The National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence (NAAMCE) at Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport (KSGH) in Ohio will host the first annual Pulitzer Electric Aircraft Race in October. Organized by the Advanced Air Mobility Institute (AAMI), the race is intended to revive the 100-year-old tradition of the Pulitzer air speed races held in the 1920s, while providing a public platform for innovation in aviation.

Selection of the Springfield site took place through a competition that also included Salinas and Stockton in California. “NAAMCE is a world-class facility with a thriving ecosystem of innovation and will prove to be the perfect inaugural host,” said Dan Sloat, founder of the AAMI and executive producer of the Pulitzer Electric Aircraft Race. “The race will celebrate the dawn of electric aviation, pay homage to our aviation pioneers, and drive positive public awareness.”

Any zero-emission electric aircraft can enter the race, but not those with hybrid-electric powertrains. Entrants could include in-development eVTOL vehicles as well as fixed-wing types such as Pipistrel’s Velis Electro trainer, which is already cleared for use in the U.S.

The event will be held over a weekend from October 10 to 13, with a view to attracting public spectators. It will start with preliminary heats in which up to three groups of eight aircraft—some of which could be the same type—will compete to be among six semi-finalists, with three contenders then going through to the final fly-off.

The race will be flown in daylight VFR conditions over three laps of a triangular 30-nm course, with aircraft taking off a minute apart. Entry requirements and rules also include qualifications for pilots.

According to Gloria Bouillon, AAMI’s community integration director, the event will also include aircraft demonstrations and a static display to generate public interest in electric aviation. Efforts to launch the Pulitzer Electric Aircraft Race started in 2022, with the 2023 event having been planned as a 1,000-nm cross-country route between Omaha, Nebraska, and Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Originally, the Pulitzer race was part of the National Air Races held at various locations in the 1920s, including Mitchell Field in New York. According to Pulitzer Electric Aircraft Race director Scott Neumann, five of these races were conducted over a triangular course, although the 1924 event held at what is now part of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, had a hexagonal course.

In September 2023, the NAAMCE opened through a partnership involving the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Dayton Development Coalition, and JobsOhio. The facility, which has hosted work by electric aircraft developers including Joby, Beta Technologies, and Plana, consists of a 30,000-sq-ft office and laboratory complex, as well as 25,000 sq ft of hangar space.