FutureFlight

While Wisk has yet to unveil the full-scale eVTOL aircraft it has in development, it has logged more than 1,500 flights with vehicles such as its two-seat Cora. It is committed to fully autonomous operations when its aircraft enter service, and this has prompted it to partner with ground infrastructure specialist and drone operator Skyports to develop a concept of operations to map out how this would work.

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EHang Prestige 2 Indonesia

At least some of the 100 EHang EH216 eVTOL aircraft that Prestige Aviation has agreed to purchase could be deployed on flights serving Indonesia's new capital city, Nusantara. The company also sees potential for the two-seat autonomous vehicle to provide air taxi services connecting communities across Indonesia's dispersed chain of islands.

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Safran Electrical & Power will supply the propulsion system for Aura Aero’s Integral E flight demonstrator and collaborate on the power architecture for the planned 19-seat Electric Regional Aircraft (ERA). Studies on the ERA will center on the high direct voltage propulsive architecture needed to deliver the power for the electric engines.

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Archer Aviation and composites specialist Hexcel have signed a letter of intent calling for Hexcel to provide carbon fiber material for use in Archer’s eVTOL production aircraft. California-based Archer later this year plans to unveil a full-size preproduction version of its planned four-passenger eVTOL aircraft, which remains in its preliminary design stage. Under the proposed relationship terms, Hexcel would provide Archer with carbon fiber and resin systems, also known as prepreg, needed to fabricate composite parts.

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EASA is considering whether to accept Lilium's proposed means of compliance for the type certification of its seven-seat eVTOL aircraft. The manufacturer intends to build the first production-conforming example of the Lilium Jet in 2023, and this will have 30 ducted fans fitted in its wings. Type certification is now anticipated in 2025.

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Former Air Canada president and CEO Calin Rovinescu and technology investor Mitch Gerber are making undisclosed investments in Jaunt Air Mobility and joining the eVTOL aircraft developer's group of advisors. The U.S.-headquartered start-up is establishing development and manufacturing facilities in the Montreal area.

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Aero3_Hospital_Landing_Site-p-1600 (1)

Switzerland-based Dufour Aerospace will conduct some of the development work for its Aero family of hybrid-electric tilt-wing eVTOL aircraft in Montreal. The company is now recruiting software engineers to assist in multiple IT-related aspects of the program.

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On the Radar
New Concept of Operations Spells Out How Autonomous eVTOL Vehicles Could Operate Alongside Other Aircraft

It is not the first concept of operations (ConOps) to address plans for advanced air mobility services using eVTOL aircraft, but the document published by new partners Wisk Aero and Skyports appears to be the first to directly address fully autonomous operations produced for engagement with international stakeholders. In China, EHang evidently has had deep engagement with the country’s regulators over its extensive plans for commercial aircraft with its EH216 and VT-30 families of autonomous aerial vehicles.

The 32-page paper is not a pitch for Wisk’s business model, which remains something of a mystery to most outside observers, but rather a template for how groundbreaking autonomous eVTOL flights could get underway. It envisages a heady mix of autonomous aircraft operating alongside existing drones and also fleets of piloted eVTOL vehicles, based on assumptions mapped out in existing NASA maturity levels for the new technology.

Proposed infrastructure concepts are based on vertiports with six parking bays/gates for eVTOL aircraft and a pair of takeoff and landing areas. It is assumed that the aircraft would operate under FAA’s 14 CFR Part 135 rules, or equivalent international requirements. A more interesting, and possibly contentious, assumption is that AAM services would have to start with scheduled flights before the technology is ready to support scaling up to on-demand services.

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FF VideoPlayer_Lillium

Earlier this month, Lilium’s fifth-generation eVTOL technology demonstrator resumed flight testing after a hiatus of more than two years since the first example of the aircraft was destroyed in a fire during maintenance on the ground back in February 2020. The German company is conducting the trials with what it calls its Phoenix 2 aircraft at the Atlas Flight Test Center at Villacarrillo in Spain and plans to add another vehicle to the test campaign in the next few months. The work is an important precursor to the completion of the first production-conforming example of its larger, seven-seat Lilium Jet, which is now not expected to be built until 2023. Based on the anticipated need for that aircraft to be tested for a further 15 to 18 months, the company has pushed back the projected type certification into 2025.

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Featured Program

Archer is one of half a dozen or so start-ups leading the pack in seeking to bring its four-passenger eVTOL aircraft into commercial service in 2024. Later this year, California-based Archer plans to unveil a full-size pre-production version of its planned four-passenger eVTOL aircraft, which remains in its preliminary design stage. Under the proposed relationship terms, Hexcel would provide Archer with carbon fiber and resin systems, also known as prepreg, needed to fabricate composite parts.

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Featured Person
Mitch Heaton
 

In April 2022, Hartzell Propeller signaled its intention to be a key contributor to the advanced air mobility sector when it appointed Mitch Heaton as director for business development and new technology. In his new role, he is focusing on opportunities to provide propellers for eVTOL and eSTOL aircraft as part of electric, hybrid, or hydrogen-based propulsion systems. Heaton is a member of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association's electric propulsion innovation committee, and also the emerging technologies committee of the National Business Aviation Association. He is a graduate of Wright State University's Raj Soin College of Business and was formerly executive vice president of growth strategies for Woodard Development.

UPCOMING EVENTS
 
April 12 - 21, 2022 / ONLINE

The American Composite Manufacturers Association is hosting its Advanced Air Mobility Composite Technology Days as a series of webinars on April 12, 14, 19, and 21, providing briefings on subject areas such as design and structures, certification and materials, manufacturing and repairs, and infrastructure. The sessions will provide insights on topics such as how to combine lightweight materials with fire resistance, and how to select the right materials for individual aircraft structures. Each three-hour session will run from 10.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. EDT, and will include two half-hour virtual exhibit hall sessions on either side of the presentations.   

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