(gentle music) - When I was getting into the plane on the day of the flyover, I was in go mode.

Ever since becoming a pilot, I now have this mentality where I just am so compartmentalized, so laser-focused that I just don't feel emotions when I'm flying or doing things aviation-related.

So I was excited about this happening.

I was excited to be flying, but I wasn't really feeling the weight of what was happening.

(gentle music continues) (motor rumbling) Once I was introduced to aviation, it was constantly going through my mind, "How can I integrate this and reconcile this with my passion for environmental conservation?

", because the aircraft I was flying were all gas-powered and I was constantly looking for a way to integrate this with my passion for conservation, new battery technologies.

- Remy had approached me about this project he was working on.

He said something to do with Ford F150 Lightnings and an airplane.

And I was like, "Yeah, I'm in."

- He was telling me about his adventures in trying to get the plane from Connecticut to PA and organizing everything for the flyover, and it sounded amazing.

And he said, "Can you help?"

I said, "Absolutely."

- You get in an airplane right now, you know, it's using jet fuel, and the small aircraft even still use leaded fuel, rig.. That's something that we have to move away from.

- And once I learned about electric planes, I thought to myself, "I'd love to fly one of these one day."

(ethereal music) I thought to myself, "Where are pl.. Lafayette and Lehigh have the longest running football rivalry in the country, and National Anthem flyovers are a unique sporting event experience where you can inspire people outside of the aviation community.

This was the last year the game was gonna be hosted at Lafayette while I was a student.

It was 10 weeks to game day.

It was now or never.

- So Remy stopped in the director's office and he said, "So, I got an idea.

I'm gonna fly an electric plane over the Laf/Lehigh game.

What do you think?"

I said, "I think that's fantastic."

And two days later he knocked on the door again and said, "Hey, it's a go."

(chuckles) (electronic music) - Our alpha-electro aircraft here, cruises at 85 knots, has up to an hour of flight time, and the redundant battery system can recharge in just over an hour.

Electric aircraft are significantly less expensive to operate and maintain and just like electric cars, they're a blast to pilot.

The next big hurdle, getting the charging infrastructure.

So getting the plane here meant recharging it, and with the timeframe, the nine-and-a-half weeks that this got put together in, we really didn't have enough time to install chargers at all these airports.

And my uncle and my father said, "Hey, why don't you charge it from this high power plug in the back of a F-150 Lightning?"

(mellow music) - So one night we went down to the student government office 'cause we needed somewhere quiet to go.

Got some Hot Wheels cars, literally like bank heist.

Just like moving the cars along trying to really make this as smooth and seamless as possible.

- [Remy] The mission would start at Hartford Brainerd Airport in Connecticut for our seven-leg trip across four states.

To pull this off, we formed a caravan of four electric trucks, three electric cars, two planes, and one helicopter.

Ground Teams one and two included the Ford Lightning trucks, which transported the electric plane charger, dubbed "The Football", to each airport.

The electric aircraft would fly in formation with the other plane and helicopter, filming our voyage from the sky.

The caravan's final destination would be Braden Airpark, located in eastern Pennsylvania, two miles from Fisher Stadium, the site of the big game.

(energetic music) There's a special plug that the plane uses.

There's a special plug that goes into the truck, and we needed those connected.

You can't buy cables that connect the two of those, so we needed cables fabricated.

- Adam Smith is the electronics and robotics specialist in the engineering division, and I knew that Adam could make the cables, the charging cables.

- He's literally built the bridge between the two vehicles that makes this whole project possible.

The team at Pit Patrol made some custom software for the plane charger that was vital to making it work properly with the electric truck.

A professor of mine at Lafayette is college buddies with the executive chairman at Ford.

So then we were gonna put together a pitch.

But then Ford said, "We love the project, we don't have any vehicles we can give you."

That was the next curve ball.

I was like, "How are we gonna find people with these trucks?"

So I put together a pitch, posted it on the three F-150 Lightn.. - Came across this on Twitter when the CEO of Ford saw it, tweeted it out, and reached out to Remy on one of the Lightning forums, connected with him, and just said, "Hey, I have a Ford Lightning, and if I could help, love to be a part of this.

Sounds pretty cool."

- So one of the neat features I think about what Ford did on the Lightnings, put this little Easter egg.

It says "It's the first electric vehicle that was made by Henry Ford in 1913."

- I made a whole flow chart of who do we need to get on board with this, and whose say would completely cancel the project?

And it really came down to the FAA.

(thoughtful music) So the FAA, they never before granted one of these waivers to an electric plane.

And many of the folks who I talked to in the aviation community, they didn't think we were gonna be able to get it.

There's a lot of anxiety on my end because once word got out about this and we still didn't have the FAA waiver form in hand, people are like, "Oh, I'm so excited to see this flyover."

And I felt more stressed than I really ever had felt stressed before in my life.

It's like we don't have it, we don't have it.

And that, that really got to me.

So the day that I got that email with the 7711-2 form, I ran laps around giving people high fives 'cause I was just so relieved and so excited for what was to come.

(coffee dripping) (light chatter) - Making coffee for the group.

Most important thing.

Never made coffee before, so today's full of firsts.

- And we are now in drive.

We have poles there.

We're gonna pull up.

No obstacles to the left.

So it is still raining.

Especially with how the weather is in terms of it being okay now and that it might get worse, maybe the forecast is wrong again.

We just want to be able to take advantage of the good weather when we have it.

(helicopter whirring) - [Pilot] Zero dash zero, seven.

Visibility one, zero.

Light rain.

Sky condition, overcast.

3,700.

Temperature one, one Celsius.

- Holy moly.

- Rain no more.

- This smells new.

(laughing) - Rain should be stopping.

- Good.

- Okay, you ready?

I will see you all on the other side.

- We loaded up "The Football" in the truck that's behind us being trailed by the electric airplane.

Now we're on our way to our first stop, which is the Waterbury-Oxford Airport.

(indistinct radio chatter) - Copy.

Alright, copy.

How you guys doing?

Well, you let us know when you guys are ready to go 'cause we're ready to go.

We're down here holding short of t.. (radio static) - Alright, roger.

(engine rumbling) We're good (indistinct).

(motor rumbling) Are you good visibility?

- Yeah, we're good.

- Yeah.

This is sick, Phil.

- Yeah, you ready?

- Let's (indistinct).

- Bird.

(peaceful electronic music) - Electric aircraft, they're really interesting and unique.

They benefit from the same things that electric cars do, the instant torque, and they're also really, really quiet.

The lack of ambient noise from the plane, not having a gas engine meant that the flying experience was just so much more enjoyable and peaceful.

I handed off the controls to Phil as we came into land at our first stop taking a moment to turn off my flying mentality and really take in the gravity of completing the first leg of our journey.

(engine rumbling) Oh, butter.

Oh, baby.

Oh, baby.

That was very well done.

(chuckles) - Thank you.

- That was very well done.

We flew halfway here with the flaps still down.

(laughing) - Flaps?

- So we were expecting six- Flaps- - With your flaps down?

Why?

How'd that happen?

- (chuckling) Because we forgot about it.

- You didn't realize it?

- No, we were so excited that we just forgot about it.

(suspenseful music) - [Pilot On Radio] Visibility one zero.

(indistinct) ceiling 4000 broken.

Temperature, 10.0, 2985.

(indistinct) Approach landing two seven, (indistinct) upon request.

(indistinct) (energetic music) - See we got to the wing cracks.

This says, "Bring the Roar", the other one says "Go Lafayette."

Our team mantra was, "If it doesn't break the laws of physics, this country, or your moral compass, you do whatever it takes."

And we had done that.

Blood, sweat, and tears and we were now making history.

Rolling.

Verified?

Yes we are recording.

Okay, I'm ready to go.

- When?

3 5 0 at one three clear for takeoff.

- Eight four Romeo Romeo to runway.

Eight.

Clear.

(upbeat music) - Them tap their brakes.

If we wanna do them as a perch lighting, they'll tap their brakes to give us the visual rear word and then their headlights will illuminate the runway for us.

(upbeat music) - They did not win the last ball game between these two teams.

And let's get to the keys to today's ball game here at Lafayette.

It's a beautiful day, 12,000 people are expected to fill the stadium.

Obviously a very exciting, exciting day.

- Yeah, it's a little snowy last night colder, but I think it's still a beautiful day for football.

And so great to be here, Gary.

I'll tell you what you know, you and I have done a lot of these, but this one's got some electricity.

- [Remy] Let's turn and burn.

- Every braided traffic experimental.

Eight, four Romeo, Romeo, back taxi Romeo one eight.

Braided traffic.

We had the ground and in the sky.

Sky and ground looks good.

Four, six - Bird's good.

Can you watch those there?

We got t.. Oh, we got a huge flock in front of us.

- Holy shhh.

(band music) - There you go.

Right above us.

The anti-flyover.

Unlike (indistinct) flyovers you'll barely hear the plane coming today.

How airplanes of the future will no longer create noise pollution.

(crowd cheering) - Tower (indistinct) - Contacting Tower 1833 (indistinct).

- [Remy] We coined what we did, the anti-flyover because typical jets will rumble a stadium.

But when we were flying overhead, it was entirely silent.

- We're heading back, cheers team.

Great job out there.

We'll see you back in the field.

(upbeat music) (clapping) - Well done, brother.

- Let's go!

(upbeat music) (crowd cheering) - [Announcer] (indistinct) Final score Lafayette - 14, Lehigh - 11.

Welcome some special guests to Fisher Stadium.

Please join in in welcoming the team that pulled off today's electric plane flyover.

Let's hear it for (indistinct) Lafayette Class of 2024 engineering studies and environmental studies, double major.

Remy Oktay.

(crowd cheering) - The hope of this project is to really get people excited about the future.

It's gonna be different.

We're gonna have to change, we're gonna have to adapt, but it's gonna be really cool.

- I think it's cool to know that I can contribute to, you know, even the smallest slice of history and what we did goes to show what we can do for the generations to come.

- I feel like all of Remy's projects are really amazing because of the human connection.

These people that you would never otherwise meet are some of the most amazing people.

And from such diverse backgrounds, if you have a vision, people are excited to help.

And that can help carry you a lot farther as a group than you can individually.

- Remy has a lot of like big ideas, right?

His goal in life is to just take projects and do them.

Do something that nobody else has done before.

I think that wide-eyed vision of the world is something that's really admirable.

- You learn a set of skills and then you apply them and you do something and you feel that feeling of freedom, that feeling of confidence, that feeling of accomplishment, that is intoxicating.

(upbeat music) - There we go.

I just turned the camera back on.

(laughing) - You almost lost your camera.

- Yeah.