BREMERTON, Washington — The Bremerton Aviation Center for Education’s (BACE) Zaero Electric-powered Sonex Xenos-B made its first flight Feb. 5, 2026, at Bremerton Airport (KPWT).
The aircraft was built by students participating in the BACE youth education program of EAA Chapter 406 at Bremerton Airport and is owned by a group of approximately 15 EAA Chapter 406 members. The build project began in 2021.
Post-flight, the pilots noted the left wing was heavy and may need some aileron rigging or perhaps a trim tab, motor temperatures were warm during climb, but stabilized nicely in the pattern, and the brakes need adjustment.
Aside from that, a successful first flight.
“The building where we built it has a simulator room with the VW-powered version that stays pretty busy,” said co-owner George Steed. “The building also has a bank of solar panels. At last count we sent 1,900 kwh to the grid. We figure it will take 15 kwh to recharge our eXenos. We should be able to fly forever for free.”
We’ll find gents!
‘flying for free’….NO! They should amortize the cost of the solar PV panels, charge controller and inverter in their ‘flying costs’.!!
Electrical power is never ‘free’.
Oh, and you have a lot of reading time while waiting the 2 hours to recharge the battery…then another 45 minutes of flying…a 27% availability.
Actually, all the solar panels for the project were donated by a local solar installation company, and the cost to the EAA chapter was minimal.
Did they also donate the charge controller , inverter and the utility connection costs ?
The PV panels are a small cost of a grid connected PV system.
Jim, the panels, converters, and other electric connections were scheduled to be demolished along with a church they were mounted on. Yes, the removal and relocation costs were donated by a local pilot who owns a solar power company. Sure, there was a cost but over the long run it becomes insignificant.