AIRCRAFT AND ASSOCIATED METHOD OF CONDITIONING CABIN AIR

The aircraft can have a cabin adapted to receive one or more persons; a rotary airfoil device; an electric engine drivingly coupled to the rotary airfoil device; a battery powering the electric engine; a coolant subsystem having a coolant circuit and a coolant pump operable to circulate a coolant in the coolant circuit, the coolant circuit connected in heat exchange relationship with at least one of the electric engine and the battery; a heat pump having a refrigerant circuit fluidly connecting, in sequence, a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, a first evaporator, and an environmental control line branching off from the refrigerant circuit between the condenser and the first evaporator, the environmental control line having a second evaporator and reconnected to the refrigerant circuit between the first evaporator and the compressor, the first evaporator connected in heat exchange relationship with the coolant circuit; and a pressurized air subsystem having a pressurized air line operable to deliver pressurized air from a pressurized air source to the cabin, the pressurized air line connected in heat exchange relationship with the second evaporator.