Episode 44 -- Rachael Barritt from Dovetail Electric Aviation
Episode description
In this episode of @AuManufacturing Conversations With Brent Balinski, we hear from Rachael Barritt, Business Operations Manager at Dovetail Electric Aviation.
Barritt is co-founder at Dovetail, a company developing electric propulsion systems to retrofit to light aircraft. She tells us about her career in e-aviation manufacturing -- first at MagniX, now at Dovetail, the path to certification and commercialisation, her new role as Founder In Residence at Swinburne University, and more.
Episode guide
0:50 introduction to Barritt and her career path.
3:05 – Joining the e-propulsion leader MagniX, which formerly had a site on the Gold Coast, in 2019.
5:30 – Dovetail’s origins and co-founding the company with David Doral and Aaron Shaw.
6:48 – A small team of fewer than ten. “Basically everybody except myself is a qualified engineer.”
7:32 – Challenges involved in what they are doing at this moment. What’s being done inhouse and what’s being bought off the shelf.
8:50 – What does a Founder in Residence at Swinburne University do?
10:50 – The path to certification.
12:40 – The good thing about getting certification in Australia, and the benefit of their relationship with MagniX in this.
14:20 – Longer-term goals after entering the retrofit market.
15:45 – Green hydrogen is very expensive. How can this be changed so it makes sense for aviation users?
17:10 – What does government need to do to drive nil emissions aviation?
18:10 – If Australia runs out of fuel tomorrow, we will have no way of powering our air fleet.
19:50 – Final words.
Relevant links
Company website
https://dovetail.aero/
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