Category Archives: MRO’s

Airbus Corporate Jets Plans to Deliver First TwoTwenty in March 2023

“The innovative solution [the ACJ TwoTwenty) combines intercontinental range and up to three times more personal space, thus providing more comfort for each passenger and at a similar price tag as ULR bizjets but with a much lower operating cost,” says Sean McGeough, VP Commercial Airbus Corporate Jets for North America. (Photo: Airbus)

Airbus Corporate Jets launched the TwoTwenty corporate jet aircraft at the end of 2020.

In a conversation with Avionics International, Sean McGeough, VP Commercial Airbus Corporate Jets for North America, remarked that this aircraft allows the company to compete in the ultra-long-range aircraft market. The first TwoTwenty is set to be delivered in March 2023, he shared.

The TwoTwenty was designed to be competitive in terms of price and operational costs while having the same footprint as others in its category. “This is an opportunity to build market share around the world,” McGeough said. 

He noted that the value proposition of Airbus Corporate Jets’ (ACJ) TwoTwenty aircraft is its cabin. The ACJ TwoTwenty offers twice as much square footage as other ultra-long-range jets, he commented.

“The innovative solution combines intercontinental range and up to three times more personal space, thus providing more comfort for each passenger and at a similar price tag as ULR bizjets but with a much lower operating cost,” McGeough remarked in the press release by Airbus.

The aircraft is built with advanced avionics, McGeough told Avionics—”It’s the same avionics suite you find in some of the ultra-long-range jets.” The engines on the TwoTwenty are built to be very fuel efficient, he added, and the airframe incorporates the latest composites and alloys.

McGeough remarked that the business aviation industry has been very resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’ve been very fortunate,” he said. “Although there are some storm clouds ahead, we’ve already proven that we can sustain and still grow.”

He listed some of the reasons for the growth of the business aviation market in the U.S.—“a significant increase in new ‘first-time’ users of business aircraft during the worst of the COVID-19 crisis who now want to continue flying privately; employers placing a growing focus on the well-being of their managers; [and] new innovative aircraft being launched that have a greater focus on efficiency and sustainability.” 

A rendering of the ACJ TwoTwenty in flight (Photo: Airbus)

He also commented in detail on the importance of sustainability at Airbus. “A lot of customers are very conscious of how these aircraft impact the environment,” he said. “Right now, 50% of all Airbus products—including helicopters, commercial airliners, et cetera—can use sustainable aviation fuel. By 2030, we want to make it 100%.”

Sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, can reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 80%. Beginning in January of this year, Airbus has used SAF to deliver all aircraft produced at its Mobile, Alabama facility.

The longer-term goal for Airbus is reaching zero emissions by 2035. The entire aviation industry is aiming to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Pictured above is the cockpit of an ACJ TwoTwenty aircraft. (Photo: Airbus)

According to McGeough, Airbus invests $2 billion every year on research and development. Much of this investment goes towards new engine variants and electric and hydrogen technologies.

ACJ also shared in its recent announcement about the TwoTwenty that Comlux Completion, a service center in Indianapolis, will become an approved Service Center MRO for the ACJ TwoTwenty. Comlux will be capable of performing all necessary maintenance, refurbishing the cabin, and handling system upgrades.

The post Airbus Corporate Jets Plans to Deliver First TwoTwenty in March 2023 appeared first on Avionics International.

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Integrating Advanced Air Mobility Operations into Tomorrow’s Flight Department

Kristen Costello of DroneUp, Paul McDuffee of Supernal, and Charlton Evans of End State Solutions discussed the challenges facing business aviation flight departments as the advanced air mobility industry takes off. The panel discussion was moderated by Toni Drummond of Global Aerial Management Group. (Photo: Jessica Reed)

ORLANDO, Fla. — Business aviation flight departments need to prepare for advanced air mobility (AAM) operations and related technologies that are emerging. There are many hurdles that the introduction of advanced technologies must overcome, including public acceptance, regulations, and infrastructure requirements.

Panelists at the 2022 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) in October discussed the many possibilities of emerging AAM technologies as well as how to overcome some of the challenges of this industry. The educational session was titled, “Tomorrow’s Flight Department – The Opportunities and Challenges of AAM Integration.”

Kristen Costello, Senior Director of Flight Compliance at DroneUp, remarked that no one could have predicted the rapid growth of the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry when Part 107 was written back in 2016. “What we’re seeing now is a rapid evolution,” Costello stated. “What used to be the standalone person with the Mavic going out and doing inspections is now transitioning to a phase where you’re seeing large-scale delivery operations, and some of these departments are even pursuing 135.”

She added that the current challenges the UAS industry faces will inform the AAM industry’s growth. In particular, air traffic management for UAS, or UTM, will inform developments in the urban air mobility (UAM) industry in terms of regulatory challenges and the collaborations that will be necessary to pave the way for these new aircraft and technologies. For example, Costello noted, the FAA is currently conducting research and using UTM concepts to develop an approach to UAM.

Sustainability is a primary focus for AAM manufacturers, stated Paul McDuffee, an executive operations analyst at Hyundai’s Supernal who participated in the panel. Almost all of the major players in the industry are relying on electric propulsion as the primary motor force behind their aircraft. “There are variations out there—hydrogen fuel cells and some hybrid-electric vehicles—but for the most part, I think the sustainability aspects are very critical,” he said.

There are many unknowns regarding sustainability in the AAM industry, McDuffee added. The industry needs to understand how aspects of sustainability will affect operation and performance of these vehicles. It’s important to “still be a safe and integral partner with other legacy operators in the airspace,” he said, and sustainability is “something that future flight departments are going to have to keep in mind.”

“The flight department itself has to evolve to what new electric or hybrid aircraft demand for the infrastructure they use to deploy and dispatch the aircraft,” noted Charlton Evans, CEO and Principal Consultant at End State Solutions. 

“There will be some changes along the way in terms of how maintenance is conducted and how airport infrastructure has to evolve, both on the sending and receiving end,” Evans said. “Those are the kinds of things that 135s have to consider with their hybrid-electric or fully electric vehicles. “

AAM operations, at least in the near-term, will look a lot like those of traditional aircraft, believes McDuffee. “There’s a lot of discussion now about what can reasonably be accomplished in the near-term as opposed to the long-term,” he explained. “Right now, the lens is kind of narrowing down to the period roughly from now to 2030, and how we can operate in an effective way to satisfy our investors over the next seven years.”

During the entry-into-service period, “these aircraft are going to operate very much like conventional aircraft operating in the NAS [national airspace],” McDuffee stated. “It would be unreasonable to expect major change in the way air traffic is managed between now and 2030 to accommodate this new technology.”

It will probably be necessary for developers of eVTOL aircraft to become involved in the services traditionally offered by FBOs and MRO facilities, McDuffee noted. He also commented that it will be incredibly important for flight departments interested in AAM to engage early on with the OEMs. 

“There’s a lot of new entrants that are evolving themselves and this technology,” he said. “We don’t know what the vehicle requirements are going to be. Partnering with the existing aviation support infrastructure now is super critical because flight departments of today are the ones that are going to be serving the AAM community of tomorrow.”

The early days of advanced air mobility operations are likely going to mirror some aspects of the drone space, such as necessary exemptions or waivers, Costello remarked. “We need to start [looking at AAM integration] now so the airspace is ready when the aircraft are,” she said. She also emphasized the need to look forward and to determine how to orchestrate the effective integration of AAM vehicles in the future.

The post Integrating Advanced Air Mobility Operations into Tomorrow’s Flight Department appeared first on Avionics International.

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Aptima Evaluates eVTOL Pilot Training Requirements Through USAF Contract

Aptima was awarded a contract from the U.S. Air Force to evaluate necessary skills and training for pilots of eVTOL aircraft. Aptima’s Dr. Samantha Emerson and Dr. Kent Halverson shared some insights on the progress they have made. Pictured above is a pilot flying an eVTOL simulator. (Photo provided by Port San Antonio)

The company Aptima revealed in August that it was awarded a contract from the U.S. Air Force to evaluate necessary skills and training for pilots of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Through this contract, Aptima has been assisting the Air Education and Training Command’s Detachment 62, which supports the AFWERX Agility Prime program. Det 62 is also responsible for developing the curriculum for operators of eVTOL aircraft.

To learn more about the progress Aptima has made so far, Avionics International recently caught up with the project manager for the contract, Dr. Samantha Emerson, and Dr. Kent Halverson, Principal Scientist and Senior Director of the Training, Learning, and Readiness Division at Aptima.

Det 62 first reached out to the team at Aptima for assistance in measuring pilot performance on eVTOL platforms, explained Dr. Halverson. “Aptima has been doing some of the performance measurements in the fast jet training simulation domain for decades,” he said. “We’ve built a suite of human performance measurement technologies that Detachment 62 is interested in leveraging.”

He added that the measurement of human performance has to change when considering vehicles like eVTOLs that will incorporate significant automation: “The pilot doesn’t have to do things that they used to have to do on traditional aircraft. It’s not always clear what the human’s doing and what the machine’s doing all by itself.”

Aptima’s team is testing the learnability of two eVTOL platforms through experimentation and analysis. “We’re especially interested in looking at learning trajectories,” explained Dr. Emerson, “to see how long it takes both pilots and people without experience to learn how to fly these things—or at least to learn basic stick and rudder skills.” 

Another component of this project is evaluating differences in pilot skills for those who have experience operating either fixed-wing aircraft or rotorcraft. They are also evaluating how increased levels of automation and augmentation on the aircraft affect an individual’s performance.

Aptima’s team is also developing a human-machine teaming framework in order to systematically classify aspects of the flight as controlled by either a human agent or a machine.

Aptima is using its Performance Evaluation Training System (PETS) to gather objective data from the eVTOL simulators, as well as a handheld tool called SPOTLITE that subject matter experts utilize for measuring performance. These technologies have been developed in conjunction with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

Aptima was awarded a contract by the U.S. Air Force to evaluate the requirements for eVTOL pilot training. (Photo: BETA Technologies)

Dr. Emerson remarked that Aptima has received criticism for focusing only on pilots’ stick and rudder skills and not looking at airmanship, ground operations, or emergency procedures. “For our experiment, we are only looking at performance-based learning trajectories of how pilots can actually maneuver the vehicles,” she noted. “We’re narrowly focused on how long it takes to learn to fly these things.”

For the experiment itself, students operated one of two different simulators to fly a predetermined route around the D.C. area. The student would repeat the same flight profile four times while a trained instructor pilot guided them along the route. The instructor would provide less and less guidance during each of the four repetitions.

“We measured how well they performed hovering, take-off, landings, and route navigation,” explained Dr. Emerson. “We had the instructor pilots rate them on each of those, and we pulled data on how well they were able to maintain a given altitude or given airspeed. We’re also working on examining how close they were to the ideal path, and how that changed over time, too.”

The researchers observed that pilots picked up the necessary skills quickly over the duration of the experiment—especially on the simulated aircraft with higher levels of automation.

The students without any previous pilot experience “didn’t achieve that same high level of performance but showed rapid gains over those two hours,” said Dr. Emerson.

“More levels of automation ended up bootstrapping the performance, but even in the vehicle with the more ‘conventional’ controls, two hours was plenty of time for the pilots to really show some significant gains—especially in route navigation and take-off,” she shared.

They observed much greater variability in hovering skills. Pilots with experience operating helicopters demonstrated an advantage over fixed-wing pilots while in the simulator with less automation and more conventional controls. However, “even fixed wing pilots were able to grasp it pretty quickly,” Dr. Emerson stated.

Dr. Halverson added, “Hovering a helicopter is a fairly difficult thing to learn how to do, because you have to monitor several different gauges and there are four or five different control surfaces that you’re managing. That’s a pretty heavy multitasking situation.” 

Automation has the potential to make hovering a much less challenging task, and particularly for those without much piloting experience.

The post Aptima Evaluates eVTOL Pilot Training Requirements Through USAF Contract appeared first on Avionics International.

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Emerging Technologies Present New Challenges and Opportunities for Air Traffic Management

Panelists at NBAA-BACE discuss the challenges for air traffic management with new types of aircraft and advanced technologies. (Photo: Jessica Reed)

As innovative aircraft and novel technologies are introduced, it presents both challenges and opportunities for regulators and OEMs to reexamine air traffic control. Advanced air mobility (AAM) vehicles include electric air taxis, hybrid concepts, autonomous drones, and everything in between. Panelists at the recent NBAA-BACE discussed some of the most urgent considerations for integrating these vehicles into the airspace. 

The U.S. offers a uniquely complex airspace, said Tim Arel, Chief Operating Officer at the FAA, “because we’ve been so successful at developing aviation throughout the country.” He noted that new entrants to the industry present a challenge because they operate differently, they travel at different speeds, and they look quite different than today’s in-service airplanes and helicopters. 

To integrate AAM aircraft into the airspace safely, collaboration is necessary, Arel said. “We have to have a common understanding of the airspace we’re working in, what we expect from different industries, what our capabilities are, and the minimum level of service that we provide,” he explained. 

“It’s not just the regulator or the operator of the airspace saying you can or can’t. It’s the innovators saying, ‘We have a different way of complying,’ it’s finding alternative means of compliance. That collaborative way forward is how you do it.”

John Langford, CEO of Electra.aero, compared this new industry to the introduction of drones over the past 15 years, saying that it’s critical to keep in mind the lessons learned to avoid making the same mistakes with eVTOLs and autonomous technologies. “We haven’t made as much progress as we probably should have,” he remarked, “when the commercial drone revolution really kicked off back in December 2013.”

The CEO of Jaunt Air Mobility, Martin Peryea, emphasized during the discussion that the drone space is quite different from AAM aircraft, particularly in regards to the missions these vehicles are designed to perform. He noted that a lot of eVTOL aircraft are still early in the development phase. “There’s actually time to develop air traffic management systems for the future,” he said.

“These aircraft will go through a typical development certification program, and they will be able to operate under existing part 135 rules, very similar to rotorcraft today,” Peryea explained. “You can ramp up production—even if you have multiple companies building these eVTOL aircraft, it will be some time before it becomes an issue with air traffic management. By then, the FAA will have systems in place.”

He mentioned that the first generation of eVTOL aircraft will likely be piloted and rely on traditional systems. When upgrading battery systems for the second generation of eVTOL vehicles, the avionics systems and technologies like sense-and-avoid will also be updated and integrated into the aircraft.

“All of these aircraft are going to be fly-by-wire, which requires advanced systems to ensure safety of the aircraft itself,” Peryea stated. “They’ll really be no different than getting on a commercial airliner today. With automation, the systems will be very similar.”

Lisa Stark moderated the “Airspace for Everyone: How Emerging Technologies Will Transform Air Traffic” panel, featuring Tim Arel of the FAA, Col. Nathan Diller of the Air Force, Stéphane Fymat from Honeywell, Dr. Parimal “P.K.” Kopardekar of NASA, Dr. John Langford from Electra.aero, and Martin Peryea from Jaunt Air Mobility. (Photo: Jessica Reed)

Stéphane Fymat, Vice President and General Manager of Urban Air Mobility and Unmanned Aerial Systems at Honeywell, drew attention to the distinction between AAM and drones. “Most AAM aircraft are going to start with pilots on board for the foreseeable future,” he said. “At the same time, [they] hope to be without a pilot on board in the near future. A lot of cargo versions of these vehicles may even be without a pilot on board on day one.”

For integrating aircraft without pilots on board, there are certainly lessons to be learned from the way that small drones have been integrated into the airspace. However, Fymat remarked, it’s important to keep these two categories separate and to understand AAM as a unique category in order to make progress.

He also commented that the transition from today’s manned aircraft to fully autonomous aircraft will take time. One challenge is giving AAM vehicles “the ability to make decisions in unknown situations that it hasn’t seen before,” he said. There are a lot of things that need to happen on the path to enabling full autonomy. 

Fymat explained, “We need to add a few capabilities, but [we will] build on the systems we have today.”

Dr. Parimal “P.K.” Kopardekar, Director of the NASA Aeronautics Research Institute, noted that over the last 10 years, progress with air traffic management for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) has been slow but steady. “It’s going in the right direction,” he said. He believes that there is a significant amount of testing and research that needs to be done because of the paradigm shift “from management by clearance to management by exception.”

“The current air traffic control system is very safe, very effective, but you cannot overload it,” Dr. Kopardekar remarked. With UAS, “we had to figure out how to basically keep in charge of regulatory aspects and operational constraints, but not overload [the system].”

Col. Nathan P. Diller of the U.S. Air Force and Director at AFWERX shared that the Air Force has the opportunity to experiment with new types of aircraft in a defined airspace. “We can do experimentation with small companies and potentially do early deployment. Eventually, we can reduce some of the financial risk by having use cases in a controlled environment.”

Essentially, he said, the USAF is “collaborating with the FAA and NASA to be able to see what that future looks like on a small scale and what is useful for national security, which then feeds broader use cases.” He describes the industry as a dual-use space, where more than 80% of today’s research and development is happening in the commercial space. The USAF can take advantage of that R&D without using taxpayer dollars to advance new technologies and aircraft systems.

The post Emerging Technologies Present New Challenges and Opportunities for Air Traffic Management appeared first on Avionics International.

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SAUDIA Plans to Buy 100 Lilium Jets for eVTOL Operations in Saudi Arabia

Lilium signed an MoU with SAUDIA, the national flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, to collaborate in establishing an eVTOL network across Saudi Arabia. The airline also plans to purchase and operate 100 Lilium Jets. (Photo: Lilium)

The airline Saudia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lilium, an electric air taxi developer, to develop a network of electric vertical take-off and landing, or eVTOL, aircraft operations across Saudi Arabia. The MoU includes plans for Saudia to purchase 100 eVTOL aircraft. The announcement shared this week states that this agreement would make Saudia the first airline in the Middle East/North Africa region to purchase Lilium’s eVTOLs. 

Saudia plans to develop and operate a network of eVTOL aircraft following the purchase of 100 vehicles from Lilium. The airline’s operations would include “new electric point-to-point connections as well as seamless feeder connections to Saudia’s hubs for business class guests,” according to the announcement.

For Lilium, this agreement could offer support throughout the regulatory approval processes in Saudi Arabia that are necessary for certifying the eVTOL. “This partnership with Saudia, our first in the Middle East, is an exciting development,” remarked Alexander Asseily, Lilium’s Vice Chairman, regarding the MoU. “We look forward to working with Saudia to deploy an eVTOL network across Saudi Arabia.”

Saudia’s CEO, Captain Ibrahim S. Koshy, emphasized the airline’s commitment to sustainability and the importance of the MoU signed with Lilium. “Saudia intends to meet a growing demand for regional air mobility and offer our valued Guests a superior on-board experience. The potential for such an airborne transit network is limitless,” Koshy said in the announcement.

The Lilium team aims to certify the eVTOL aircraft with the FAA and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). One of the company’s upcoming goals on the path to certification is to complete all four of its Design Organization Approval (DOA) audits with EASA before July 2023. It plans to launch its aircraft in 2025 following certification.

Lilium’s Phoenix 2 technology demonstrator recently performed a full transition from hover to wing-borne flight. The company shared details about the achievement in its second-quarter letter to shareholders, published in late September. This test flight was conducted at Lilium’s ATLAS (Air Traffic Laboratory for Advanced Unmanned Systems) Flight Test Center in Villacarrillo, Spain.

As revealed in a June announcement, the eVTOL developer has chosen L3Harris to provide extra light data recorders for the Lilium Jet. L3Harris expects to launch the production version of its xLDR next year. 

This year, Lilium also announced the selection of Astronics Corporation, an aerospace supplier, to develop and manufacture the electrical power distribution system for its eVTOL. 

The post SAUDIA Plans to Buy 100 Lilium Jets for eVTOL Operations in Saudi Arabia appeared first on Avionics International.

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OPINION: Advanced Air Mobility in Commercial Aviation May be in Start-Up Mode Now, But The Future Awaits

(Photo: AirAsia)

The support challenges – from design through to production, operation and maintenance – that await organizations looking to enter or further entrench themselves in a high-growth industry.

In 2021, Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) and Advanced Air Vehicles (AAVs) attracted $7 billion in new investment, a record year—more than doubling the total disclosed investments made over the previous decade. There is no doubt that the AAM industry is at a pivotal point across commercial aviation.

But Rob Mather, Vice President, Aerospace and Defense Industries, IFS, explains that most AAM organizations have a “start-up” mentality and it’s those organizations that look beyond initial design and prototyping, and set up a strategy for widescale commercialization and ongoing operations that stand to gain the most. That includes the software they use to manage every step of each AAV lifecycle.

The industry is chock full of acronyms in relation to Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) & the Advanced Air Vehicles (AAVs).

So, we’ll begin picking through the “acronym salad” by defining industry terms within the commercial aviation ecosystem:

• There are a plethora of high-tech start-ups making rapid progress with all types of Advanced Air Vehicles (AAVs) with commercial and civilian applications
• The phenomenon of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) – think flying taxis for short passenger trips or cargo deliveries – is being made possible with Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, through to fully Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) much larger than your typical drone, that will be used for last-mile and middle-mile cargo delivery
• But AAV does not just relate to air-taxis or unmanned aircraft, it also applies to aircraft with new forms of propulsion—such as Hybrid Electric Aircraft (HEA) and Fully Electric Aircraft (FEA) to reflect electrification of more traditional airframes or new hybrid or all-electric aircraft
• Take all of those vehicles and all the infrastructure and policy required to support them together and you get Advanced Air Mobility (AAM).

AAV Certifications are on the horizon both sides of the Atlantic

Here, we explore the latest technology at the forefront of the future of air travel:

Advanced Air Vehicles are not a far-off future technology from the Jetsons; they are coming sooner than you might think—and airworthiness certificates are just around the corner. Consider this 2021 assessment from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA): “Urban Air Mobility is expected to become a reality in Europe within 3-5 years. New technologies such as electric propulsion and enhanced battery capacity, applied to vertical take-off and landing systems, make this possible. The first commercial operations are expected to be the delivery of goods by drones and the transport of passengers, initially with a pilot on board. Later remote piloting or even autonomous services could follow. Several pilot projects are under way and some European manufacturers have already applied for certification, including for piloted vehicles for passenger transport. EASA is working with them on the airworthiness of the vehicles.”

In North America the FAA is already focusing on the infrastructure to support AAM. This year, it released interim guidance, via Engineering Brief, to support the design and operation of facilities that Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft will use for initial operations. It states: “The FAA is including AAM and UAM in our planning efforts, and our work is organized around five areas of activity—aircraft, airspace, operations, infrastructure, and community.”

One of the leading AAM players, Joby Aviation recently received a Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate from the FAA, ahead of schedule, allowing Joby to begin on-demand commercial air taxi operations. The Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate is one of three FAA approvals required for Joby to operate its revolutionary eVTOL aircraft as an air taxi service in cities and communities across the United States.

The Prime Targets for AAM – Where Environmental Benefits are Highest

McKinsey estimates short-haul flights account for more than 17% of total airline CO² emissions, making them an important target for decarbonization efforts. Replacing these traditionally-powered flights with lower carbon technologies – such as green propulsion – could really contribute to lowering aviation emissions—and that’s before factoring in replacing ground transportation emissions for similar journeys.

With today’s emerging technologies, AAM has the highest potential to disrupt travel of distances up to 1000 miles, distances currently served by local ground vehicles and high numbers of short-haul aircraft flights. Ground transportation converting to air travel will represent a brand-new market but for airlines, the impact is most felt with electrification and hybrid usage in short and regional distances. The potential to revolutionize short and medium travel is imminent but it will be a longer path for AAM to impact long-haul and trans-oceanic flights.

Rising fuel prices are driving further airline interest in AAM. In fact, Aviation Week reports that one-third of the current orders for AAVs have been placed by airlines.

At IFS we currently have two customers excelling in the electric propulsion market. Cape Air will become one of the world’s first carriers to go electric in the sky. The company is working closely to develop and operate the Eviation Alice electric aircraft—a nine-seat fully electric plane that has been designed from the ground-up to be the perfect short commute aircraft.

On the OEM side, Rolls-Royce, beside all its work on the Trent engine family running on sustainable aviation fuels, is targeting electrification too. In late 2021 the Rolls-Royce, “Spirit of Aviation”, supported by partner Electroflight, set three new world records for an all-electric aircraft.

Positive Societal Implications – We’re Already Seeing a Government Groundswell

There is huge societal benefit to be gained by making regional transport more accessible for human and goods transportation. A recent report by the UK Government revealed that two in three people thought that improved transport links would have a positive impact on people’s ability to access job opportunities. Not only can AAM positively impact commuting opportunities, but from a cargo perspective it could provide better linkage to rural communities by delivering vital supplies and services to under-served areas.

In the U.S., AAM Legislation has also just gained House approval. A bill that gained House passage in June will provide $25 million in grant funds to support AAM in FYs 2022 and 2023. The Advanced Aviation Infrastructure Modernization Act (AAIM Act), H.R. 6270, authorizes funding to plan and then build new AAM infrastructure by using existing heliports and airports, establishing new “vertiports,” and associated charging infrastructure. But a crucial aim of the legislation is the need to engage communities in the planning process and bring new technologies to a diverse set of communities, while creating hundreds of thousands of new green jobs.

We’re Just at the Start-up Stage – but AAVs are Assets to be Supported Through-Life

There is very much a “Silicon Valley mindset” in the AAM movement right now. The AAV landscape is currently dominated by disruptive start-ups or spin-offs and joint-ventures between leading aviation players—with certification targets ranging from 2022 through to 2028.

Despite this varied landscape, each AAM organization will face the same core challenges—taking a next-generation asset from design and proof-of-concept, through to prototyping, widescale operations and ongoing maintenance. Unlike manufacturing of traditional aircraft, many organizations involved in producing AAVs are looking to become a “one-stop” shop for their assets, well beyond initial sale. From design, manufacturing, and initial delivery, right through to supporting the spares, parts management and maintenance of that AAV asset throughout its lifecycle. Many, like Joby are even looking to act as the operator of their aircraft, meaning that they will also be responsible for the continuing airworthiness of each aircraft.

Through-life Support Begins with the Right Software

The market leaders in AAM will make software a central part of their evolutionary growth to assert their authority in a maturing marketplace. An asset of tomorrow requires software support that can support every step of its journey. The ability to efficiently manage a complex asset through its entire lifecycle requires an underlying data thread—to build, operate, maintain, and support that asset.

With such quick expansion anticipated, it is essential for AAV organizations to have a 360-degree view of operational processes to make informed, data-driven business decisions. This requires supporting software to aggregate, analyze and action this data, as well as to evolve in lockstep with company growth strategy—from initial design and engineering through to manufacturing and maintenance.

This will put the focus on breadth of functionality for supporting software too, with relevant modules needing to be deployed in line with business requirements. This could span functionalities such as supply chain procurement, HR, payroll, finance, project management in the design and production phases, moving to manufacturing execution systems, regulatory compliance frameworks, export control in the manufacturing phase, and MRO, asset management and workforce management for ongoing maintenance and support.

There’s more to AAM than the AAV – there’s the bigger picture to take into account

While the AAM industry is still in its infancy, there is a once in a lifetime opportunity to grab market share. Moving from manufacturing an AAV to operating an air taxi business opens up a whole new set of business processes that will need support, including maintenance planning execution, configuration management and more.

AAV manufacturers shouldn’t choose systems that are only good for them today, but will grind to a halt when they reach their maximum capability—meaning the manufacturer must then find and install software that can enable them to take their business to the next level.

Instead, they need a solution that will grow as they do, this means putting a system in place from the very start that can support an AAV company as it shifts from prototype, through to operation and commercialization.

The post OPINION: Advanced Air Mobility in Commercial Aviation May be in Start-Up Mode Now, But The Future Awaits appeared first on Avionics International.

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Panelists at NBAA Discuss Certification and Infrastructure for Advanced Air Mobility

The 2022 NBAA convention featured a panel discussion on certification and infrastructure requirements for advanced air mobility aircraft. (Photo: Jessica Reed)

ORLANDO, Fla. — At the 2022 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) last week, representatives from the FAA, Eviation, Textron, Overair, and Archer Aviation discussed the most pressing challenges for the advanced air mobility (AAM) industry. The “Pathway to Liftoff” panel featured discussions on battery technology, public acceptance, airspace integration, and infrastructure for vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) operations.

“The team is working very hard in regards to being prepared for these new entrants,” stated Shannetta Griffin, FAA Associate Administrator for Airports. She mentioned that the FAA has developed a new division for emerging entrants in the AAM industry. The division works across the FAA gathering information. 

Monitoring and researching this space as it develops is incredibly important to the agency, Griffin shared. The FAA is looking at electrification first, and that research will expand as more aircraft are certified and more data is gathered. 

“There are more policies and guidance that we have to provide at airports and off airports,” she added. “Being able to have strong communication with multiple vendors and coming up with consistency across everything that we’re doing is very important. That’s why this is going to be their focus in this new division.”

The company Eviation is developing an electric conventional take-off and landing (eCTOL) aircraft. President and CEO Gregory Davis commented on battery technology development, saying that the technology will evolve in step changes. He mentioned the progress that NASA has made to develop a solid-state battery for aviation, including demonstrating that solid-state batteries can power a vehicle at 500 watt-hours per kilogram.

Davis noted that it’s important for battery certification standards to be consistent worldwide. Having different rules for this technology in the U.S. versus Europe, for example, would set the entire industry back. Inconsistent regulations could also interfere with broader goals for sustainability in the aviation industry. “In order for sustainable aviation to have the biggest impact, we need to get our products to market,” he said.

Eviation’s eCTOL aircraft will carry up to nine passengers and will include a compact fly-by-wire system. Being able to take off and land conventionally is a huge advantage, Davis believes. “We can operate within the existing infrastructure, take off from airports, and fly in existing airspace the same as any conventional aircraft. We see some first-mover advantages. We don’t necessarily need to go through all of the special considerations [compared to] some of the advanced designs we’re seeing.”

Textron eAviation’s two businesses are electric aircraft developer Pipistrel and the eVTOL program, Nexus. During the panel at NBAA, Rob Scholl, President of Textron eAviation, emphasized the importance of consistent guidelines for AAM. Although there is a lot of excitement around the industry, he said, “we need to see the regulations develop around 800-volt systems, which no one has done and shown that it’s certifiable. There’s still a lot of challenges to overcome, and we need to partner with the FAA to continue to weigh out that pathway to promote safe vehicles.”

Developing regulations for these innovative aircraft will be a difficult task for regulatory agencies including the FAA, Scholl added. “North America is the most important business aviation and general aviation market in the world,” he believes. “Because of that, the U.S. is attracting most of the investment dollars and coming to the FAA with tremendous challenges.”

Members of the AAM industry have to coordinate with the FAA, he explained, “and support them to come up with realistic steps to make differences today.”

Existing infrastructure will actually be sufficient to support a lot of innovation, Scholl said. “The one place I think we need to focus investment and planning on is airspace integration. Unlocking the airspace will unlock opportunities to get more aircraft in the air.”

Noise levels have always been a concern in the aviation industry. As AAM operations are introduced, and in particular eVTOL flights, they are likely to start out by operating out of existing general aviation airports, believes Ben Tigner, CEO of eVTOL developer Overair. However, he said, there will be a desire to build infrastructure closer and closer to more densely populated areas, and noise concerns must be addressed before that can happen.

“The aviation industry has experienced trying to integrate helicopters into urban areas [and dealing with] concerns people have,” said Tigner. “In order for eVTOLs to succeed, they need to be extremely quiet.” 

It will be critical to keep these new kinds of aircraft as quiet as possible—not only to build community acceptance, but to enable more frequent operations.

Tom Muniz, COO at Archer Aviation—one of the top eVTOL developers in the U.S.—commented during the panel at NBAA on the topic of battery technology for AAM aircraft: “Batteries are definitely getting better and better every day. The batteries we have commercially available today are sufficient to serve a lot of really compelling missions. There’s not a need to wait for brand new technology; we’ll all get to market with our first product, and it’s going to be lowest performing product that we’ll ever introduce.” 

Muniz also remarked that Archer is working to develop a pragmatic vehicle for flights between 20 and 50 miles. In contrast, many people imagine that eVTOLs will be like the Jetsons’ futuristic flying cars. “Maybe that’s what this [industry] will end up looking like in 20 or 25 years,” he said, but Archer is leveraging today’s technology to build what Muniz refers to as “a slightly better helicopter” at a lower cost and with lower noise levels.

The FAA’s Acting Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety, David Boulter, shared that artificial intelligence is one of the biggest challenges that comes along with certifying new types of AAM aircraft. “This is a new category,” he said, explaining that regulations for eVTOL aircraft will incorporate some components from conventional fixed-wing aircraft and from helicopters.

The post Panelists at NBAA Discuss Certification and Infrastructure for Advanced Air Mobility appeared first on Avionics International.

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New RNAV RNP Procedure Enables Safer Approaches and Landings at Eagle County Airport

A view of the RNAV RNP approach developed by Hughes Aerospace into the runway at Eagle County Airport. (Photo: Hughes Aerospace)

In August 2021, I participated in an inspection flight of a new approach procedure at one of the most challenging airports to land at in the U.S., Colorado’s Eagle County (KEGE) with Hughes Aerospace CEO Chris Baur in a TBM 850 equipped with Garmin avionics. Using the RNP and point-in-space landing capabilities of the aircraft’s advanced navigation systems, Hughes was able to deploy a new RNP AR approach into Eagle County that went live earlier this year.

Equipped with one runway measuring 9,000 feet, the approach to land at Eagle County is challenging because the mountainous terrain and nearby airports that surrounds it making the missed approach procedure challenging for even the most skilled professional pilots. In 2010 as the most famous example, Eagle was ranked as the world’s eighth most extreme airport in a special feature broadcasted by The History Channel.

The airport is situated within a valley inside the Rocky Mountains, with an elevation of more than 6,500 feet above sea level.

The cockpit of the Hughes Aerospace TBM 850.

Located 37 miles from Vail, the lone runway at Eagle County is surrounded by mountainous terrain with publicly available procedures that require pilots to use decision heights of more than 1,700 feet and three miles of visibility. Using RNAV RNP, Baur and Hughes Aerospace have established a new approach procedure with a decision height altitude of 282 feet and a half a mile of visibility.

“This approach has the lowest minimums of any published instrument procedure at Vail/Eagle County Airport. The other instrument procedures have significantly higher ceiling & visibility minimums, lack runway alignment, may position the aircraft closer to terrain, and have a challenging missed approach,” Baur told Avionics International.

Flying the approach in the TBM showed how much easier its descent angles and better avoidance of the terrain. The runway is situated within a valley area of the Rocky Mountains, where the mountainous terrain can range from 11-12,000 feet or more.

Pilots must fly over and through a gap in the mountains and slowly descend down into the valley where the lone runway sits to land at Eagle. Visibility can be quickly reduced by surprise snow storms or squalls. Lateral movement of the aircraft is also limited as you descend down into the valley because of the surrounding mountains and terrain.

Hughes Aerospace’s newly deployed RNAV (RNP) Q approach procedure to Runway 25 at Eagle County takes advantage of advanced navigation systems featured in modern cockpits, such as the Hughes TBM 850. It means smoother descent angles for pilots, allowing them to smoothly coast in between the mountains surrounding the downward glide slope into the runway, landing a few hundred over the runway center line.

According to reports on the use of the new approach several airline pilots on the first day of its becoming available through special FAA authorization, Baur said, it prevented several aircraft from diverting.

“Many aircraft today are equipped with contemporary avionics capable of supporting Performance Based Navigation (PBN). Extracting the value of these avionics is achieved through the extensive use of PBN, reducing pilot-controller workload, mitigating terrain & obstacles in a trajectory vs linear based lateral navigation as well as vertical navigation,” Baur adds.

Furthermore, the new approach features the strategic use of radius to fix legs to overfly the lowest possible terrain path from the initial approach fix to the runway. For RNP AR qualified pilots, it becomes a much smoother approach with shallower bank angles into the RF leg turns.

The RNAV RNP approach developed by Hughes Aerospace.

Lowering the landing minimums from decision height in the previously available approaches at KEGE are the clear star of the near approach though. Eagle County is located in the state that receives the fourth-highest amount of snowfall annually in the U.S., often causing lower ceilings enforced by air traffic control at the airport.

According to an article published by the Eagle County airport’s authority in February, the airport set monthly passenger record numbers in 2021, recording its highest number of enplanements from the airport’s lone runway since 2008. Some of the factors the airport attributes traffic growth to include the addition for summer service to Atlanta and Chicago, long with year-round service to Denver.

In 2022, the airport is experiencing continued growth in traffic. American Airlines, United and Delta Airlines conduct the most airline operations of all U.S. carriers to Eagle County, according to the article.

“The automation allows the pilots to focus on monitoring the performance, detecting and reacting to an undesired aircraft state immediately. This is in contrast to ‘being the performance’ potentially becoming task saturated while flying & navigating a legacy process,” Baur said.

The post New RNAV RNP Procedure Enables Safer Approaches and Landings at Eagle County Airport appeared first on Avionics International.

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Ecocopter and Airbus Explore Urban Air Mobility in Latin America

Ecocopter and Airbus signed a Memorandum of Understanding in September for the launch of urban air mobility operations in Latin America. (Photo: Ecocopter / Airbus)

Airbus signed a Memorandum of Understanding last month with helicopter operator Ecocopter to collaborate in launching urban air mobility services in Latin America. Ecocopter’s fleet is primarily made up of Airbus helicopters, which are used to perform missions such as medical evacuations, firefighting, and offshore transport.

Ecocopter and Airbus have a strong preexisting relationship. Their recent agreement involves exploring strategies for launching urban air mobility (UAM) operations in Latin America and in particular Chile, Peru, and Ecuador. “This partnership leverages Airbus’ expertise in innovative vertical flight technologies, and Ecocopter’s extensive operational history,” commented Balkiz Sarihan, Head of Partnerships & Strategy Execution for UAM at Airbus, in response to the announcement.

About a year ago. Airbus revealed the prototype for its CityAirbus NextGen, an electric take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The company is also leading the Air Mobility Initiative, announced in May, to evaluate the requirements of integrating eVTOL aircraft—and other advanced air mobility (AAM) vehicles—into the airspace. Diehl Aerospace, the University of Stuttgart, Red Cross, Munich Airport, Telekom, and Droniq are some of the participants in this initiative.

(Photo: Ecocopter)

Ecocopter signed the agreement with Airbus to evaluate requirements for a UAM ecosystem in addition to use cases and launch cities for the CityAirbus NextGen. The team at Airbus “are in a position where they are not trying to sell anything yet; it is not a startup that needs LOIs or MOUs, they are on a different path,” explained Marcelo Rajchman, Ecocopter’s Corporate CEO, in an interview with Avionics International.

“It’s not easy to build an eVTOL or any new aircraft,” he continued. “You can build a demonstrator, but it’s not easy to get the certification or a production line. Airbus has been building its VTOL for many years through various initiatives and projects. We believe they will achieve a successful product.”

In the AAM space, the main focus is on the aircraft themselves, and the majority of investment in the industry has gone into OEMs. Not enough thought has gone into the larger ecosystem and making eVTOL flights economically viable, Rajchman believes.

“It would be hard to find someone better than [Ecocopter] as operators who really know the clients,” he said. The company has experience operating aircraft in Chile, Peru, and Ecuador seven days a week in all kinds of conditions. Flying eVTOLs in a city like New York or Chicago is one challenge, but a successful eVTOL company should be able to operate anywhere in the world—”especially in complicated environments,” he added.

(Photo: Ecocopter)

Ecocopter will be able to help Airbus understand their future customers and demand for eVTOL services in Latin America, explained Rajchman. “Ecocopter has ambitions to not only be an operator but to be more involved with maintenance centers and training centers,” he noted.

Some eVTOL developers plan to launch commercial operations in the next two years. Rajchman is somewhat skeptical of this timeline, but he expressed confidence that these aircraft will be flying within the next 8 years, and maybe sooner. “I’m not sure if it’s going to be as cheap as these OEMs are telling investors it will be,” he said.

Ecocopter is launching helicopter services in a fourth country in South America. For the helicopter industry, firefighting applications are continuing to grow, shared Rajchman. Ecocopter’s drone business is also growing exponentially with operations in Chile and plans to open offices in the U.S. and Brazil in the near future. He stated that the company will be launching a platform for cargo VTOL operations, similar to other B2C digital platforms, with assistance from Airbus. Ecocopter will start collecting data via this platform beginning in Chile and Peru.

The post Ecocopter and Airbus Explore Urban Air Mobility in Latin America appeared first on Avionics International.

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Vista Global Sees Record Increase in Demand for US Business Jet Flights in 3Q

A VistaJet Global 7500. (Photo: Vista Global)

 

“Private flight departments are driving demand in October across the region, activity is up 13% compared to last year, 23% above three years ago,” WINGX notes in its report.

The post Vista Global Sees Record Increase in Demand for US Business Jet Flights in 3Q appeared first on Avionics International.

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