Northwest Aerospace News April | May 2019 Issue No. 8 | Page 34

R oei Ganzarski, CEO of mag- niX, is a proponent of the FAA as the gatekeeper for safety in the aviation industry. He takes a progressive view toward their responsiveness and forward-leaning approach to electric propulsion motors in aviation. “They may have been caught unprepared for drones,” Ganzarski said, but added, “They are taking a global proactive lead on electric propulsion.” This is good news for Ganzarski and his company, with headquarters in Redmond and an office in Australia, who are leaders in electric motors for smaller commuter aircraft going between 50-1000 miles and carrying eight to 15 people. Their main com- petitor is Siemens in Germany, who is developing a 350 horsepower electric motor for aircraft. “I love the fact that they are a competitor. We are in a revolution. If it was just us, it would be easy for the aerospace industry incumbents to be nay- sayers and dismiss us as a startup dream. But when you have a company like Siemens, traditional and long-standing, doing the same thing — this gives va- lidity to the whole story,” said Ganzarski. While there are some naysayers who feel that electric propulsion motors are pie in the sky, Ganzarski said it is like the adoption of other new technologies such as electric motors in Tesla vehi- cles, or reusable rockets in SpaceX; there is a one-third rule of adoption. 34 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS ROEI GANZARSKI CEO of MagniX