THE WORLD'S FIRST
ELECTRIC AIRCRAFT DISPLAY TEAM
Welcome to the online home of the NEBOair Electric Arrows; the World’s first electric aircraft display team, founded in 2022. Here you can find out more about the team, their remarkable aircraft of choice, the Pipistrel Velis Electro and where you can see them as they propel air displays into the future. We’re open to enquiries from organisers of events large and small, including Airshows, as we prepare for a second season in 2024. Wherever we display, a lasting legacy of a sustainable charging network becomes a reality. If the infrastructure isn’t near you, we can bring it in, powered exclusively by solar energy, working with Aerogrid who are pioneering the drive to electrify general aviation.
NEBO Air operate the UK’s only fleet of Velis Electros. All the aircraft the team use belong to NEBO (we don't own them ) and when they’re not being displayed, they’re being used for training, experiences, and expo's. Analyzed and evaluated by the RAF for their Pathfinder Project, and part of the ZEFI Project's Sunlight to Flight White paper , they operate from an ever expanding network of electric aircraft chargers. That network only exists because of NEBOair’s pionering and successful efforts to make truly sustainable zero emission aviation not just a reality, but a norm. Over the next few years a dozen aircraft will become more than fifty.
THE
TEAM
Kerry Wilmot - Team Principal
Co- Director & Head of Project and Infrastructure Management of NEBOair Ltd.
Having been part of NEBOair since its inception, Kerry has now taken on the challenging role of building the infrastructure for charging stations across the UK to offer flight schools, flying clubs, individuals and syndicates the opportunity to introduce this fully-electric option into light aircraft aviation and pilot training.
A lifelong lover of vintage military aircraft, as well as watching colleagues and friends fly conventional aircraft, Kerry understands and appreciates change is not always easy. However, with the government directive to reach Net Zero, driven by growing public concerns regarding climate change and the environment, we all have to embrace a shift towards a more sustainable future in aviation and hopes others may consider joining us on the 'path to cleaner skies'.
Sam Whatmough - ‘Sparky One’
Display Authorised Pilot and Electric Aircraft Instructor
Sam has been passionate about aviation from a young age. He learned to fly at the age of 15, often skipping school to go for flying lessons and attending adult evening classes to study for his PPL rather than doing his homework. During holidays from school he worked as a dogsbody at the local airport doing everything from cleaning aeroplanes to air traffic control assistant. From there he studied aeronautical engineering at university and was selected by British Airways for their Cadet Pilot Scheme.
Graduating from that he has gone on not only to fly but instruct and examine on all of British Airways current types. He is currently flying the worlds biggest passenger aircraft - the Airbus A380. Away from work Sam has been active on the air display circuit for the last 20 years a flown everything from the little Turbulent on Snow Skis to the iconic Spitfire. He was selected to represent GB as part of the British Yak World Aerobatic Team as well as racing a Formula One aircraft at the US National Championship Air Races.
Sam has a wife and two young daughters and is passionate about opportunities for making aviation more sustainable to help preserve both the planet and aviation opportunities for future generations.
Alex Reynier - 'Sparky Two'
Display Authorised Pilot and Electric Aircraft Instructor
Alex does many things, so long as they involve being airborne. Soon more will be revealed.
Matt Wilkins - Team Manager
CAA Accredited Flying Display Director
Matt Wilkins runs Old Buckenham, a NEBO Air destination and home of the UK’s first public electric aircraft charging point, the fourth in the World powered exclusively by solar.
In the world of Air Displays and Airshows, Matt is the current Chairman of the British Air Display Association, the only industry body for Air Displays in the UK. His Old Buckenham Airshow has won multiple awards and is one of the top 20 inland airshows in the UK, and hosted Sparky Two’s 2021 display and the 2022 Airshow Debut of the Electric Arrows.
Matt’s new venture, Airshow Ltd. manages bookings, quotations and all air display related matters for the Electric Arrows.
THE AIRCRAFT
Pipistrel's Velis Electro
The first type certified electric aircraft in history, Pipistrel’s Velis Electro is a truly historic aviation first. Its 57.6kw electric motor allows this high winged aircraft to cruise at 98 knots, upto 12,000 feet and with an endurance of 50 minutes. Built for General Aviation, the aircraft is an excellent training platform and its range and capabilities make it ideal for most GA flights.
In the right hands, whilst not designed with this use in mind, it’s also already proven to be a crowd pleaser, as the Electric Arrows signature break always demonstrates.
BOOK US
Our first display ever was off the Brighton seafront, in support of a sustainable real estate conference. We’re not here just to fly at Airshows, any event’s with sustainability at their core can be enhanced by a display from the Electric Arrows.
Please use the form to let us know more about your event. We’ll then work out where it is in relation to the electric aircraft charging network of aerodromes. If your venue is an aerodrome without electric charging, we can rapidly work out if your supply will support the aircraft charger’s needs (they’re pretty basic, a three phase supply only is needed). If you don’t have the ability to charge, we’ll arrange a mobile solar solution.
It’s not particularly complex, and we’ll create a simple quote which will encompass and detail all we’ll need for your display.
Airshow Ltd can also arrange all the required permissions from the CAA for the display, risk assessing everything and guiding you through the process with the minimum of time required on your part.
Email us now: hello@airshow.ltd
