Sustainability and Performance Analysis: Piper Archer III

To deepen understanding of performance and sustainability metrics for general aviation aircraft, an analysis for an electric retrofit was compared against its conventional configuration. Flight performance modeling uses unsteady 2-D equations of motion for take-off, climb, cruise, descent, and landing with pilot justified inputs and control. Drag was modeled using a component build-up approach with ground-effect factor included to adjust induced drag. General aviation conventions were used to model propeller thrust and engine modeling. Lift was evaluated using AVL with external accounting for ground effect and flap deflection. Emissions were modeled from the fuel or battery energy required for the flight currency mission. The object-oriented Python aircraft simulation utilized Adam Bashforth 3-step time-stepping. Literature review of battery technology was conducted to best justify and estimate the Piper Archer III's retrofit battery system. Mass properties were estimated through similarity analysis. The electric E-Piper Archer achieves the mission goal flight currency. The electric variant shows hindered performance with the advantage of lower well-to-wake emissions than the conventional aircraft's tank-to-wake emissions.