The company plans to assemble the all-carbon-fiber Extra 500 ‘Spirit’ in Montrose. Fuselages and wings will be built in the Extra factory in Dinslaken, Germany, and shipped to Montrose for assembly and completion. The Spirit is a high-wing, single-engine turboprop powered by a Rolls Royce RR250-B17F/2 engine, with Avidyne Entegra Release 9 avionics. Founded by Walter Extra in 1981, the company is best known for its Extra 200, 300 and 330 series of aerobatic aircraft. For more info, go to www.ExtraAircraft.com.

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The EA-500 was the logical progression for Extra from the certified EA-400 six-place pressurized single, which makes use of the Continental Voyager liquid-cooled engine. The EA-500 is powered by the Rolls-Royce (n?e Allison) 250-B17F/2, flat-rated to 450 horsepower.

With full fuel and at 75 percent power the EA-500 has an initial rate of climb of 2,000 feet per minute and a takeoff roll of under 1,000 feet. The optimum cruise level is FL 180 where, with a TAS of 230-240 knots, operators will see 23 gallons per hour fuel flow. The range with 45-minute reserve will be close to 1,700 nm.

The installation of the turbine power up front also means increased operating weights?maximum takeoff weight in the United States will be 4,850 pounds, which will allow an 882-pound payload with full fuel. There’s also greater fuel capacity, a longer TBO for the engine and a quieter cabin.

The EA-500 is the same as the EA-400 from the firewall aft, so certification is going to be an STC covering the new engine installation and is expected by the end of the year, with first customer deliveries to be made in January 2003. Extra reports orders for 18 EA-500s with deposits, at a list price of $1,650,000 (U.S.) for the standard aircraft with dual instruments and air conditioning. Options include weather radar and TAWS.

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