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Parker-Hannifin Completes £6.3 Billion Acquisition of Meggitt

Meggitt, the British aerospace and defense supplier, will retain its brand name while joining Parker-Hannifin Corp.’s aerospace division under an acquisition completed this week. Pictured here is the Meggitt chalet from the 2022 Farnborough International Air Show. (Photo: Meggitt)

Parker-Hannifin Corp. has completed its acquisition of U.K.-based aerospace and defense supplier Meggitt for approximately £6.3 billion, according to a Sept. 14 announcement from the two companies.

The acquisition cleared antitrust approvals from the European Commission in April, and separately from U.K. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng in July, on the condition that Parker divested its aircraft wheels and brakes division. Both regulatory agencies found that the transaction would reduce the already limited number of suppliers of wheels and brakes for small general aviation aircraft, business jets, civil and military helicopters, and military fixed-wing drones, according to the EC’s decision on the acquisition published in April.

That led to the $440 million sale of Parker’s aircraft wheel and brake division to Kaman Corp. in May and cleared the completion of the acquisition by Parker this week.

“Parker has great respect for Meggitt, its heritage and its place in British industry. We are committed to being a responsible steward of the company and we plan to continue to innovate and invest in key markets that are of importance to Meggitt,” Roger Sherrard, President of Parker’s Aerospace Group, said in a statement. “The combination of Parker and Meggitt is exciting for both companies and provides our customers with a broad array of solutions for the global aerospace industry.”

The acquisition is the largest in the history of Parker-Hannifin Corp. and will nearly double the size of its Parker Aerospace division, the company said in its announcement. Parker-Hannifin’s aerospace segment includes 5,300 total employees and 24 manufacturing facilities globally with divisions focused on commercial and military flight control as well as hydraulics and other mechanical aircraft systems.

Meggitt provides “proprietary airframes and engine products” for the aerospace market, and has more than 9,000 team members and 40 manufacturing facilities globally, according to its website.

Among Meggitt’s recent commercial aviation supplier contract wins was a selection by Boeing last year to provide cockpit indicators for all versions of the 737 MAX. Meggitt also provides fire detection and suppression systems, electrical power conversion equipment, and elastomeric seals for the MAX.

On the defense side, the company is a supplier for a wide range of military aircraft, including the rudder pedal assemblies for the F-35.

“We are excited to have reached the closing of what is a very compelling strategic and cultural combination,” Tom Williams, CEO of Parker-Hannifin, said in a statement. “Meggitt’s complementary product portfolio and geographic footprint, as well as its proprietary and differentiated technologies, will significantly enhance Parker’s capabilities, positioning us to provide a broader suite of solutions for aircraft and aeroengine components and systems.”

Parker Hannifin is scheduled to host a conference call and presentation about the acquisition on September 28, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The post Parker-Hannifin Completes £6.3 Billion Acquisition of Meggitt appeared first on Avionics International.

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Airbus and Hiratagakuen Partner to Test Future Flight Routes for eVTOLs in Japan

Hiratagakuen, a helicopter operator based in Japan, is partnering with Airbus to simulate ideal eVTOL routes in the Kansai region and to evaluate requirements for launching operations with the CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL. (Photo: Airbus)

Airbus and Japanese helicopter operator Hiratagakuen announced a new partnership last week targeting the development of advanced air mobility operations in the Kansai region of Japan. The partnership will address the requirements for launching commercial services with the CityAirbus NextGen electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Airbus unveiled the fully-electric CityAirbus NextGen aircraft design nearly a year ago which resulted from the Air Mobility Initiative led by Airbus. The company has since selected partners for all of the main components and systems of the eVTOL, including choosing electric motor company MAGicALL to supply a customized version of its MAGiDRIVE generation of motors.

Airbus and Hiratagakuen aim to address a range of operational contexts and enable air mobility services beyond those limited to urban environments. Some of the intended use cases are air medical services, sightseeing, and commercial air transport.

The partners are planning to perform a demonstration flight later in 2022 as part of an initial joint project to create a simulation of ideal routes for eVTOLs in the region, as well as the necessary equipment and concepts of operation. Airbus and Hiratagakuen will be testing advanced navigation and communication technologies via an H135 helicopter to explore how to operate eVTOLs safely within a city.

An H135 helicopter, like the one pictured above, will be used to conduct a demonstration flight in Japan. (Photo: Airbus)

The aim of the simulation, a representative from Airbus told Avionics in an emailed statement, is “to study the feasibility and business rationale of selected flight routes that will connect key points of interest in the Kansai region.” One area of focus is exploration of paths that connect areas around two cities in the area: Osaka and Kobe.

Based in Kansai, Hiratagakuen specializes in helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS), transportation of personnel, flight training, and maintenance. “We have been operating Airbus helicopters for many years,” remarked Mitsuhiro Hirata, Vice President of the Aviation Operation Division of Hiratagakuen, in the announcement last week, “and highly appreciate their high safety, performance, and operational reliability.”

Hirata also commented that the Hiratagakuen team is looking forward to conducting the demonstration flight with Airbus. “We are aware that a revolution in air transportation is now approaching in the Osaka area, and we expect CityAirbus NextGen to play a central role in this revolution,” he said.

“Through this simulation, we will be able to analyse relevant use cases for the communities in Kansai,” stated the representative from Airbus, “to try and find how best CityAirbus NextGen’s zero emission flights could bring added value to passengers’ journeys.”

Airbus is currently doing detailed design work on the CityAirbus NextGen after running extensive simulations and wind tunnel tests. The company announced the start of construction on a new test center in Donauwörth, Germany, in July. This center is an important step towards beginning ground and flight test campaigns for the CityAirbus NextGen, according to Airbus’s spokesperson.

The post Airbus and Hiratagakuen Partner to Test Future Flight Routes for eVTOLs in Japan appeared first on Avionics International.

US Airlines Begin Installing 5G C-Band Filter for Radio Altimeters on Airbus A320s

(Photo courtesy of Thales)

U.S. airlines have begun installing a radio altimeter replacement for in-service Airbus A320 model aircraft that currently feature altimeters susceptible to interference from 5G C-band wireless signals generated by networks recently deployed by AT&T and Verizon. Thales, the Toulouse, France-based avionics manufacturer, has confirmed the start of installations of an upgraded version of their radio altimeters that will replace the 5G C-band susceptible legacy ERT 530.

A Sept. 14 update posted to the Thales Aerospace brand LinkedIn page notes that 50 A320 aircraft operated by unnamed airlines have been retrofitted with the ERT530R. The A320 radio altimeter retrofit program for U.S.-registered A320s is a result of the requirement issued by the FAA in June for operators of regional aircraft that the agency has identified as being the most susceptible to interference from 5G C-band wireless signals to install radio frequency filters by the end of the year.

“At this stage, Thales has received around 2,000 orders for its enhanced, 5G immune Radio Altimeters,” Thales notes in its LinkedIn updates.

Thales first earned a European Technical Standard Order authorization from EASA for the ERT530R in July. The ERT530R uses bandpass radio frequency filtering, a technique that isolates signals within certain frequencies—in this case, those in the 4.2-4.4 GHz range used by aircraft radio altimeters. Signals occurring above and below this range, such as those from AT&T and Verizon’s 5G networks, are attenuated, according to an overview of the how bandpass filters work published by Science Direct.

Aircraft radio altimeters operate within 4.2–4.4 GHz, the lower half of which falls within the C-Band—a frequency range from 3.7–4.2 GHz where the combination of the range of signal transmissions and capacity are optimal. The 5G wireless networks operated by AT&T and Verizon occur within the 3.7–3.98 GHz frequency range, close to the altimeters.

Under an agreement reached with the FAA in June, announced along with the radio frequency filter requirement, AT&T and Verizon are delaying switching on some portions of their respective 5G C-band wireless networks until July 2023.

The A320s, like all Airbus aircraft models except the A380, are equipped with two radio altimeters that provide height information to the aircraft’s auto pilot, auto thrust, primary flight displays, and weather radar, among other navigation systems, according to the 2011 article “Radio Altimeter Erroneous Values” published by two Airbus engineers.

Several U.S. airlines contacted by Avionics International in August regarding the FAA’s 5G C-band radio frequency filter requirement declined to comment on individual progress with retrofitting in-service aircraft. Most deferred to a statement provided by a representative from Airlines for America.

“As the U.S. airline industry works to actively install the required aircraft modifications, we remain in close communication with the federal government, telecommunications companies, manufacturers and other stakeholders to achieve our shared goal of working to safely implement additional 5G service, so that the United States remains a world leader in both safety and technological innovation,” a representative for A4A said in an emailed statement.

The FAA also declined to comment on progress retrofitting any specific aircraft models with radio frequency filters.

“Brazil’s safety regulator and the FAA have already approved the retrofit kits for the regional aircraft that comprise the bulk of the airplanes needing retrofits by the end of 2022,” a representative for the agency wrote to Avionics. “I don’t have an exact number of planes that have been retrofitted, but the count is above 50 and we know that numerous kits are either in transit or already in the hands of the operators.”

A representative for Boeing said, in a statement to Avionics last month, that the company is “actively working with suppliers, regulators, the airlines and telecom companies to ensure long term stability and help mitigate operational restrictions where possible in an effort to promote the safe co-existence of aviation and 5G environments for all models of the Boeing fleet.”

The post US Airlines Begin Installing 5G C-Band Filter for Radio Altimeters on Airbus A320s appeared first on Avionics International.

PODCAST: Shift5 CGO Talks Cybersecurity and Unleashing Connected Aircraft Innovation Faster

Michael Weigand is the Chief Growth Officer and co-founder of Shift5.

On this episode of the Connected Aviation Intelligence Podcast, Shift5 Chief Growth Officer and co-founder Michael Weigand is the guest.

Shift5 is a cybersecurity company that focuses on protecting transportation and military infrastructure and assets from cyberattacks. The company was co-founded in 2018 by Weigand and Josh Lospinoso, a former US Cyber Army Officer who previously founded RedOwl Analytics, which was acquired by Raytheon/Forcepoint in 2018.

Weigand is responsible for executing Shift5’s long-term growth objectives. Prior to Shift5, Michael served eight years in the US Army as an Airborne, Ranger qualified, Infantry officer and was selected as one of the first Cyber operations officers.

He discusses some of the certification and innovation challenges faced by companies developing new electronics software and systems for aircraft which has typically lagged behind advancements in other markets.

Check out this excerpt from the interview below, where the Shift5 CGO compares advancements in other technology markets and how they compare to aviation:

“There are some companies out there doing an amazing job providing aircraft connectivity and other solutions. But the pace of software development that we all take advantage of in our professional lives and where we’ve seen disruption in the automotive industry where we can push over the air software updates, and advance functionality and user features and benefits in a car—think of advances made by Tesla and other manufacturers that are incorporating a lot of those concepts into their newer offerings—we just don’t yet see or have that in the aviation space. A big part of that is regulation. How do we ensure that things are tested and are safe to the levels of requirements and performance expectations that we have in aviation? But candidly, I just think there is a way to achieve both of these things. To deploy especially software features and functionality and advancement faster and provide more value while also maintaining safety. I don’t think that we’ve even begun to scratch the itch there in aviation.”

This episode is sponsored by Shift 5.

Shift5 is the OT cybersecurity company that protects the world’s transportation infrastructure and weapons systems from cyberattacks.

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: Shift5 CGO Talks Cybersecurity and Unleashing Connected Aircraft Innovation Faster appeared first on Avionics International.

Jetson CTO Talks New Testing Facility for R&D and eVTOL Production

Jetson is developing an ultralight personal electric aircraft called the Jetson ONE. The company recently received its 500th pre-order, and deliveries are expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2023. A new production facility and airfield was purchased in April, and Jetson is converting the facility into its European headquarters which should be completed in November. The latest seed round is anticipated to bring in $10 million in investments; $8 million has been secured so far, and the company anticipates finalizing the remaining $2 million by the end of September.

(Photo: Jetson)

Jetson announced in January that it had sold out all of its 2022 production of the Jetson ONE eVTOL since launching in October of 2021. Jetson’s co-founder and president, Peter Ternstrom, told Avionics International that future models of the aircraft will come with longer flight times. The model produced in 2024, for example, could have a flight time of up to 30 minutes, while the current version of the aircraft is expected to have a 20-minute flight time.

Tomasz Patan, co-founder and Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Jetson, recently participated in a question-and-answer session with Avionics to discuss the company’s progress and upcoming milestones.

Avionics: What is the status of Jetson’s facility in Italy?

Tomasz Patan: The site has an 800-meter-long strip of land—which is an actual airfield where we’re going to test our Jetson ONE design. The building next to the airfield is an old industrial facility from the late 19th century. We are currently working hard to renovate this facility and convert it into our European headquarters, with offices, a showroom, and limited production. We are progressing with the project aggressively, and it should be ready in November. It is a perfect location for testing our vehicle and we will later lock in the design of the aircraft.

Jetson’s new R&D and limited production facility located in Arezzo, Tuscany (Photo: Jetson)

Avionics: Can you share any details about the latest seed round?

Tomasz Patan: The seed round is almost closed. We have raised $8 million USD, and we hope to bring this final number to $10 million. It’s a huge milestone for Jetson. Especially in this climate—the current status of the stock market is not really great, and that’s why we are really happy that we are able to do this.

Avionics: How do you expect the company to grow over the next couple of years?

Tomasz Patan: Our team is growing at full speed. We have about 20 employees working full-time, and that number should be around 50 in late 2023. During the spring, we appointed Swedish entrepreneur Rikard Steiber as a Senior Advisor—he is also Jetson’s first external investor. We introduced our new head of research and development, Alec Bialek. We have also hired numerous carbon fiber specialists, mechanical engineers, software developers, and 3D printing specialists. We’re looking to expand the company to the U.S. next year. As we work to lock in the design and prepare for manufacturing, we are also looking at our next step in the U.S. We are really looking forward to seeing the opportunities awaiting us there. This is also quite important for Jetson because currently, 75% of our clients are based in the U.S. It’s also because of the regulations that allow our clients to fly Jetson ONE without a pilot license; those regulations are already there in the U.S.

Avionics: What are the unique features of the Jetson ONE?

Tomasz Patan: The most important aspect is that the Jetson ONE is an ultra-light aircraft. It’s a very compact and lightweight personal flying aircraft that anyone in the U.S. (and some other countries) could fly without a pilot license. Clients will learn how to operate it according to regulations and in a safe manner.

The flight time is up to 20 minutes, and the weight of the aircraft is 40 kilograms [88 pounds], or 86 kilograms with batteries. It’s equipped with many safety features, including a ballistic parachute. It has a flight computer and fly-by-wire controls system where you can actually let your hands off the joysticks and it will hover automatically in one spot. It will also stabilize itself during flight. Because of the specialized flight computer that we use, it’s possible to learn to fly it in a matter of minutes which is quite a novelty in the industry.

The ultralight Jetson ONE eVTOL weighs only 88 pounds without batteries, or about 190 pounds with batteries. (Photo: Jetson)

The aircraft uses eight motors; you can still fly safely even without one of the motors. The battery system is redundant, and all the electronic systems onboard are fully redundant.

The top speed of the Jetson ONE is 102 kilometers per hour [63 mph]. To control it, you have just one joystick, a 3-axis joystick, and a throttle lever—two controls that are extremely easy to operate. It also doesn’t require any maintenance, because it is fully electric.

Avionics: What systems are in the aircraft?

Tomasz Patan: Some of the components are proprietary, and we are working together with other companies to supply the rest of the components.

The display screen is minimalistic. It is located in the front of the cockpit so the pilot always has a good view of the display. It shows remaining battery capacity, remaining flight time, and some very basic information provided by the flight computer.

You also have a very bright LED, a warning light, whenever there is a situation. This LED will basically show you when you should be heading back for landing. Even though you have that information available to you, the flight computer will have an automatic landing feature. Whenever there is a situation that you are not responding to correctly, this feature will be activated, and the Jetson ONE will start descending, but you still have full control while descending and you can choose your landing location.

Avionics: What is the team currently working on?

Tomasz Patan: The biggest upcoming milestone will be locking in the design of the aircraft. This also means we will still have to test our ballistic parachute as well as some of those safety features that will require a lot of flight hours. That’s the whole reason for the new facility, where we can easily fly the pre-production prototypes 24 hours a day.

We are really happy with our progress—another recent milestone for us is that we recently sold our 500th unit. We are on track with 2023 deliveries, and we are preparing for manufacturing to start early next year. Flight testing will be happening at our new airfield.

The post Jetson CTO Talks New Testing Facility for R&D and eVTOL Production appeared first on Avionics International.

NASA Conducts New Series of Flight Tests with Autonomous Sikorsky Helicopter

NASA’s Integration of Automated Systems effort recently conducted the first in a new series of research flights with the Sikorsky Autonomy Research Aircraft, or SARA. (Photo: NASA)

Pilots and researchers from NASA began conducting research flights with the Sikorsky Autonomy Research Aircraft, or SARA, in March. The system uses Sikorsky’s MATRIX Technology that is designed to enable operators to autonomously fly any aircraft, or to fly an aircraft as an optionally piloted vehicle. The researchers and pilots performing these flight tests are part of NASA’s Integration of Automated Systems (IAS) effort within the Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign program. NASA’s team has now started a new series of flight test campaigns in the past couple of weeks to continue exploring autonomous technologies in partnership with Sikorsky and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The new test flights involve determining how well the SARA platform can interpret a flight path’s four-dimensional trajectories into primitive commands and then follow those commands. “The pilots were reviewing the flight profiles and approving them for execution,” explained Dr. Adam J. Yingling, IAS Technical Lead at NASA, in an interview with Avionics International. The use of 4D trajectories adds the fourth element of time to the three components historically used to calculate an aircraft’s trajectory (latitude, longitude, altitude).

A key component of research for advanced air mobility (AAM) is the pilot interface. The IAS flight tests are evaluating three different tablets for pilots to use, Dr. Yingling shared. “We looked at a Getac F110, a ruggedized computer tablet format; we looked at a Samsung S7; and we’re also looking at iPads,” he said. He added that the tablets have worked very well so far and exceeded his expectations in terms of performance.

It’s important for the pilot interface to make it easy for the operator to select options while in flight, which can include a lot of movement and changes in lighting. That all needs to be factored in to the interface, and it needs to be easy for pilots to interpret any information that is displayed, said Dr. Yingling.

NASA’s IAS team is working on data analysis to quantify how successfully the aircraft was able to follow the software. The first week of testing, which took place at the end of August into early September, also involved testing the effects of different atmospheric conditions to evaluate how sensitive the algorithm is to certain external factors. “The aircraft has its own physical limitations for things like right-angle turns, but we anticipated that, and the aircraft did a good job following the commands,” he remarked.

Dr. Yingling explained that Sikorsky offers significant expertise in autonomous technologies, such as the MATRIX Technology. However, he noted, there won’t be one single type of technology that can create the autonomy the AAM industry will need. “We’re going to have to stack the algorithms to work well together,” he said. “Some of the automations are all about flying safely. Some are about communicating with external services, with other aircraft, with air traffic control, and all of these need to be brought together. We have to figure out how to stitch them together so that they work in concert.”

NASA, Sikorsky, and DARPA will continue their partnership to explore different requirements for enabling AAM. One capability that will be necessary is machine-to-machine communications for autonomous aircraft flying in a dense airspace. Future flight tests will involve scenarios where the automation has to sense and avoid multiple aircraft.

“We’re envisioning a future that has a very dense airspace where typical communications through air traffic control would get congested,” Dr. Yingling shared. “With our scenarios, we’re going to be simulating very dense air traffic.”

Some of NASA’s commercial partners are also involved in the U.S. Air Force’s Agility Prime program, like electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer Joby Aviation. NASA and the Agility Prime team have both collaborated with Joby to develop AAM technologies.

NASA’s IAS efforts include evaluating requirements for the design of high-density vertiports. eVTOL aircraft will have different flight profiles for take-offs and landings at vertiports, and it’s important to consider the needs of these aircraft in designing vertiports to enable high-density operations, according to Dr. Yingling.

He added that they will use the SARA platform, which has a large flight envelope, as a surrogate for eVTOL aircraft to test out various flight profiles and determine design requirements for vertiport facilities.

The post NASA Conducts New Series of Flight Tests with Autonomous Sikorsky Helicopter appeared first on Avionics International.

Skyports Continues Partnerships with Wisk and AirAsia, Prepares for Vertiport Testing in Paris

Skyports is continuing to work with its partners Wisk Aero and AirAsia on research related to advanced air mobility infrastructure and operations. Skyports is also planning to launch its vertiport testbed site in Paris in November. (Photo: Skyports)

Skyports, a UK-based vertiport designer and developer, shared updates on its research projects and partnerships with AirAsia and Wisk in emailed statements to Avionics International. The continuing collaboration between Skyports and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer Wisk Aero is currently focused on flight and vertiport resource coordination, according to a company spokesperson. Skyports is also working with AirAsia and other partners to initiate conversations with regulators in Malaysia.

The partnership between Skyports and Wisk, announced in April, was the first to connect an autonomous eVTOL developer and a vertiport developer-operator in the U.S. The companies released a concept of operations listing requirements for safe and autonomous eVTOL operations and corresponding infrastructure. The representative from Skyports noted that the ConOps was just the beginning of a long-term partnership with Wisk.

“We are now both actively contributing to research projects which will identify high priority data and communication interfaces to support AAM operations,” wrote the Skyports’ representative. “This current piece of work is an important stage of our efforts to create high level interface documentation.”

In the mid- to long-term, they added, Wisk and Skyports will “work on complex aspects of aircraft and airfield integration, electrification concepts, and more.”

Skyports acquired a London heliport earlier this year. (Photo: Skyports)

Skyports announced the acquisition of a heliport in London in January. The company’s representative explained that although commercial operations for advanced air mobility are not expected to begin until 2024, Skyports is experimenting with and verifying vertiport-related technology concepts using the London heliport. “We have currently deployed a majority of our technology baseline to the heliport and are commencing testing in an operational environment,” they stated.

AirAsia signed a letter of intent with Skyports in late July with the goal of deploying air taxi infrastructure in Malaysia. The letter of intent includes a year-long partnership between the two companies to perform feasibility studies on deploying vertiports in the country. The early stages of the partnership have seen Skyports focus its efforts “on initiating conversations with the country’s regulators and relevant aviation bodies,” the representative shared.

“In tandem with this, we are working closely with our partners to gather critical knowledge and input to form the foundation of the study. We look forward to sharing the outputs and results with industry and media as soon as possible.”

A rendering of the interior of the Cergy-Pointoise vertiport facility (Photo: Skyports)

In late 2021, Skyports announced plans to establish the first commercial vertiport in Europe. It will initially be used as a technology testbed, and will be built and operated at Groupe ADP’s Cergy-Pontoise Airfield in Paris. Practical completion of the site is scheduled for September 16, according to Skyports’ spokesperson.

Systems integration and two months of extensive testing of the vertiport will follow, and the company expects the launch of the site to occur in early November. As the representative from Skyports explained, “the testbed is vehicle agnostic and will facilitate all leading eVTOL OEMs to test and demonstrate aircraft capabilities in a live environment. Volocopter will be one of the earliest eVTOL companies to bring their vehicle to site.”

Other eVTOL developers, including Vertical Aerospace, Joby, Eve Air Mobility, and Airbus, are also part of the program.

The post Skyports Continues Partnerships with Wisk and AirAsia, Prepares for Vertiport Testing in Paris appeared first on Avionics International.

JSX CEO Gives Starlink In-Flight Internet Updates at FTE Global

(Photo courtesy of JSX)

LAS VEGAS — JSX expects to begin operating its first passenger-carrying flight featuring SpaceX’s Starlink in-flight connectivity (IFC) service by October, according to comments made by the charter operator’s CEO Alex Wilcox at the Future Travel Experience (FTE) Global event this week.

The California-based company was confirmed as the launch air carrier for Starlink IFC in April, marking SpaceX’s first entry into the commercial aviation IFC market. During his participation in the FTE panel discussion “In-flight Experience 2030,” Wilcox provided a timeline for the launch for the new service and some insight into how it will work.

“Probably the number one complaint we get from customers is no Wi-Fi. We’re the launch customer for SpaceX Starlink Wi-Fi solution, that will be on every airplane by the end of this year,” Wilcox said, adding that the first Starlink-equipped JSX flight should occur by October.

Starlink is a constellation of Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites with a focus on enabling broadband internet service in remote areas. SpaceX has launched more than 3,000 Starlink satellites for the constellation this year, according to recent reporting by Via Satellite, a sister publication to Avionics International.

JSX operates a fleet of 77 total Embraer 135s and 145s, and currently has Starlink antennas, modems, and wireless access points installed and testing on two of its aircraft. Wilcox described the performance of Starlink on those two aircraft as working “amazingly well.”

The JSX co-founder said that even with the technology still in testing mode, they were actually able to use it as an alternative to airport internet service. According to Wilcox, during a recent internet service outage at Hollywood Burbank Airport, JSX airline staff took a laptop onboard one of their Starlink-equipped aircraft and used that to check passengers in instead.

“That’s how good it is,” Wilcox said.

While JSX already confirmed that it will offer the service free of charge to passengers, Wilcox provided more insight into how the Starlink IFC service will be operated and accessed.

Wilcox also revealed JSX’s plans for a new Starlink livery to be added to one of their aircraft later this year as well by sharing this image during the panel discussion.

“That’s going to be lounge to lounge service, the second you get on the airplane, all you need to do is click on the SSID and you’re on,” he said. “There’s no login, no credit card, nothing, just on and open for everybody. It’s 200 mbps to the airplane and it’s awesome.”

When asked whether JSX would consider adding seatback in-flight entertainment (IFE) screens to its Embraer fleet, the air carrier’s CEO said he believes they’re “firmly in the bring your own screen camp” and does not see that investment happening any time soon.

Hawaiian Airlines was confirmed as SpaceX’s first major commercial airline customer shortly after JSX became the launch air transportation customer in April. Hawaiian will also offer the service to passengers for free, and expects to begin equipping its aircraft with Starlink terminals next year.

SpaceX’s top Starlink executive, Jonathan Hofeller, said during his appearance at the Connected Aviation Intelligence Summit earlier this year that several other airline agreements are in the works as well.

The post JSX CEO Gives Starlink In-Flight Internet Updates at FTE Global appeared first on Avionics International.

Spirit Airlines CIO Eyes Use of In-Flight Connectivity to Transmit Flight Operational Data

(Photo courtesy of Spirit Airlines)

Two months after switching its new in-flight internet service on for the first time, Spirit Airlines Chief Information Officer (CIO) Rocky Wiggins provided more insight into how the low-cost airline wants to expand its use of connectivity for both passengers and operations.

Spirit first started providing in-flight connectivity (IFC) to passengers on some of its Airbus A320 fleet in July, and will continue equipping its entire fleet with the service over the next few years. During a fireside chat session at the Future Travel Experience (FTE) Global event in Las Vegas this week, Wiggins explained how Spirit wants to optimize its use of connectivity for both passengers and flight operations in the near future.

“The things you can look forward to in the near future will [include extending] the product from a 10,000-foot limit to gate-to-gate,” Wiggins said.

According to Thales, Spirit’s IFC service is enabled by a set of strategic agreements first established with satellite operators SES and Hughes Network Systems in 2017. Under the agreements, SES contracts Hughes for service on EchoStar XVII and EchoStar XIX HTS satellites, and combines them with its AMC-15 and AMC-16 satellites to provide the four-satellite network initially enabling connectivity for Spirit passengers.

In August, Thales confirmed through a post on its LinkedIn account that some of Spirit’s aircraft have also started connecting to a fifth high throughput satellite (HTS), SES-17. In-flight internet purchasing options for Spirit passengers have been separated into a browsing category that starts at $2.99 and a streaming category that starts at $5.99.

While acknowledging the benefits of providing passenger connectivity during his fireside chat at FTE, Wiggins also discussed how Spirit views its return on investment related to the new IFC service and whether charging passengers for access could provide ancillary revenue. Eventually, he believes the airline could exploit the service for transmitting operational data about aircraft components and system faults or maintenance needs in real time.

Rocky Wiggins has been the chief information officer of Spirit Airlines since 2016.

“The return on that investment is a bit squishy, it’s further out and it requires a tremendous amount of discovery,” Wiggins said, regarding the potential to create ancillary revenue from passengers paying for IFC.

But the Spirit CIO said there could be major potential in using the connectivity to transmit operational data in real time. In recent years, both airlines and in-flight connectivity service providers have offered a wide variety of perspectives on how high-speed connectivity can be used to stream flight operational data to ground crews or operations bases to inform them of potential aircraft maintenance issues or items that need to be addressed once an aircraft lands.

Viasat for example, features a data sheet on its website explaining how their partnership with Teledyne enables the use of a connected aircraft interface device (AID) to transmit real-time flight data for “enhanced flight and maintenance operations” that the company claims can be done at a lower charge than sending that data over the aircraft communications, addressing and reporting system (ACARS). In April, the Collins Aerospace-sponsored publication Connected Aviation Today featured an interview with a UPS flight operations manager discussing the concept of predictive maintenance.

Airbus also discussed the topic in April for an article published by FAST, their internally distributed online magazine. “The crew can also use the SATCOM to contact the [Airline Operations Center] AOC regarding, for example, an HF system fault message alert during the flight which could impact the next flight dispatch,” the French airplane maker notes in the article.

Wiggins said Spirit is a big believer in the concept but has not yet started using its connectivity to transmit real-time operational data.

“We knew that we wouldn’t be getting engineering data off the aircraft in-flight right away, but as we put the Thales deal in place it already was structured to let us do that,” Wiggins said. “I can already point to a handful of events that I want to know right away that occur on the aircraft that I can transmit down to the destination airports so they can be ready to respond, that reduces our turn time. We have a handful of those, we think right now the potential is tremendous, and it’s going to require a significant amount of data mining, machine learning and discovery. We’re preparing to do that because we think the payoff could be quite huge in terms of aircraft utilization, turn time, and a less disruptive experience for our customers. But the program isn’t built on that.”

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Eve, AMSL Aero, and V-Star Provide eVTOL Development Updates

Eve, AMSL Aero, and V-Star all gave updates on their aircraft designed for the advanced air mobility market in Australia. (Photo: AMSL Aero)

Eve Air Mobility, a subsidiary of Embraer, is one of the leading companies worldwide that is developing an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Rob Weaver, Regulation and Public Policy Global Lead at Eve, shared updates on their aircraft at the Australian Association for Uncrewed Systems summit on advanced air mobility (AAM) last week. Andrew Moore,co-founder and CEO of AMSL Aero, and Tony Laws, CEO and co-founder of V-Star Powered Lift Aviation, also discussed updates related to AAM aircraft at the summit.

Eve’s vehicle targets routes of 100 km or less within the urban air mobility market. Rob Weaver remarked that while building an eVTOL is a main focus for the company, they are also currently involved in a number of other activities. “We’re accelerating the entire urban air mobility [UAM] industry,” he said.

“We’re using our skills and experience in aviation for other key roles like services and support. Embraer has a global services and support network to support commercial aircraft, and using that knowledge experience is something we want to offer the entire industry, not just operators of Eve aircraft.”

Air traffic management, or ATM, is incredibly important for the emerging UAM industry, according to Weaver. A new global approach to ATM is necessary to integrate eVTOL aircraft into the airspace—especially those that may be remotely piloted or autonomous in the near future. To that end, Eve is developing software for ATM in urban environments, leveraging Embraer’s expertise in providing air traffic management in Brazil.

Eve’s team is also preparing its aircraft for autonomous operations, during which the eVTOL can carry up to six passengers. Embraer and Eve completed a series of flights earlier this year to test new autonomous system technologies. The two companies collected data via piloted helicopters for Embraer’s Autonomous Systems project and worked with partners including Iris Automation, Near Earth Autonomy, and Daedalean.

Weaver shared that in the past year, four customers in Australia have signed letters of intent (LOIs) for up to 150 of Eve’s eVTOL aircraft, including Sydney Seaplanes and Nautilus Aviation. As of the end of August, Eve had more than 2,000 LOIs for its aircraft.

This week, United Airlines signed a conditional purchase agreement for 200 of Eve’s four-seat electric aircraft plus options to buy an additional 200 eVTOLs.

The current design of Eve’s aircraft includes a conventional wing and tail instead of the vehicle’s previous canard configuration. (Photo: Eve)

In February, Eve announced a new partnership with Skyports to develop a concept of operations for advanced air mobility in Japan that will support the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB).

“We really need regulators and industry globally having a shared vision of what this industry will look like and how it will work,” said Weaver. “We’ve been able to provide our expertise in air traffic management and eVTOLs to help guide that in Japan.”

Weaver pointed to two other significant updates that came from Eve this summer: the unveiling of a full-sized mock-up of its eVTOL’s cabin and a new wing configuration at the Farnborough Airshow, and the announcement that the team will conduct a UAM simulation using Blade Air Mobility’s helicopters this month. The simulation, which is taking place at a heliport facility in downtown Chicago, will occur over three weeks and will include passenger flights.

Developing a cost-effective model is a priority for Eve, said Weaver: “This is about trying to hit a price point where more people can take air mobility as a mode of transport.” Cost is also an important factor for the company AMSL Aero, according to co-founder and CEO Andrew Moore. “It has to be very efficient, both in terms of the capital to develop the aircraft as well as its efficiency in operating costs,” Moore said.

AMSL’s eVTOL, the Vertiia, will have a maximum range of 250 km via electric batteries, but it is also designed to fly up to 1000 km using hydrogen. “We designed it with a focus on long-range from the outset; short range doesn’t get you very far in Australia,” explained Moore. Although its cruising speed will be 300 km per hour, Moore says that that is just a starting point, and AMSL’s team plans to expand that in the near future.

Because the eVTOL designed by AMSL can operate using hydrogen, the aircraft will be able to use existing heliport infrastructure. “That means we can scale operations—or operate at scale—faster or more efficiently” than companies developing eVTOL aircraft that require charging stations.

AMSL has been flying two sub-scale prototypes for the past five years. Currently, said Moore, the team is working to complete the integration and testing that will lead to their full size prototype’s first flight. That flight testing will start later in 2022 in Australia, he shared.

Another enterprise aiming to take a leadership role in the Australian advanced air mobility industry is V-Star Powered Lift Aviation. V-Star is a new company that provides and operates VTOL aircraft for customers in Australia and Oceania. They also provide training and engineering support.

The company’s fleet currently includes the Leonardo AW609 tilt rotor VTOL aircraft with twin engines; the Dufour Aerospace Aero3—a tilt-wing hybrid-electric aircraft that can take off and land vertically; and XTI’s TriFan 600, capable of both vertical and short take-offs and landings.

Powered-lift aircraft like those developed by Dufour Aerospace are capable of efficient flight and vertical take-offs and landing. (Photo: V-Star / Dufour Aerospace)

Tony Laws, CEO and co-founder of V-Star, shared details about the venture’s partnership with the Swiss company Dufour Aerospace during last week’s summit. Through the agreement, V-Star will gain early access to both manned and unmanned aircraft from Dufour.

Although V-Star has only been a registered company since April, “we have been working for a long time on establishing access to these amazingly versatile aircraft,” said Laws. “We want to be a leading player in this field, not just in Australia but Oceania as well.”

The hybrid aircraft that V-Star offers have 70% lower emissions than traditional turbine aircraft. A hybrid VTOL model also comes with lower operating costs and is ideal for longer-range tourism and regional air mobility applications, Laws noted. The smaller electric aircraft are better suited for routes of 100 km or less.

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