Pascal Chrétien (born 7 April 1968) is a French-Australian commercial helicopter pilot and engineer with degrees in electronics and aerospace who designed, built and test flew the world’s first crewed electric helicopter the Solution F/Chretien Helicopter on 12 August 2011.[1][2][3][4] The helicopter, built for the French company Solution F,[5] set a Guinness World Record and received the IDTechEx Electric Vehicles Land Sea & Air award.[6][7] The prototype is on permanent display at the Musée de l'air et de l'espace in Paris le Bourget, France.[8]

Pascal Chrétien

Chrétien has been pioneering electromagnetic transmissions[9] and hybrid propulsion applied to aircraft since 2002[10][11] and holds several patents in the field.[12] Chrétien obtained commercial helicopter pilot licences in Canada and Australia, in 1993 and 1994, respectively. He has aerial work and aircraft testing experience.[13]

World's First manned electric helicopter

References

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  1. ^ First manned electric helicopter flies
  2. ^ "Modern-day aviation pioneer achieves world's first untethered, manned electric helicopter flight". Gizmag.com. 5 September 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  3. ^ Designer of Electric Helo Reflects on 2011 Flight Tests
  4. ^ "Vertiflite First Electric Helicopter April 2012". Scribd.com. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  5. ^ "1ère Mondiale en Provence : le premier hélicoptère électrique". Solutionf.fr. Archived from the original on 7 December 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  6. ^ Guinness World Records (2013) First electric helicopter, retrieved 9 May 2013
  7. ^ "Electric Vehicles Land, Sea and Air USA 2012 - Award winners". Electric Vehicles Research. 5 April 2012. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  8. ^ Air and Space Museum First electric helicopter
  9. ^ NASA Aeronautics Mission Directorate FY11 Seedling Phase I Technical Seminar; Page 19
  10. ^ Dubois, Thierry. "Electric Helo Designer Pitches Hybrid Powertrain For Future Helo Power | Aviation International News". Ainonline.com. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  11. ^ Chretien, Pascal, M.E. (undated), Paving the way to hybrid helicopters, retrieved 9 May 2013
  12. ^ Espacenet (4 April 2017), [1], retrieved 2 April 2017
  13. ^ "Challenges of Aircraft Hybridization". IDTechEx. Retrieved 9 May 2013.