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PODCAST: ThinKom VP Talks New IFC Antenna Technologies, Satellite Networks and More

Greg Otto, VP of Sales & Marketing at ThinKom, is the guest on this episode of the podcast.

On this episode of the Connected Aviation Intelligence Podcast, Greg Otto, who is the Vice President of Sales & Marketing for ThinKom, is the guest.

ThinKom’s antenna technology is one among the most widely used on commercial airliners to enable in-flight connectivity (IFC). At the 2022 Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX), their Ka-band antenna was selected by Safran for the new Airbus Airspace Link HBC line-fit connectivity system, one of several major announcements and IFC initiatives they have been part of this year.

Otto discuses the Safran selection, new IFC antenna capabilities they’re developing and IFC-related commercial aviation market trends.

Listen to this episode below, or check it out on iTunes or Google Play. If you like the show, subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get new episodes as soon as they’re released.

The post PODCAST: ThinKom VP Talks New IFC Antenna Technologies, Satellite Networks and More appeared first on Avionics International.

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US Army Signs CRADA with Collins to Develop New Airworthiness Certification for Multicore Processors and Modularity

The Collins Aerospace Customer Experience Center in Huntsville, Alabama (Photo: Collins Aerospace)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — The U.S. Army has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Collins Aerospace to develop a new approach to airworthiness certification of multicore processors and safety critical systems modularity. During a Sept. 28 media briefing held at their Customer Experience Center in Huntsville, engineering leadership for Collins Aerospace explained how their work with Army aviators will advance the adoption of Modular Open Systems Architecture (MOSA) across the various manned and unmanned aircraft they operate.

CRADAs are used by the Army and other federal agencies to allow for the exchange of government equipment, facilities, and resources with non-federal entities. During the CEC media briefing, Collins showed prototypes of how the use of MOSA embedded computing form factors can reduce the number of individual computers required to enable communication, navigation, and surveillance applications on the Army’s enduring and future fleet of aircraft.

Computing performance expansion enabled by multicore processors is the result of linking multiple central processing unit (CPU) cores that share the tasks necessary to run an application into a single unit. This allows for the sharing of tasks and resources such as cache memory that would usually be separated out among multiple computers, to be run using the multiple cores of the singular processing unit.

Embedded systems suppliers and avionics manufacturers have been working toward achieving such a safety-critical milestone for many years, as the majority of in-service avionics systems rely on single-core processors. The interference that can occur when multiple processing cores are used to develop a computer system has been a certification challenge in the past, although Collins and other companies have advanced multicore processor-enabled avionics in recent years.

Based on this use of multiple processing cores within the same processor device, most of the communications, navigation, and surveillance applications of an aircraft that used to require an individual computer for each LRU can be enabled from MCPs working from assigned processor slots in a single chassis.

Tom von Eschenbach, program manager for Army Avionics at Collins, said that the certification of modularity and multicore processors remains one of the most challenging areas of the Department of Defense’s aircraft and technologies procurement process. A major goal for the work Collins will perform under the CRADA is to help the Army adopt new technologies faster throughout the life cycle of in-service aircraft.

“Why is MOSA so important? Why is MOSA one of General Rugen’s four lines of effort within the FVL cross-functional? It depends on who you are and what you value, and sometimes your answer is a little different,” von Eschenbach said. “The goal is not to procure an aircraft that had technologies designed in the early 2020s, produced in the 2030s and then to be operated with those same technologies for 20 years. You have to figure out how to introduce new technologies in a continuous process.”

Collins engineers at the CEC are already coming up with prototype designs that aviation program leadership from the Army can evaluate with hands-on simulator and flight testing.

One such MOSA-inspired prototype at the CEC is FlexLink, a technology that Collins describes as an adaptive-connectivity system for aircraft where communication, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) capabilities can be inserted, removed, upgraded, and re-inserted or replaced as processor cards. FlexLink’s form factor and purpose served as the central processing box on the aircraft is an example of the type of embedded avionics computing configuration that the Army’s MOSA Transformation Office describes as its vision for future open systems architecture.

Mosarc is the MOSA avionics architecture Collins has developed aligned to the open systems architecture the Army seeks to embrace. (Photo: Woodrow Bellamy III)

“We’re flying a FlexLink prototype at this year at Project Convergence,” Chadwick Ford, associate director of the Army JADC2 requirements and demonstrations team for Collins Aerospace, said during the media briefing.

The architecture and purpose served by FlexLink is also aligned to the Army’s CMOSS Mounted Form Factor (CMFF), a standard “plug-and-play” approach explained in a July 2021 post by the Army Program Executive Office (PEO). CMFF uses the C5ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS) confirmation that gives the Army the ability to “insert cards, each embedded with networked capabilities such as Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT), mission command applications, or radio waveforms, into a common ruggedized chassis” inside a tactical aircraft or vehicle, according to Army PEO.

This prototype chassis developed by Collins shows the type of card-based architecture that the Army wants to adopt for current and future aircraft systems. (Photo: Woodrow Bellamy III)

FlexLink also provides the type of form factor and functionality envisioned by the Army’s Aviation Mission Common Server (AMCS) initiative first launched for its helicopter fleet in 2020. A MOSA panel discussion presentation held during the 2022 Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) provides several references to concepts other companies are developing that also focus on providing all of the processing necessary for an aircraft’s individual avionics applications from a single chassis.

Mercury Systems also has a video overview from its AAAA exhibit demonstrating how the AMCS-architected system they have developed consolidates processing managed by multiple boxes on typical in-service Army aircraft into a single chassis.

Collins has also previously demonstrated MOSA avionics concepts in partnership with Army, including a multi-domain operation (MDO) demonstration during the September 2021 Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM). The demonstration, lead by Collins Aerospace, featured software and multiple third-party mission computers—including Parry Labs’ Stellar Relay—integrated into a helicopter flight deck.

The helicopter simulator cockpit at the CEC (Photo: Woodrow Bellamy III)

Harold Tiedman, technical fellow and Collins’ chief engineer for FVL, said the CRADA signed with the Army is also aimed at changing how military aircraft and their mission-specific technologies are acquired, operated, and upgraded.

“With the CRADA and the integration of more systems into these smaller form factors, we’re also really challenging the norms of how procurement is done,” Tiedman said. “Traditionally, the customer or the OEM would buy a computer, you’d buy an environmental control system, a generator, and a health monitoring system, as an example. Those things are all separate systems. But what they all have in common are central processing and control elements. If we can eliminate those individual control elements and integrate them together, now you’re able to reduce the number of boxes and the amount of wire in the aircraft required for each.”

The post US Army Signs CRADA with Collins to Develop New Airworthiness Certification for Multicore Processors and Modularity appeared first on Avionics International.

Researchers at the University of Vermont Evaluate Use of Drones for Disaster Response

The University of Vermont’s Spatial Analysis Laboratory team researches the use of drones for emergency response and disaster preparedness. (Photo: UVM Spatial Analysis Lab)

The Federal Aviation Administration’s ASSURE Center of Excellence recently awarded $2.7 million in grants to support research on the use of drones in emergency response situations. This amount included nearly $1.2M that was awarded to the University of Vermont as well as grants to four additional universities. The research targets use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to address both natural and human-made disasters.

The University of Vermont’s Spatial Analysis Laboratory team joined in the efforts of ASSURE, or the Alliance for System Safety of UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) through Research Excellence, at the end of last year. UVM’s Spatial Analysis Laboratory received $1,195,000 in funding in August, according to the FAA.

Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne, Director of the Spatial Analysis Laboratory, spoke about their ongoing research in an interview with Avionics International. “The first phase of the project was much more academic—doing a lot of research on how drones have been used in disaster response,” he explained. “We’re fortunate as part of the research team with ASSURE to actually get out and work with drones.”

Members of the Spatial Analysis Laboratory at the University of Vermont (Photo: UVM SAL)

The research phase of the project included speaking with people across the U.S. that are involved in responding to natural disasters and managing emergencies. The Spatial Analysis Laboratory (SAL) team talked to sheriffs that are deployed during fires in California, O’Neil-Dunne said, as well as members of the U.S. Forest Service who deal with natural fires and other emergencies on a regular basis.

The researchers at the SAL are now progressing through the second phase of this project. “We’re actually going out and doing exercises with first responders and emergency managers to implement the procedures that we’ve developed for this project,” shared O’Neil-Dunne.

One of their objectives is to have so-called “playbooks” for organizations that want to use drone technology. These playbooks would serve as guides for deploying drones in various types of disasters.

“On one hand, drones can be really simple, but on the other hand, there’s a lot of really advanced technology out there,” he noted. “You can easily spend $1,000 on a drone platform or $200,000. What you need to do to operate safely and effectively can change quite rapidly.”

Images taken by drones depict the damage resulting from a disaster and aid in emergency response. (Photos: UVM SAL)

Safety is of utmost importance in operating drones. To ensure that individuals are using the technology in a safe manner, it’s necessary to develop the proper policies, procedures, and checklists for operating UAS.

In the early stages of UVM’s SAL, the researchers became involved in helping communities deal with small-scale flooding events using drones. This demonstrated to the team that UAS technology could offer incredibly helpful tools to first responders and those in emergency management that would enable new levels of situational awareness.

“What we’re seeing now with the FAA and this funding,” O’Neil-Dunne said, “is figuring out how to get this technology into the hands of more people, because it can potentially save lives and speed up recovery.”

He added that part of speeding the recovery process is being able to access verifiable information in order for FEMA to direct the funds to those who need the most help.

One of the main challenges that comes with the increased use of drones is managing the airspace to account for manned and unmanned aircraft. Integrating drones into the same airspace that is already occupied with conventional passenger aircraft—such as helicopters used for medical evacuation, or civil air patrol reconnaissance—is extraordinarily challenging, remarked O’Neil-Dunne.

“We don’t have the centralized control that you do in, for example, a conflict area like Iraq where the airspace is heavily controlled by the military and there’s structure in place,” he explained. “Our emergency services may not be structured like that for these domestic responses.”

In talking to first responders, the Spatial Analysis Laboratory team found that a major impediment to disaster response is a lack of good policies or technology that allows multiple organizations to quickly launch drones in the airspace.

“We’ve seen situations in the past where some of the drones had to be grounded in a disaster until that coordination could be worked out,” O’Neil-Dunne commented.

“The more this technology gets used, the more opportunities it creates for better decisions, and the more challenges we have with respect to the airspace, safe operation, and coordination,” he added. “Our ability to put things up in the air has far surpassed, at least for right now, our ability to coordinate these things flying in the air.”

The post Researchers at the University of Vermont Evaluate Use of Drones for Disaster Response appeared first on Avionics International.

Lilium Jet Achieves Full Transition from Hover to Wing-Borne Flight

Lilium’s Phoenix 2 technology demonstrator has completed a full transition from hover to wing-borne flight. Lilium has also announced a new partnership with GlobeAir that includes the intent to purchase 12 eVTOL aircraft. (Photo: Lilium)

Last week, Lilium announced that its technology demonstrator has achieved full transition from hover to wing-borne flight. The electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer also shared news last week of a partnership with GlobeAir, a private jet operator. GlobeAir plans to buy 12 eVTOL aircraft, called the Lilium Jet, from the company.

Details of Lilium’s high-speed full transition flight were shared in the company’s Q2 letter to shareholders published on Sept. 27. The technology demonstrator—Phoenix 2—completed the full transition from hover to wing-borne flight on the main wings as well as the canard wings, flying at a speed of about 100 knots. The milestone was achieved at the company’s ATLAS (Air Traffic Laboratory for Advanced Unmanned Systems) Flight Test Center in Villacarrillo, Spain. Lilium has also published video footage of the test flight.

The team has been conducting test flights with the Phoenix 2 aircraft in Spain since this spring, and a main wing transition flight first took place in June. According to the company’s Q2 letter to shareholders, “The fact that the canard and the wing transitioned smoothly is an historic technical achievement in itself but perhaps more important is that the transition happened precisely where the flight physics computer models predicted it would.”

“It all starts with the aircraft itself, its unique architecture, and the electric jet propulsion technology behind it. I’m convinced that the Lilium Jet will be the best aircraft in its class.” – Lilium CEO Klaus Roewe (Photo: Lilium)

The Lilium Jet is on the path to certification with both the Federal Aviation Administration and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). In May, the eVTOL developer announced the completion of its second DOA (Design Organization Approval) audit by EASA. Four total DOA audits are required for commercial aircraft manufacturers to achieve type certification. The team anticipates completing the third DOA audit by the end of this year and finishing the final DOA audit before the end of June 2023.

The team will soon begin conducting even more flight tests with the Phoenix 3 demonstrator aircraft in addition to using the Phoenix 2 model.

Klaus Roewe, who will be formally confirmed as the CEO of Lilium later this month, commented on some of the advantages of their eVTOL’s design in the recently published shareholder letter. The Lilium Jet’s “ducted-jet technology makes it suitable for multiple use cases including premium customers, commercial shuttles, cargo and other applications we have yet to develop,” remarked Roewe. “It is both versatile and scalable to larger form-factors,” he added.

The new partnership between Lilium and GlobeAir that was made public last week will serve to expand charter flights for GlobeAir’s customers in Italy and southern France. According to Lilium, there is high demand in this region for sustainable and efficient transportation options. Italy and the French Riviera also offer “many opportunities for point-to-point travels where travel time can be significantly reduced, and vertical landing is required,” Lilium’s press release stated.

Lilium’s SVP Commercial, Sebastien Borel, remarked that GlobeAir is a leading provider of on-demand air mobility in Europe. “The French Riviera and Italy are key markets, and we are confident that our shared commitment to innovation and partnership will result in a premium customer experience,” Borel said.

The post Lilium Jet Achieves Full Transition from Hover to Wing-Borne Flight appeared first on Avionics International.

Eviation CEO Shares Updates on All-Electric Aircraft

The all-electric Alice aircraft, developed by Eviation, recently made its first flight. (Photo: Eviation)

Global Crossing Airlines Group, or GlobalX, recently signed a letter of intent to order 50 all-electric aircraft from manufacturer Eviation. The airline plans to use these aircraft for new routes in Florida, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean.

Ed Wegel, Chair and CEO of GlobalX, commented on the announcement by Eviation, saying, “We plan to offer the aircraft to our cruise line, tour operators, leisure travel providers, and business clients with a need for short-haul charter flights across Florida.”

Another big announcement came from Eviation last week. Its Alice aircraft completed its first flight on September 27, flying for a duration of eight minutes. The team is working towards entry into service of the all-electric aircraft by 2027. They hope to achieve type certification with the Federal Aviation Administration by 2025.

Cape Air has also placed an order with Eviation for 75 Alice aircraft. Cape Air’s founder and board chairman, Dan Wolf, remarked that the first flight of the Alice aircraft is a transformational milestone for the industry. “Alice can easily cover 80 percent of our flight operations,” he noted in the press release from Eviation.

GlobalX and Cape Air have both placed pre-orders for the Alice aircraft. (Photo: Eviation)

Eviation is based in Washington State and was founded seven years ago. A recent announcement shared that Gregory Davis was appointed as CEO of Eviation after serving as interim-CEO since February 2022. Davis has also been the company’s president since May 2021.

Check out our question-and-answer session below with Eviation’s CEO, Gregory Davis.

Avionics: Could you share any details about the letter of intent from GlobalX?

Davis: The Global Crossing deal is very important to us. It certainly increases our pre-order book for Alice, and this shows more confidence in the option of electric aircraft in the commuter market. We’re excited to see that aircraft go into service in their region. There’s plenty of opportunity for the network of transportation flights that they’re looking at setting up.

It’s exciting times for our company and for our industry. With the Global Crossing deal, it’s very important to see the continued, sustained interest in our product. Every one of those deals comes with a lot of interaction, and we learn a lot about the marketplace when we do a deal. Each of these opportunities to engage with customers makes us stronger as a company and better able to serve our future customers.

Avionics: What is Eviation’s current focus?

Davis: We recently did our high-speed taxi test for Alice, and the first flight of our proof-of-concept prototype aircraft is one of the biggest milestones. Look at the technology development that we’ve got to get through here in order to actually advance electric aviation. We have line of sight on battery technology that will allow us to make a commuter aircraft to fly on the kinds of routes that people are going to want to fly it. We’re looking at the nine-passenger commuter segment or the equivalent of a 2,500-pound cargo capacity. We’re building our entry-into-service plan right now. We’re figuring out how to do all of the steps necessary to get the aircraft through certification into the hands of the customers on the right timeline.

Eviation’s aircraft is powered by two magni650 electric propulsion units from magniX. (Photo: Eviation)

Avionics: Do you foresee any challenges or obstacles for the company in the near future?

Davis: The main challenge that we face in the electric aircraft industry is battery technology. It is going to be a constant challenge for us, for the foreseeable future. The good news is that it’s an industry problem. We have to work together to overcome this and develop the batteries that will take our aircraft, and other aircraft in the electric space, through to market. We’re going to be going through that for the next several years.

Avionics: What will this industry look like in 10 years?

Davis: By then, we will have delivered many, many aircraft to our customers, not only filling our current order book but the future order book that we’re developing right now. We’re going to get to a point in the not-too-distant future where people are simply flying on all-electric aircraft. It’s going to be normal to get on a short-range flight, such as Alice, to go to your destination, or to use these aircraft to have your package delivered with zero specific impact on the environment. The technology is going to adapt very quickly. We’ve seen the evolution of the EV ground vehicle space—people don’t really think twice about it when they see one driving next to them. It’s become very normal very quickly. We’re going to see the same thing happen with electric aviation.

The post Eviation CEO Shares Updates on All-Electric Aircraft appeared first on Avionics International.

Lockheed Martin, Verizon Demonstrate Real-Time Drone ISR Over 5G Networks

Strategic partners Lockheed Martin and Verizon this year have demonstrated the capture and seamless, secure transmission and processing of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data in real-time over private and public next-generation wireless networks, showcasing Lockheed Martin’s efforts to develop 5G.MIL capabilities for the digital all-domain battlespace.

The demonstrations in May and September have involved the use of 5G-enabled small quadcopter drones flying simulated missions and capturing streaming video and high-band digitized radio frequency data to geolocate ground-based targets on the battlefield to enhance situational awareness for deployed troops and command and control leadership, Dan Rice, vice president of 5G.MIL Programs at Lockheed Martin, said during a virtual media roundtable on Tuesday.

The demonstrations showcased three technology capabilities for military applications, he said.

“The high-speed, real-time transfer of that data from multiple drones simultaneously through those 5G private networks is an example of the applicability of 5G.MIL and edge processing technology to support military forces’ increased situational awareness on the battlespace,” Rice said. “The radio frequency data that we transferred enabled advanced signal processing algorithms to be executed at the tactical edge.”

The second area was the use of the technology to detect and geolocate low-power RF signals that adversaries may use for communications, sensing and jamming, Rice said. That data was captured by the drones, transmitted over a private network, and processed by Lockheed Martin algorithms at the tactical edge to geolocate the sources as part of a larger common operating picture, he said.

Finally, during the exercises the companies securely transmitted the data over the private 5G network tailored for military missions in austere environments and a surrogate public network, Rice said. The ability to securely combine the private military and public networks will extend the range of the 5G.MIL technologies and “creates unique opportunities for the military to extend and diversify its communication pathways,” he said.

The key to these advanced, seamless capabilities “across the military depends on the adoption of an open architecture 5G and military communications systems network of networks,” Rice said, highlighting that this is what Lockheed Martin’s 5G.MIL Program is developing.

5G networks began rolling out in the U.S. several years ago and offer increased bandwidth, lower latency and more advanced edge processing than 4G networks. Moreover, 5G allows the “seamless handovers” between the private and public networks and “orchestrate data and applications back to enterprise level clouds,” Rice said.

Srini Kalapala, senior vice president for Technology and Product Development at Verizon, said private 5G networks for the military will eventually allow the ability to configure different priorities and outcomes for users and devices depending on sensitivities. This will be tested out in the coming months, he said.

5G will also enable the connection of many more devices and sensors in a smaller footprint, Kalapala said.

“And with the low latency and edge computing, all of these IoT sensors that were collecting all of this data will now be able to throw the data quickly to the edge and you’ll be able to apply AI or whatever other mechanisms and get the right outcomes so that you can then put it back into whatever activity that they’re trying to do,” he said. “So that’s what makes 5G lot more attractive.”

The first round of demonstrations in May involved using the drones and edge processing to locate and identify the RF emitters and stream the video data of a ground target, Rice said. From mid-September on, the team is doing the same thing against moving ground targets, he said.

Next, the companies plan to demonstrate the geolocation and tracking of an aerial target in real-time by putting an RF emitter on another drone, Rice said. This exercise will begin this fall and move into 2023.

Then, the technology will be put on “longer-range fixed-wing assets” to “extend the operational envelope of where we can do this detection and geolocation,” he said. “So, that will stress both the range of our sensing capability, the range and performance of the 5G networks that we’re using to move the information back to that edge processing capability.”

Verizon supplied two of its private network nodes on-site for the testing, which occurred at Lockheed Martin’s 5G test range in Waterton, Colo.

This article was first published by Defense Daily, a sister publication to Avionics International, to view the original version, click here.>>

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Inmarsat Forms Partnership with Teledyne to Improve Flight Tracking for European Airlines

Inmarsat is partnering with Teledyne Controls in an effort to improve flight tracking for airlines operating in European airspace by leveraging several of their satellite connectivity services for adequately equipped aircraft in the region.

Inmarsat announced the partnership on Sept. 28. Under the partnership, the two sides will integrate Inmarsat’s SB-S platform, powered by its Elera satellite network, with Teledyne’s Aircraft Interface Device (AID+) enabled GroundLink Comm+ communication system and third-party electronic flight bag (EFB) software.

The partnership will “enhance and support airlines’ digital operations across Europe as part of the ground-breaking Iris air traffic modernisation programme,” the company writes in its announcement.

Iris, developed in a public-private partnership launched by ESA, is a service designed to offer high bandwidth and cost-effective satellite datalink communications between air traffic controllers and pilots. It allows aircraft to send and receive live data with ground systems during the entire flight. The service operates on Inmarsat’s SB-S platform.

Teledyne describes the GroundLink Comm+ system as being capable of supporting real-time data streaming, cabin and flight crew connectivity, wireless distribution of field-loadable software parts and automated flight operational quality assurance (FOQA) data downloads. More than 14,500 GroundLink Comm+ units are currently in service with more than 200 commercial airlines, according to Teledyne.

ELERA is the upgraded narrowband L-band network that Inmarsat rolled out last year using capacity from two new I-6 satellites.

In addition, the new partnership will see Inmarsat and Teledyne will integrate and test with commercial off-the-shelf EFB applications from a variety of third-party partners. Demonstrating applications collaboratively, such as real-time multi-source meteorology, system wide information management (SWIM), flight profile optimization, and electronic document management for crew, will validate further the commercial advantage of connected aircraft to airlines.

“By leveraging Inmarsat’s Elera network and SB-S platform through this partnership, we are able to extend our capabilities and the innovations they bring to customers even further. Our combined technologies will promote sustainability for the airlines through optimisation with real-time data to the flight deck and the ground. Now more than ever, we want airlines to be able to reap the rewards of their investment in technologies, and we are thrilled to be working with Inmarsat to deliver this for our customers,” Jim Jackson, Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at Teledyne Controls said.

This article was first published by Via Satellite, a sister publication to Avionics International, it has been edited. View the original version here>>

The post Inmarsat Forms Partnership with Teledyne to Improve Flight Tracking for European Airlines appeared first on Avionics International.

COMAC C919 Achieves Certification in China

China’s C919 passenger jet has received type certification from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). (Photo: COMAC)

The Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China’s C919 passenger jet has achieved certification approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, according to a Sept. 30 announcement from the company.

CAAC’s delivery of the type certificate to COMAC this week comes 15 years after COMAC first development plan for the new jet was approved in 2007 and five years after making its maiden flight in 2017. Several updates released on social media accounts and digital news managed by Chinese state-run media websites have also provided more updates on the certification of the narrow body jet COMAC wants to use to compete with Airbus and Boeing.

A statement released by COMAC celebrating the type certificate received from CAAC for the C919 thanks the aircraft development program’s “global suppliers, partners, customers and all circles for their support and encouragement.”

“We have worked together for a long time, hand in hand, to succeed in developing the C919 aircraft,” COMAC writes in its statement.

The C919 features seating for up to 168 passengers and has a range of 2,200 nautical miles, placing it in direct competition with two of the world’s most delivered passengers jets, the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737.

COMAC’s original planned first delivery and entry into service timing for the C919 was 2016, although technical difficulties delayed the program’s commercial service launch multiple times since then.

(Photo: COMAC)

The majority of the C919 program’s key components, such as the engines and avionics systems, are supplied by western companies such as Collins Aerospace, GE Aviation and Honeywell Aerospace – which all have joint ventures and partnerships with Chinese companies supplying COMAC. The corporation requires foreign suppliers to manufacture parts made for the C919 in China.

An update on the certification published by CGTN, a Chinese state media publication, notes that the first delivery of China’s first domestically produced jet could occur by the end of the year to launch customer China Eastern Airlines. According to CGTN, 28 different airlines have ordered a combined 800 C919 aircraft from COMAC.

The post COMAC C919 Achieves Certification in China appeared first on Avionics International.

WATCH: Eviation’s All-Electric Alice Completes First

Eviation completed the first flight of its all-electric Alice aircraft this week. (Photo: Eviation)

Eviation’s all-electric commuter aircraft, Alice, completed its first flight on Sept. 27 at the Grant County International Airport in Washington. The aircraft remained airborne for eight minutes at an altitude of 3,500 feet for its maiden flight—which has occurred seven years after the company was founded and launched its vision for a zero emissions fixed-wing commuter aircraft.

Omer Bar-Yohay co-founded Eviation in 2015 and the company first unveiled its full-sized functional Alice prototype at the 2019 Paris Air Show—the event where Yohay originally wanted to complete the first flight. Several years later, following a number of program delays, a CEO change and a move of its headquarters to Arlington, Washington, Eviation achieved a major milestone in the Alice electric aircraft development program.

Full flight of Alice:

“Today we embark on the next era of aviation – we have successfully electrified the skies with the unforgettable first flight of Alice,” Eviation President and CEO Gregory Davis said in a Sept. 27 press release. “People now know what affordable, clean and sustainable aviation looks and sounds like for the first time in a fixed-wing, all-electric aircraft. This ground-breaking milestone will lead innovation in sustainable air travel, and shape both passenger and cargo travel in the future.”

Davis, a commercial pilot and engineer, was appointed interim CEO in February and officially took over as chief executive on Sept. 16. He takes on the position after serving as president since May 2021.

Eviation is developing three different variants of Alice, including a nine-passenger commuter, six-passenger executive cabin, and an air cargo version. The aircraft has a maximum operating speed of 260 knots with a maximum useful load of 2,500 lbs for the passenger version and 2,600 lbs for the cargo version.

In the cockpit, Eviation features a fly-by-wire system touchscreens and other avionics technologies from Honeywell Aerospace, including its BendixKing AeroVue touchscreen displays. The Alice technical demonstrator operated by Eviation for the maiden flight is also powered by two magniX magni650 Electric Propulsion Units (EPUs).

The magniX Electric Propulsion Unit (EPU) featured on the Alice Aircraft.

Since launching the Alice development program, Eviation has received orders from U.S.-based regional carriers Cape Air and Global Crossing Airlines for 75 and 50 Alice aircraft respectively. DHL Express, the German cargo operator, has also placed an order for 12 Alice aircraft.

Richard F. Chandler, Chairman, Clermont Group, Majority Shareholder of Eviation; Steve Crane, Test Pilot; Greg Davis, President and CEO of Eviation. (Photo: Eviation)

“The first flight of Alice represents a transformational milestone for the aviation industry,” Cape Air Founder and Board Chairman Dan Wolf said, commenting on the maiden flight. “We currently fly more than 400 regional flights per day, connecting more than 30 cities across the United States and Caribbean. Alice can easily cover 80 percent of our flight operations, bringing sustainable, emission-free travel to the communities we serve.”

Eviation’s latest targeted timeline on developing Alice includes working toward achieving type certification from the FAA by 2025, with the aircraft eventually being ready for deliveries and entry into service by 2027. These dates are however subject to change, according to the company.

The post WATCH: Eviation’s All-Electric Alice Completes First appeared first on Avionics International.

Boeing Agrees to $200M Settlement for Misleading Statements on 737 MAX Flight Control System

(Photo: Boeing)

Boeing and Dennis Muilenburg—who served as president and CEO of the company from July 2015 to December 2019—agreed to pay fines separately under a Sept. 22 settlement announced by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The separate settlements are related to misleading statements made by Boeing and Muilenburg about the 737 MAX’s flight control system following fatal crashes of the aircraft involving Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines in 2018 and 2019.

Both the October 2018 Lion Air and March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crashes involved malfunctioning of the aircraft’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). According to the SEC, Muilenburg and the Boeing Company violated “the antifraud provisions of federal securities laws,” by publicly stating the airplane was safe and had no gaps in its certification process despite already being aware of “contrary information.”

“Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, Boeing and Muilenburg consented to cease-and-desist orders that include penalties of $200 million and $1 million, respectively,” the SEC writes in a Sept. 22 press release. “A Fair Fund will be established for the benefit of harmed investors pursuant to Section 308(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.”

The agency issued two separate cease-and-desist orders to Boeing and Muilenburg, each pointing to specific instances following the Lion Air Flight 610 crash and the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash where each failed to “exercise reasonable care” in making statements about the safety of the 737 MAX.

As it has been shown in a series of international government-industry accident reports and reviews of both crashes, the fatal accidents were the result of erroneous activation of the 737 MAX’s MCAS system. Boeing originally developed MCAS as a feature on the MAX designed to automatically command the aircraft’s nose-down stabilizer to enhance pitch characteristics when entering steep turns with elevated load factors and flaps up conditions that are approaching stall.

Investigations into both the Lion Air and Ethiopian accidents revealed that neither flight was approaching stall conditions at the time MCAS activated. On both flights, erroneous signals from the system’s external sensor repeatedly triggered MCAS while the plane was climbing at a normal angle and the pilots were unable to regain control of the aircraft following the unintended activations, according to the cease-and-desist orders issued by SEC.

“Boeing and Muilenburg put profits over people by misleading investors about the safety of the 737 MAX all in an effort to rehabilitate Boeing’s image following two tragic accidents that resulted in the loss of 346 lives and incalculable grief to so many families,” Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, said in a statement. “But public companies and their executives must provide accurate and complete information when they make disclosures to investors, no matter the circumstances. When they don’t, we will hold them accountable, as we did here.”

The settlement is the latest regulatory action taken against Boeing by the U.S. government since October 2021, when former Boeing 737 MAX Chief Technical Pilot was indicted for fraud.

The FAA became the world’s first civil aviation regulatory agency to approve the MAX’s return to passenger-carrying service in November 2020, after the two crashes led to a 19-month grounding of the global in-service fleet. Since then, other agencies including EASA and Transport Canada issued individual region-by-region approvals of its return to service.

All of the approvals included requirements for software updates and improvements to the flight control laws that permit the activation of MCAS along with other display system and wiring changes to the system. In April, during Boeing’s first quarter 2022 earnings call, current president and CEO Dave Calhoun said that a little more than a year after its return to service, airlines had logged more than 1 million flight hours on the re-certified MAX.

Ethiopian Airlines also officially resumed flight operations of its first re-certified MAX in February. Boeing’s latest reported data shows that at the end of August, the company has received 373 total orders for the MAX this year.

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