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Investigators Recover China Eastern Airlines MU5735 Flight Data Recorder

The team investigating the crash of China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735 has recovered its flight data recorder, pictured here. (Photo, courtesy of Xinhua News Agency)

The team investigating the fatal crash of a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region last week has recovered the aircraft’s flight data recorder (FDR), according to a media briefing held by leaders involved with the investigation on Sunday.

On March 21, the Boeing 737-800 NG operating as China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou lost contact with air traffic controllers and crashed over the city of Wuzhou, Guangxi. All 123 passengers and nine flight crew members onboard were confirmed as dead on Saturday, according to a statement released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The agency has been releasing updates about the accident investigation primarily through state affiliated media outlets such as Xinhua and CGTN, among others.

Zhu Tao, head of the aviation safety office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told a press briefing held on Sunday that the FDR was recovered approximately 40 meters from the aircraft crash site and has already been sent to a lab in Beijing for decoding. While some parts of the FDR have damage, “the exterior of its data-storage unit is relatively complete,” Tao said.

The cockpit voice recorder from the crashed 737 was already previously recovered last Wednesday.

Flight tracking provider FlightRadar24’s replay of the flight shows that the aircraft reached 29,100 feet before taking a sharp nose dive into the ground. The playback of the flight shows that the aircraft started to climb briefly when it reached 7,200 feet and then took a second dive that ultimately crashed into the ground. The aircraft disappeared from radar coverage around 4,400 feet, according to an update released by CGTN.

Boeing released a statement Saturday following CAAC’s confirmation of the death of all 132 passengers and crew members onboard, stating, “We extend our deepest condolences for the loss of those on board China Eastern Airlines Flight MU 5735. Our thoughts and prayers are with the passengers and crew, their families and all those affected by this accident. Boeing will continue to support our airline customer during this difficult time.”

The aircraft manufacturer is providing a technical team in support of the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) to support CAAC, which has assumed the lead role in the investigation. Based on information and statements released by state-affiliated Chinese media outlets about the investigation, the Boeing 737-800 that was operated as MU5735 was first delivered to the airline in 2015 and had been in service for less than seven years.

Investigators are still trying to determine an official cause of the crash.

The post Investigators Recover China Eastern Airlines MU5735 Flight Data Recorder appeared first on Aviation Today.

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Air Greenland to Partner with Avolon and Purchase Vertical Aerospace’s VX4 eVTOL Aircraft

Air Greenland’s new partnership with Avolon includes an agreement to purchase or lease multiple eVTOL aircraft made by Vertical Aerospace—the VX4 pictured above. (Photo: Still from video provided by Avolon)

In a new partnership, Avolon and Air Greenland will form a Working Group to examine the potential of commercial zero-emission air travel in Greenland. Air Greenland has also committed to a purchase or lease of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft from Avolon; the eVTOLs will be manufactured by Vertical Aerospace, maker of the five-seater, zero-emission VX4 aircraft.

The new Working Group provides an opportunity for Avolon and Air Greenland to coordinate in identifying local eVTOL requirements related to infrastructure and certification. Once both companies assess the market opportunity, they will be able to determine the number of VX4 eVTOLs necessary for Air Greenland’s fleet. The current fleet includes 17 helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft (Airbus A330-200 and 7 Dash 8-200) for passenger and cargo transportation, and a King Air for medical evacuation.

CEO Jacob Nitter Sørensen: “How can Air Greenland play a bigger part in battling the effects of climate change? Zero-emissions aircraft is the ultimate answer to that question.” (Photo: Avolon / Air Greenland)

The CEO of Air Greenland, Jacob Nitter Sørensen, remarked that this partnership with Avolon is the beginning of their company’s long-term journey towards sustainability. “In Greenland, we see the effects of climate change every day and, as a company, we want to be at the forefront of the climate revolution,” Sørensen said. “The VX4 aircraft will have many uses for Air Greenland and, through our partnership with Avolon, we look forward to welcoming our first travellers onboard in the near future.”

Avolon, the aircraft leasing company headquartered in Ireland, placed an order for 500 VX4 aircraft from Vertical Aerospace in June 2021. The deal could be valued at $2 billion in total. Vertical has also secured partnerships with Rolls-Royce, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines, Honeywell, and Microsoft. Vertical Aerospace recently shared news of a merger with Broadstone Acquisition Corp. in December 2021. At the time, pre-orders for the VX4 aircraft totaled $5.4 billion.

Key features of the VX4 eVTOL include a low noise profile, a 100-mile range, and a top speed of 200 miles per hour. In addition to a pilot, the aircraft will be capable of transporting four passengers. It is being designed and manufactured to EASA’s (European Union Aviation Safety Agency) safety certification standards.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, CEO of Vertical, commented on the announcement about the collaboration between Avolon and Air Greenland: “We are delighted that Air Greenland has chosen the VX4 to bring zero emissions air travel to the region. This partnership is a significant first step in introducing sustainable air mobility to Greenland.”

“Today’s announcement with Air Greenland means we are taking the zero-emissions travel to the front line of climate change,” commented the CEO of Avolon, Dómhnal Slattery. (Photo: Still from video provided by Avolon)

The post Air Greenland to Partner with Avolon and Purchase Vertical Aerospace’s VX4 eVTOL Aircraft appeared first on Aviation Today.

The Latest 5G C-Band Interference on Radio Altimeters Research, Testing and Technology Updates

Government-industry consortiums continue to research, test, and release new data and insights about the 5G C-band radio altimeter interference issues that became a problem for aircraft landing at certain airports in recent months. (Photo, courtesy of NTIA)

While the number of new directives and policy updates from the Federal Aviation Administration regarding the impact of 5G C-band wireless service interference on aircraft radio altimeters has slowed since January, research, testing, and debate on a long-term solution for the safe co-existence of the two sides continues. Here, Avionics International provides an overview of some of the latest research and testing that is occurring to understand the interference that can be caused by 5G C-band stations located near airports.

“Everything is going fabulous with the FAA,” Jeff McElfresh, CEO of AT&T Communications, said in a response to a question about the company’s 5G C-band wireless service impacting aircraft radio altimeters during the company’s March 11 Investor Day event. “I think we and the industry have done a nice job kind of working through that. And so, no urgent issues or anything that gives us caution.”

On the aviation side of the 5G C-band spectrum equation, research and flight testing continues to occur both at the regulatory and industry levels. Last week, the FAA released its latest 5G C-band related airworthiness directive (AD), with this one targeting older Boeing 747 model aircraft, a total of 126 registered in the U.S.

The latest directive requires airlines flying those 747 models—747-100/200/300/400—to revise operating procedures within their airplane flight manuals for takeoff, instrument landing system (ILS) approaches, non-precision approaches, and go-around and missed approaches, when in the presence of 5G C-Band interference. Boeing has been issuing regular service related updates to operators as new test results become available.

According to the directive, testing on the altimeters featured on those older 747 models determined that the radio altimeter data could produce anomalies when in the presence of 5G C-band interference. Some of the effects of the interference include the generation of erroneous autoland messages and the adjustment of engine thrust levers to ground idle status while in-flight, among others.

FAA pilots and engineers are also actively flight-testing the 5G C-band interference problem on their own aircraft, releasing updates as they become available.

“We are testing for how 5G signals affect radio altimeters using FAA flight-test aircraft outfitted with spectrum analyzers and other specialized equipment,” a representative for the FAA told Avionics in an emailed statement. “Our team is measuring and analyzing the 5G energy that airplanes encounter in flight. Much is known about how these signals behave at ground level, but the details of energy levels at aircraft altitudes are based largely on engineering models.”

By comparing the results of existing engineering models with actual measurements taken during flight tests, the agency believes it can deepen the body of knowledge available on how 5G C-band interacts with safety critical flight instruments.

“We will make all of our analysis available to our federal partners and to the wireless companies participating in these tests,” the FAA said.

Some of the partners that the FAA is sharing that analysis with are members of the Joint Interagency Five G Radar Altimeter Interference (JI-FRAI) group, which includes participation from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Defense (DoD), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), airlines, and avionics manufacturers.

The JI-FRAI group was first established last year and includes several individual members who are also performing their own flight testing of real in-flight scenarios evaluating how 5G C-band wireless service base stations can unintentionally impact the performance of radio altimeters. One member of the group, the Institute for Telecommunications Sciences (ITS)—the research laboratory arm of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)—published a special report earlier this month outlining some of the flight-testing its own researchers are doing in Colorado.

The Institute for Telecommunications Sciences is evaluating the impact of 5G transmissions from mobile trucks, pictured here, on a radio altimeter featured on a Robinson R44 helicopter. (NTIA)

A March 9 video released by the agency features Frank Sanders, a senior technical fellow at ITS, providing an overview of how the ITS team has set up an array of 5G transmitters attached to trucks—known as Cell on Light Truck (COLT) technology—at a Department of Commerce test site in Table Mountain, Colorado. The 5G transmitters provide connectivity to active 5G mobile phones at the facility, and the team is using specialized spectrum analyzers to measure the field strength of the 5G transmissions and how they can unintentionally cause interference to radio altimeters featured on a Robinson R44 helicopter that they’re flying over the transmitters. ITS has also equipped the R44 with spiral measurement antennas that measure the field strength of the 5G transmissions within that slice of airspace.

“NTIA’s Boulder laboratory, ITS, has begun performing measurements of the unintentional antenna radiation from 5G base stations, to quantify exactly how much power will impinge on aircraft flying near such tower locations,” ITS notes in its update.

Sameh Yamany, chief technology officer of Viavi Solutions, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based test and monitoring equipment supplier, explained in emailed statements to Avionics how their technology helps evaluate potential interference issues through modeling and simulation.

“The testbed constructs 3D RF models for signals encountered in and around airports extending out at least 10 miles or more and up to 7,500 feet in elevation,” Yamany said, adding that the testbed consists of a signal generator capable of emulating 5G C-band interference along with a test set and handheld spectrum analyzer that monitor the performance of radio altimeter in signal time delay and path loss. “Leakage” emissions that replicate those generated from the 5G C-band 3.98-4.2 GHz spectrum can also be tested and evaluated using the testbed setup.

“By correlating the simulated RADALT emissions, the interference emissions and their power levels, the Viavi testbed records and reproduces the specific conditions where the RADALT impairs or fails,” Yamany said. The company supplies the test equipment for both laboratory simulations and field testing, which can require a different setup, using a vector signal analyzer (VSA) and generator supplied by Viavi called “Ranger.”

Viavi provided this overview of the testbed setup the company provides to test the impact of 5G C-band on radio altimeters. (Viavi Solutions)

“Field Spectrum Monitoring involves spectrum clearance and interference identification,” Yamany said. “In some cases, more detailed spectrum captures will be needed to adequately monitor and assess the RF spectrum in C-Band used by RADALTs and cellular base stations. The Ranger VSA can record live over-the-air (OTA) RF signals as experienced near the RADALT to monitor the spectrum environment in both the C-band and RADALT bands. For example, it can record up to 2.5 hours at 200 MHz IBW per channel, where one channel is set to capture between 3.8-4.00 GHz or 3.9-4.1 GHz , with precision GPS timestamped captures and custom triggering mechanisms.”

Several aviation manufacturers and service providers are also collaboratively researching 5G C-band interference as part of the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) Special Committee 239 and Eurocae Working Group 119. SC-239 was first established in 2020 and produced the first report that identified the potential interference issues associated with the operation of 5G wireless services in the 3.7-3.98 GHz spectrum range.

Claude Pichavant, an executive communication, navigation, and surveillance engineer for Airbus, participated in a Eurocontrol webinar last month where he discussed the RTCA and Eurocae goals in updating radio altimeter standards to make the technology less susceptible to out-of-band spectrum interference.

“The idea is to create a new standard that will define the new performances that are foreseen for new radio altimeters in order to be robust to the new 5G or even 6G environment. We expect to have this new performance standard by mid 2023,” Pichavant said.

Irving, Texas-based FreeFlight Systems has become one of the first avionics suppliers to directly address the interference issues with new technology, unveiling its new “RA-4500 Mark II (MK II) radar altimeter” during the Helicopter Association International’s 2022 Heli-Expo exhibition earlier this month. The company claims that the upgrade—a replacement for its existing RA-4000 and RA-4500 altimeters—has a “5G mitigation solution” that is a “unique combination of internal filtering and Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology that can tolerate out-of-band 5G interference as well as other RF interferences.”

The post The Latest 5G C-Band Interference on Radio Altimeters Research, Testing and Technology Updates appeared first on Aviation Today.

Shareholders Invest $23 Million in Skyports for Vertiports and Drone Services

At the first close of its Series B round of funding, Skyports received $23 million in investments from new and existing shareholders. (Photo: Hanwha Systems/Skyports)

At the close of its latest funding round, Skyports announced that it had raised $23 million in capital from both new and existing investors. With access to these new funds, Skyports—a provider of infrastructure solutions for advanced air mobility (AAM) and cargo drone deliveries—will be able to accelerate its work in developing and implementing take-off and landing infrastructure in addition to being able to scale operations of its drone services.

The CEO of Skyports, Duncan Walker, remarked that their goal is to be the leading vertiport owner and operator worldwide. “The support of our original investors who have deep experience in aviation and infrastructure and the addition of new capital from world class companies with a global footprint enables us to build the air taxi eco-system alongside our best-in-class vehicle partners for initial operations within a couple of years,” he stated in the company’s announcement.

Another priority for the company is sustainability, and in particular, reducing carbon emissions. The drone services they offer, which include cargo delivery and surveillance solutions, are part of the aviation industry-wide effort to reduce carbon emissions. According to Walker, Skyports’ drone business is expanding, and he sees their competitive advantages as technology development and expertise in regulation and operation of unmanned aircraft.

Existing shareholders Deutsche Bahn Digital Ventures, Solar Ventus, Groupe ADP, Irelandia, and Levitate Capital all participated in this Series B round of funding. New investors included the Japanese conglomerate Kanematsu Corporation, the global industrial property group Goodman Group, Italian airport platform 2i Aeroporti (backed by Ardian’s Infrastructure Fund and F2i Italian Infrastructure Fund), and U.S.-based VC firm GreenPoint, according to Skyports. The company will gain two new board members, including a representative from Kanematsu Corporation and the CEO of DHL eCommerce, Ken Allen.

Skyports designs, builds, and operates vertiport networks in major cities to enable air taxi and cargo drone services. (Photo: Skyports)

Towards the end of last year, Skyports announced plans to set up a vertiport in Paris, France, and begin commercial operations in 2024 in time for the Paris Olympics. If successful, this would be the first commercial vertiport in Europe. The Skyports vertiport will feature technologies such as re-charging equipment, weather stations, biometric identity management, and situational awareness capabilities.

Skyports formed a partnership with Eve Urban Air Mobility, a subsidiary of Embraer, in June 2021. Their objective is to create a concept of operations for urban air mobility (UAM) and advance integration of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in Asia and in the Americas. Skyports’ Duncan Walker commented, “Our partnership with Eve paves the way for rapid innovation in UAM, accelerating innovation to meet the growing demand for eVTOL services.”

The post Shareholders Invest $23 Million in Skyports for Vertiports and Drone Services appeared first on Aviation Today.

NASA Workshop Defines Progress and Goals for Advanced Air Mobility Integration

A workshop led by NASA this week offered an in-depth perspective on the progress of advanced air mobility (AAM) so far and the upcoming milestones for advancing and integrating AAM into the current airspace. (Photo: NASA)

NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Ecosystem Working Groups (AEWG) hosted a virtual workshop this week featuring discussions on AAM integration. Starting in June, the AEWG will develop more formal roadmaps based on the priorities and sequencing discussions taking place during this week’s workshop. Robert Pearce, NASA’s Associate Administrator, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, shared his perspective on AAM integration strategies. Two other representatives from NASA, Davis Hackenberg and Ken Goodrich, also discussed some of the next steps for establishing an AAM ecosystem.

NASA’s Robert Pearce emphasized that safety, sustainability, and scalability are top priorities for developing and integrating AAM. At the most basic level, AAM connects individuals to resources, services, employment, and community. As AAM evolves, Pearce stated, it will begin with providing air taxi services and delivery of goods, but the community is bound to find endless ways that AAM can add value. He sees access to healthcare as one area that will offer the most benefit for individuals. “Many Americans today—and people across the globe—living in rural areas don’t have access to healthcare. Imagine if AAM can increase the reach of our global healthcare systems and provide direct access to world-class healthcare,” he explained. “I look at the investments we make, and the benefits on the other end. If we can [achieve] scalability, this is going to deliver value many many times what we put into it.”

Some important challenges that NASA is in the process of addressing are propulsion reliability, noise impact and mitigation, and vehicle safety. The AEWG, Pearce noted, is helping to bring all of these elements together and facilitate coordinated progress in the approach to AAM integration. Pearce emphasized safety in particular: “You have to see safety distributed throughout. The National Campaign series creates an opportunity for more and more complexity in the architecture and in the operations, demonstrating that in flight where needed, to show what’s possible and where the issues are.”

Development of system architecture for AAM is one of the things that Pearce hopes to see next, in addition to research on autonomy and automation in general, for vehicles, the airspace, vertiports, and other areas. “That’s where we should start: to conceive of and develop and integrate automation architecture across all those elements,” he said. “We need to line up our collective efforts to that architecture. If we’re going to be scalable, we’re going to need that.”

Davis Hackenberg, AAM Project Manager of the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, shared the big-picture ecosystem goals for AAM. Moving from the Operational Safety Demonstration phase, he said, it will be necessary to hit certain milestones for the next phase: Initial Commercial Operations.

These are the upcoming goals and areas of focus that Hackenberg outlined for developing the AAM ecosystem:

Initial AAM ConOps Development (by the end of 2022)
Mature Certification Projects (2022)
1st-Generation AAM Aircraft (2023)
Initial Aircraft Personnel Training & Licensing (2024)
Initial Operational Approvals (2024)
Integrated Low-Volume Airspace Operations (2024)

In 2025 and beyond, the focus will evolve into localized high-tempo operations, and then scalable, weather-tolerant operations. Initial infrastructure deployment should occur by the end of 2027, and we will see second-generation AAM aircraft before 2029. Finally, by the end of 2030, Hackenberg envisions automated flight and integration of automated systems. “We align our portfolio with how we see this ecosystem progressing and find areas where we can be leaders, build technologies, and partner with those in the industry,” he said.

Davis Hackenberg shared a diagram illustrating AAM and highlighting the four stages of maturity for integrated AAM operations. (Photo: NASA)

NASA’s Ken Goodrich, Deputy Project Manager for Technology, explained their system for defining progression in urban air mobility (UAM)—a framework referred to as UMLs, or UAM maturity levels. At maturity level one (UML 1), Goodrich said, “missions typically occur at the edges of the urban area. A key challenge of AAM is community integration; we see operations in much closer proximity to communities.” The focus will need to be providing benefits to the public, and “industry needs to be able to provide products and services that make investments worthwhile,” according to Goodrich.

At UML 2, initial commercial operations will leverage mainly existing infrastructure and will occur in just a few metropolitan areas to start. The selected regions at UML 2 will be likely to have favorable conditions for UAM including market volume, community acceptance, and weather conditions. Operations would also be taking place within the current national airspace system (NAS). “We expect these to start with low tempo pressure and a small number of operations,” Goodrich stated. “This is where revenue begins, but the ability to scale is limited. We need to complete the type certification process, we need to have the ability to license qualified pilots, and the operators and operations need to receive operational approval.”

The post NASA Workshop Defines Progress and Goals for Advanced Air Mobility Integration appeared first on Aviation Today.

Cebu Pacific Equips Airbus A330neo fleet with SITA Swiftbroadband Cockpit Connectivity

Cebu Pacific received its first new Airbus A330neo, pictured here, in November, and will equip each of the aircraft with an upgraded version of SITA’s AIRCOM cockpit connectivity service. (Airbus)

Cebu Pacific Air, the Manila, Philippines-based low cost airline, will equip its fleet of Airbus A330neo aircraft with an upgraded form of SITA for Aircraft’s AIRCOM cockpit connectivity technology with Swiftbroadband-Safety (SB-S).

The AIRCOM connectivity is being factory-installed on a fleet of 16 new A330neos from an Airbus order first placed by Cebu Pacific in 2019, that now also includes a Flight Hour Services (FHS) materials management contract signed by the two companies during the 2022 Singapore Air Show last month. SITA first signed a global connectivity services distribution agreement with Inmarsat in 2017 to start leveraging Swiftbroadband-Safety within its suite of cockpit communication applications that it now brands as AIRCOM Cockpit Services.

SB-S is Inmarsat’s Aircraft Communication, Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) over Internet Protocol (IP) networking technology that permits previous aircraft data transmissions solely done over the legacy ACARS network to be done faster and cheaper using IP as a gateway for air-to-ground and aircraft-to-controller data transmissions and messaging.

Sumesh Patel, President of Asia Pacific, SITA, said in a statement that “Cebu Pacific is the first airline to take advantage of these capabilities to boost safety and deliver greater operational efficiencies on their new fleet.”

Three specific connection types are provided over SB-S, including character-based ACARS data services for Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Contract (ADS-C) and Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC). ADS-C, CPDLC, real-time prison reporting, and flight data streaming along with aircraft performance data downloads can also be provided over the SB-S prioritized IP channel. Additionally, the regular IP channel can be used as a voice and data communication channel for Airline Administrative Control (AAC) and Airline Operations Center (AOC) applications.

According to SITA, some of the specific applications Cebu Pacific can use on AIRCOM with SB-S that are not enabled without Swiftbroadband include real-time updates for flight optimization tools and graphical weather applications.

The SITA cockpit connectivity agreement for Cebu Pacific comes following the airline’s announcement earlier this month that it will begin expanding its domestic network, including re-starting flights to Siargao, Surigao, and Calbayog after closing those and many other routes due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions.

Cebu Pacific received its first A330neo in December and now has two of the 459-seat aircraft in its fleet. Mike Szucs, Chief Executive Adviser at Cebu Pacific, expects every Airbus model aircraft in its fleet to feature the new engine option variant by 2027.

“We turned to SITA given their expertise in the aircraft domain to help us navigate the challenges and complexities of the aircraft communications landscape, and prepare us for that future,” Javier Massot, Chief Operations Adviser, Cebu Pacific Air, said in a statement. “Having high-speed connectivity and greater capacity is essential to access more advanced digital applications that support decision-making onboard. It will enable our pilots and operational staff to access information in real-time and deliver a better service for our passengers.”

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Acciona Partners with Embraer’s Eve, Agrees to Invest $30 Million

The latest partnership announced by Eve is an agreement with Acciona, who will invest $30 million and contribute to Eve’s Board of Directors following the company’s business combination with Zanite Acquisition Corp. Eve is developing an eVTOL aircraft, imagined in the photo above, and has already received close to 1,800 pre-orders for the vehicle. (Photo: Eve)

On March 18, Embraer’s subsidiary, Eve Urban Air Mobility, announced a strategic partnership with the company Acciona—developer of renewable energy solutions and infrastructure—that includes an investment of $30 million into Eve. This investment will follow Eve’s business combination agreement with Zanite Acquisition Corp. agreement, after which Eve will list on the New York Stock Exchange. Acciona CEO José Manuel Entrecanales will also become a member of the Board of Directors as part of the new partnership. This is expected to take place in Q2 of this year.

Eve also formed another partnership with Global Crossing Airlines Group (GlobalX) that was announced last week. The two companies signed a Letter of Intent for GlobalX to order up to 200 electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft from Eve, which will likely be fulfilled in 2026 when Eve expects to begin eVTOL deliveries. The partnership extends beyond the order for Eve’s aircraft; GlobalX and Eve intend to work together in exploring urban air mobility (UAM) and development of a UAM ecosystem, including infrastructure to support eVTOL operations.

Revealed in yet another announcement from Eve last week, the company formed a consortium made up of leading UAM organizations including Skyports, L3Harris, and the Community Air Mobility Initiative (CAMI). The consortium aims to develop a concept of operations (ConOps) for UAM between Miami International Airport (MIA) and the Miami Beach Convention Center. “Miami-Dade County and Florida present a great opportunity for Eve to create a blueprint that can be replicated in markets in North America and other regions as we look toward the introduction of UAM operations,” remarked Eve’s co-CEO André Stein.

Eve Urban Air Mobility recently formed a consortium to develop a concept of operations for UAM in Miami, pictured in the rendering above along with Eve’s eVTOL aircraft. The company GlobalX, another new partner of Eve’s, has agreed to order up to 200 eVTOLs and anticipates significant expansion of operations in Miami and throughout southern Florida. (Photo: Eve)

The partnership between GlobalX and Eve will serve to reinforce the ConOps in Miami-Dade. In the company’s announcement, CEO of GlobalX Ed Wegel commented that Eve’s eVTOLs “will enable us to expand our market throughout south Florida, bringing our customers to their flights at MIA and FLL, as well as local flying within Key West and all of the Keys, Naples, and Palm Beach.”

Through all of these endeavors, Eve is committed to developing and delivering a sustainable UAM ecosystem. In its latest agreement, the strategic partnership with Acciona, Eve hopes to promote novel industrial initiatives such as vertiports and battery charging solutions, while leveraging Acciona’s expertise in building green infrastructure. Acciona’s José Manuel Entrecanales mentioned in the announcement from Eve that the global population is becoming more and more concentrated in large cities. “Keeping the climate footprint of these urban areas at bay is one of the greatest challenges of the decarbonization process we are all engaged in,” he said. “Urban air transport models such as the one proposed by Eve can be very useful when considering different sustainable mobility solutions. Participating in a project as innovative as Eve will allow us to continue advancing along that path.”

The CEO of Eve’s parent company Embraer, Francisco Gomes Neto, is confident in the market potential of future UAM operations. During Embraer’s annual results call earlier this month, he remarked that Eve has Embraer’s strategic support, which includes “access to infrastructure, extensive aircraft certification and manufacturing experience, and already established global network of services and support, intellectual property, and engineers as major differentiators from other projects.”

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Textron Enters Agreement to Purchase Pipistrel and Form New eAviation Division

Pipistrel, creator of the Velis Electro aircraft, will be bought by Textron, according to an announcement from Textron last week. (Photo: Pipistrel)

Textron Inc. announced a purchase agreement on March 17 to acquire Pipistrel—developer of the Velis Electro electric aircraft. Once the purchase is finalized, Textron plans to create a new business segment called Textron eAviation, which will include Pipistrel and will focus on sustainable aircraft. Pipistrel’s CEO and founder, Ivo Boscarol, commented, “The joining of Textron and Pipistrel provides deep expertise and resources which would otherwise be inaccessible to Pipistrel alone. With Textron, we are together geared to strive for future growth and look forward to announcing exciting new products and projects.”

Textron expects the transaction to be finalized during Q2 of this year. The company’s long-term strategy to develop sustainable aircraft will be strengthened with the acquisition of Pipistrel and the creation of a dedicated business unit, Textron eAviation. The eAviation division will have its headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, and will incorporate Pipistrel’s expertise in sustainable flight in addition to Textron’s product design, certification, manufacturing, and aftermarket solutions, according to the company.

Chairman and CEO Scott Donnelly noted that Textron’s ultimate goal is to provide vehicles for applications ranging from urban air mobility and general aviation to cargo transportation and special missions. Donnelly also remarked that they intend to maintain Pipistrel’s existing headquarters and manufacturing in Slovenia and Italy in addition to continuing research and development.

Pipistrel’s Velis Electro aircraft received the first type certification for an electric aircraft from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in June 2020. The vehicle is still the only electric aircraft in the world to achieve EASA type certification. Last year, Pipistrel’s motors, motor controllers, and batteries were selected by the company Airflow for integration into Airflow’s fixed-wing proof-of-concept aircraft. CEO and co-founder Marc Ausman told Avionics in an interview that they chose Pipistrel’s products because the company “had the complete end-to-end system already integrated together [and] have already been tested to work together.”

Developments in aviation have proven to be a critical component of Textron’s recent growth. Textron’s total revenues in 2021 were 6% higher than in 2020, and their aviation segment accounts for 37% of last year’s total revenue. Furthermore, Textron Aviation is projected to grow 21% over the next two years and it is estimated that the Aviation segment will account for 42% of total revenues for 2022.

Just last week, Textron Aviation achieved Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) type certification for the Cessna SkyCourier, a large-utility twin-engine turboprop. According to the company, they are using some of the latest “advancements in aircraft manufacturing, including the use of monolithic machining throughout the airframe” in production of the SkyCourier. The aircraft was launched in 2017, and FedEx entered an agreement to purchase up to 100 units of the cargo variant for its fleet.

Along with Textron’s planned business segment, eAviation, which will be dedicated to sustainable flight, the company’s subsidiary Bell Textron also makes sustainability a strategic priority. Bell Textron is partnering with Safran Helicopter Engines to evaluate sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and its economic impacts; this partnership was recently announced during the HAI Heli-Expo event in Dallas, Texas. The collaboration between the two companies will include analysis of the technical performance of SAF to fuel Bell’s 505 helicopter, powered by Safran’s Arrius 2R engine.

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Joby Earns FAA Approval of Initial Systems and Compliance Reviews

Joby announced both completion and approval of its first Systems Review and Compliance Review. (Photo: Joby Aviation)

Joby Aviation took another step towards certification of its fully electric aircraft in completing its first Systems Review and Compliance Review and earning Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval. The team completed both reviews at the end of 2021 and just recently announced FAA approval. Reaching this milestone confirms that Joby’s development approach, production design, and set goals for achieving certification are headed in the right direction.

The Compliance Review assessed the process of development and verification of Joby’s software and airborne electronic hardware. The Systems Review served to evaluate Joby’s approach to developing its aerospace-grade systems and equipment. Tom Ferrell, Development Assurance Lead at Joby, commented on the importance of a clear, repeatable process for development and verification of aircraft in ensuring safety. “Successfully completing our first Systems Review and Compliance Review demonstrates that Joby’s engineering practices are maturing to a level where they can be applied for the most demanding safety-critical development while producing all the required certification data to prove our design to one of the world’s toughest and most respected regulators,” Ferrell stated in the company’s announcement.

Looking ahead, the team will focus on completing additional reviews centered around “the validation of certification requirements, design capture, and implementation of that design in both hardware and software.” according to Ferrell. A launch date of 2024 is the company’s current target.

The electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft that Joby is developing has undergone more than 1,000 flight tests. A representative of Joby also recently told Avionics International that the team plans “to conduct more flight tests in the coming year in partnership with AFWERX and other government supporters.”

In December of last year, Joby Aviation was awarded FAA Special Airworthiness Certification and U.S. Air Force Airworthiness Approval for their second pre-production prototype aircraft. Founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt remarked, “With two aircraft flying at the same time, we’ll be able to increase the speed of our learnings as planned, while continuing to fulfill the requirements of our Agility Prime contract.”

Joby is partnering with CAE to develop flight simulators for training pilots to operate eVTOL aircraft. Pictured above is JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby, and Marc Parent, president and CEO of CAE. (Photo: Joby Aviation)

Two other recent big milestone announcements came from Joby recently as well. On March 9, they shared news of a partnership with technology company CAE to develop training devices for flight simulation. These devices will eventually be used to train pilots for operation of Joby’s eVTOL aircraft. In February, Joby began FAA conformity testing of its systems and structures, entering the implementation phase of the type certification process. Lina Spross, Quality and Supply Chain Lead, explained, “Entering this stage of testing demonstrates that we’re capable of manufacturing composite parts in accordance with their design, our quality system is capable of producing conforming composite parts for the aircraft, and that we have the requisite traceability and design verification processes in place to progress toward our type and production certifications.”

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Pratt & Whitney Makes Strides With Sustainable Aviation Fuel and Hydrogen Propulsion Technology

Pratt & Whitney was awarded a DoE project for the advancement of hydrogen propulsion technology. This week, another announcement from the company shared the successful completion of a test on its GTF Advantage engine configuration involving the use of 100% sustainable aviation fuel. Pictured is one of the company’s GTF engine testbeds. (Pratt & Whitney)

Last month, Pratt & Whitney was awarded a U.S. Department of Energy Project to develop hydrogen propulsion technology. As part of this project, they are working to develop highly efficient hydrogen-fueled propulsion technology for the commercial aviation industry. The project, referred to as HySIITE (Hydrogen Steam Injected, Inter-Cooled Turbine Engine), involves the use of liquid hydrogen combustion and water vapor recovery to power aircraft with zero in-flight CO2 emissions. Another aim is to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by as much as 80%, and the team at Pratt & Whitney hopes to reduce aircraft fuel consumption by 35% for next-generation models.

Pratt & Whitney announced just this week that the team has successfully tested the use of 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to power its GTF Advantage engine configuration. Performing this test was a critical part of “an extensive development program to ready the GTF Advantage for entry into service in 2024, by validating the engine’s performance on 100 percent SAF in thrust transients, starting and operability,” according to the press announcement.

Pratt & Whitney’s GTF Advantage engine configuration was fueled with 100% sustainable aviation fuel in recent testing. (Photo: Pratt & Whitney)

Vince Sidwell, director of advanced concepts and technology for Pratt & Whitney, and his colleague Brent Staubach, associate director of advanced concepts and innovation, offered some insights on the company’s progress with hydrogen propulsion and SAF in an interview conducted via email with Avionics International. One of the most significant advancements from the company in recent years, according to Sidwell, is their GTFTM engine with geared turbofan technology. The engine “reduced fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 16% for single-aisle aircraft,” he said, “along with having 50% lower NOx emissions, and a 75% smaller noise footprint. Already, 1,200 GTF-powered aircraft in service have saved the equivalent of 600 million gallons of fuel, and 6 million metric tons of CO2.”

The HySIITE project awarded by the Department of Energy to Pratt & Whitney will be a continuation of the company’s work in the hydrogen-fueled propulsion field, Sidwell said. “It is directed at the development of gas turbine technology that is optimized to take full advantage of the cryogenic properties of liquid hydrogen fuel. If successful, we believe that our targeted 35% improvement in fuel efficiency (on a gate-to-gate energy basis), will be of great significance to making hydrogen a viable and sustainable fuel source for future commercial aircraft.”

Staubach went into more detail about the HySIITE configuration. Their team intends to increase overall efficiency and reduce emissions by incorporating water and steam injection throughout the mission rather than just during takeoff. “The concept is designed to recover water from the engine’s exhaust gas, using a condenser. This water can then be turned into steam and injected into the combustor, resulting in greater engine thrust and lower NOx emissions. Water can also be used to cool parts of the engine, further improving efficiency,” he said.

To take this approach, Staubach explained, a consistent supply of water is necessary, and this is achieved via water vapor recovery. “Hydrogen combustion generates a significant amount of water vapor available for recovery, and the liquified hydrogen fuel provides a cold sink to enable condenser efficiency. The technology challenge is developing a flight-weight and volume water recovery system.”

Three key focal points of the project are integrated system evaluation, notional component design, and component feasibility tests. While the HySIITE program does not include plans to perform any engine demonstrations, it does lend itself to accelerated ground demonstration, which could be done with off-the-shelf engines, Staubach wrote. He added that if there is sufficient funding, the HySIITE concept could potentially support entry into service of an aircraft sometime after 2035. “Viable service entry will also depend on incorporating the engine into an aircraft designed to carry hydrogen fuel and having a hydrogen delivery infrastructure available at airports.”

“We recognize that our technologies have a significant role in making this net-zero goal a reality—both through our drive to continually improve engine efficiency, and through our work to enable the use of non-fossil based alternative fuels, such as SAF and hydrogen,” Sidwell said. He added that the company has several test programs underway geared towards operation of engines with 100% SAF in the future. “We have committed to making next-generation engines like the GTF Advantage compatible with 100% SAF. We’re excited to also develop hydrogen technologies through the HySIITE project, which could contribute to net zero emissions by 2050 and the decades beyond.”

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