2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Germany-based Lilium is preparing to resume flight testing with a second demonstrator example of its all-electric Lilium Jet eVTOL aircraft once restrictions imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic are eased. A small contingent of the company’s engineering team is currently able to work on the aircraft at its headquarters near Munich and a spokesman told FutureFlight&nbsp;that it hopes changes to social distancing rules will permit flight tests to restart in “a few months.”
The second technology demonstrator will be the same size as the first, which finished flight testing in October 2019, and will incorporate some design changes to the five-seat aircraft. The second phase of flight testing, which was interrupted by both Covid-19 and a fire in Lilium’s facilities, is expected to see the aircraft flown faster and demonstrate a full transition to wing-borne cruise flight as the company aims to complete the preliminary design review.
In a presentation to the Vertical Flight Society on May 21, Lilium’s chief program officer Yves Yemsi explained that the company is using program management processes, including stage gate reviews, that are similar to those at major aerospace groups, such as Airbus and Rolls-Royce. Lilium has a team of around 90 people already working on the production phase of the program, to be ready for planned type certification in 2025.
“We don’t want to lose quality at any stage so we are putting controls in place at all levels,” explained Yemsi, who formerly held a senior quality and program role with Airbus. Lilium is also engaging with companies in its supply chain to ensure they are in sync with the level of technology maturity required for the detailed design, production, and service entry phases of the program.
On March 23, Lilium completed another funding round that generated more than $240 million, raising the amount of capital it has achieved to date to $340 million. The company now employs more than 450 employees, including more than 35 PhDs and 40 different nationalities.
Lilium plans to operate its aircraft commercially in air taxi services that will offer flights of up to around 186 miles. The company intends to partner with various infrastructure providers to support operations.

Production Manager

Martha Jercinovich

Lilium Hopes To Resume eVTOL Flight Testing in Coming Months

Ampaire, a developer of hybrid electric aircraft propulsion, has teamed with Ikhana Aircraft Services to explore modifying Twin Otter airframes to fly with that technology. California-based Ikhana is known for engineering modifications for Twin Otters, including having received an FAA supplemental type certificate for its DHC-6-300HG with a maximum gross weight increase to 14,000 pounds, from 12,500 pounds.
The two companies have launched a NASA-funded study to explore the “electrification“ of the Twin Otter. Under NASA’s Electric Aircraft Propulsion program, the two companies will evaluate various options and produce plans to assess the cost, schedule and risk mitigation for the planned development. The partners’ goal is to be able to put a hybrid-electric version of Ikhana’s 19-seat RWMI DHC-6 300HG Twin Otter. The 1,500 hp/1 MW power specifications of the current aircraft’s Pratt &amp; Whitney Canada PT6 engines meet the criteria for the NASA program.
Ampaire is looking to accelerate the introduction of electrically powered aircraft by modifying existing models, rather than seeking to develop completely new designs. Its first project has been to produce a hybrid-electric version of the Cessna 337 piston single called the EEL. Ampaire first flew the EEL in June and since then has relocated its electric motor from the rear of the aircraft to the front. Both aviation gasoline and electric motors are rated at 210hp (160 kW). The electric motor is throttled via software so that the stock engine can keep up with it.
According to Ampaire, it is moving the battery pack to a specially designed pod underneath the aircraft, which the landing gear can handle. This configuration frees passenger space inside the EEL.
Ampaire co-founder and CEO Kevin Noertker told&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;choosing the Twin Otter for its next hybridization was a logical step up. The company had been looking into re-engining a 9- to 19-passenger capacity with the widest appeal to potential clients.
NASA’s project aims to reduce noise, fuel burn, and emissions. Brice Nzeukou, Ampaire’s product manager, told&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;the company will not only meet these aims but exceed them. It believes that the NASA Viking Twin Otter hybridization will mean that the company can scale up the technology to single-aisle airliners soon after. Ampaire’s project falls under FAA Part 23 rules, which presents the prospect of a path towards aircraft electrification. Nzeukou says it will enable true emission and energy reduction as it scales up to regional aircraft and reach 50 to 100-seater airplanes.
Ampaire CEO Kevin Noertker said, “We see NASA’s support as validation of Ampaire’s retrofit strategy. It’s a low-risk, achievable path to a hybrid/electric, and ultimately a full-electric, future."
Ikhana president and CEO John Zublin said the airframe is ideally suited to this development. He said, “The Twin otter is a unique&nbsp;multi-role aircraft with proven flexibility to operate as an urban commuter, a back-country bush plane, and in various special-missions applications. It’s an ideal demonstration platform for electrification technologies and as a certified product will have broad market appeal in its own right."
Noertker added, "Ampaire’s study of the aviation market indicates that one-third of aviation emissions are accounted for by route segments of less than 1,000 kilometers [540 nm]. We have the technology today to address these route segments on aircraft up to 19 seats, while hybrid electric solutions will come for larger aircraft in the longer term. We can have a hybrid electric Twin Otter in service in just a few years."

Ampaire, Ikhana Team on Electrified Twin Otter Plan

U.S. startup Archer on May 21 announced plans to bring an&nbsp;eVTOL aircraft to market. Backers of the Palo Alto, California-based company include Walmart eCommerce CEO Marc Lore, as well as cofounders Brett Adcock and Adam Goldstein, who recently sold recruitment platform Vettery to the Adecco Group for $100 million.
Archer is still in the early stages of defining its as-yet-unnamed aircraft, which it said would carry four passengers up to 60 miles at speeds of up to 150 mph. The company has recruited several&nbsp;engineers from rival eVTOL startups, such as former Wisk engineering v-p Tom Muniz and Geoff Bower, who was formerly chief engineer with Airbus’s Vahana project. Archer's 40-strong team also includes engineers from Joby Aviation and NASA.
The company is targeting initial type certification under EASA’s new special condition rules for eVTOL aircraft. As such, it said the all-electric aircraft will have a maximum takeoff weight not exceeding 7,000 pounds.
The design also will feature a wing to increase potential range and speed, as well as reduce&nbsp;noise. An early representation of the proposed concept shows six&nbsp;presumably&nbsp;tilting&nbsp;propellers fitted to the wing and a V-shaped tail.
“We are still evaluating different concepts and the architecture, including lift plus cruise and vectored thrust,” said Adcock. “We’re looking at what part of the battery [capacity] is accessible for cruise, and the need to negotiate around [emergency power] reserves and trying to design around the worst possible [operating] conditions.”
Archer’s founders have yet to publish a timeline for certification and service entry. They told FutureFlight&nbsp;they plan to spend the next 12 to 18 months defining the design and building an 80 percent scale demonstrator aircraft that it intends to fly in 2021. The company confirmed that it has already flown a number of subscale models and is continuing with tests for these.&nbsp;
Archer has not disclosed how much launch capital it has raised for the program&nbsp;but confirmed that Lore, investing in a personal capacity, is the main backer. He sold retail website Jet.com to Walmart for around $3 billion and previously sold the now-defunct Quidsi portal to Amazon for $545 million in 2010.
According to Goldstein, the cost of getting an eVTOL into commercial service is likely to exceed $1 billion. He indicated that Archer will seek strategic investors, pointing to recent examples in the sector, such as Japanese carmaker Toyota’s backing for Joby and the major investment made by Korean automotive group Hyundai.
Acknowledging the large number of contenders in the eVTOL and urban air mobility sector, Adcock told FutureFlight, “There needs to be a crowd because [the new technology and business model] is very challenging and we wouldn’t be here without having seen what is possible.”
Some of Archer’s competitors have been working on eVTOL and urban air mobility plans for several years and say they will be ready for service entry as soon as 2023. The company indicated that it views the rollout of this mode of transportation as being a longer-term project that will span at least 10 to 20 years. It intends to be involved in operating its aircraft and also, with the support of partners, in developing all aspects of supporting infrastructure.
“We’ve already done a lot of work on the business case for eVTOL, and we believe it needs to generate money from the start to be sustainable,” commented Goldstein. “This involves getting a magic formula right between speed, range, payload, and noise.”
Archer's launch comes as a boost to the eVTOL sector, with questions having been raised in recent months about whether its huge investment needs can be met in Covid-19 market conditions. It is the first new program launch since the start of the pandemic.

Archer Launches eVTOL into Crowded Marketplace

The European aviation community is asking&nbsp;regulators to put a pause on its current proposal surrounding the integration of drones into&nbsp;airspace and to pursue a more comprehensive consultation on the issue that provides for greater industry input and clarity. Members of the “We are all ONE in the sky” initiative, including 17 industry organizations,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ebaa.org/app/uploads/2020/05/WE-ARE-ALL-ONE-IN-THE-SKY-Open-Letter-to-the-European-Commission.pdf">wrote the European Commission&nbsp;</a>this week saying they believe the upcoming “U-Space” airspace regulation is an important first step toward achieving a performance-based and risk-based approach to integration.
“Unfortunately, while some progress has been made since the draft opinion was first published in October 2019, the draft regulation still does not fully address the concerns that have been consistently raised by the signatories to this letter,” said the organizations, which included the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), as well as groups representing the air transport sector.
The groups representing a cross-section of industry—from commercial airlines to business and general aviation, airports and air traffic controller entities—previously had voiced a number of concerns. Specifically, they said the proposal did not go far enough to address conflict management; did not provide a strong enough link between authorization and control functions; did not provide enough clarity on responsibilities of actors involved in the use of the airspace; did not address the practical aspects of how the framework might be implemented; and did not adequately provide for common information exchanges.
“It is essential to pause activities (at least four months) to provide the opportunity for all manned and unmanned aviation stakeholders to work together and address the key areas of concern,” they told the EC.
“Launching a new and more comprehensive consultation (i.e. with greater time for inputs and more extensive stakeholder engagement) on the revised text would be extremely valuable and welcome,” they said, adding, “transparency is a must.” The organizations asked for the inclusion of key manned and unmanned aviation representatives in the consultation.
“EBAA has always supported an inclusive approach that takes into account the needs of all airspace users. The current proposal from EASA is a promising first step, but more work is required to find a solution that does not limit airspace availability,” said EBAA secretary-general Athar Husain Khan.

European Orgs Ask for More Industry Input on Drone Regs

GKN Aerospace has agreed to supply the wings, empennage, and electrical wiring interconnection systems (EWIS) for the <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/aircraft-program/alice">Alice</a> regional electric aircraft recently launched by Eviation, the companies announced Monday. The all-composite electric aircraft, designed to fly up to distances of 500 miles, will use distributed propulsion, high-energy-density batteries, so-called mission-driven energy management, and a new airframe tailored to such technological advances for regional flight operators.
In January, a prototype of the Alice&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2020-01-24/eviations-electric-alice-aircraft-catches-fire-during-ground-tests">caught fire during ground testing</a>&nbsp;and was badly damaged. Eviation has declined to comment on when plans to start flight testing, which had been expected early in 2020, may resume.
GKN lays claim as the world’s multi-technology leader in the design and manufacture of lightweight aerostructures and EWIS systems. It serves as a partner in the Airbus ‘Wing of Tomorrow’ program and is as a Tier 1 supplier of lightweight business jet empennages. As part of GKN Aerospace’s collaboration agreement with Eviation, design&nbsp;and manufacturing activities have already begun at Eviation’s Isreal facilities and in several GKN Aerospace engineering centers across Europe.
"The development of all-electric aircraft is ground-breaking; it’s a step-change in aviation and we are delighted to contribute,” said GKN president of civil airframes John Pritchard. “As technology leaders in wing, empennage, and EWIS design, we can bring unrivaled knowledge and expertise to the project.”

GKN Signs as Key Supplier on Eviation’s Alice Electric Aircraft

Electric aircraft manufacturer Pipistrel is advancing plans for a pair of new cargo aircraft and a 20-seat regional airliner. In its newsletter published on May 13 by its U.S. distributor, the Slovenian company indicated it intends to focus on these new developments more urgently than on its plans for the Pipistrel 801 eVTOL, which has been shortlisted by rideshare group Uber for its planned Uber Air urban air mobility product.
“Changes to the company’s priorities have come after delays with the Uber flying taxi program by many international aviation authorities,” the company said. “Continual extensions to the deadline for the development of a flying taxi service, which was commissioned by U.S. company Uber, has given Pipistrel the time to investigate future opportunities, some [of which] have been in planning and development for several years.”
The Uber Air services are set to launch from 2023 in one or more of the early-adopter cities the company has identified, including Dallas, Los Angeles, and Melbourne, Australia.
“We continue to see progress against our vision for Uber Air among many of our vehicle partners despite the challenges that come with Covid-19,” Uber Air told&nbsp;AIN. “We expect some partners will proceed faster than others, but we remain focused on readying for commercial Uber Air service on our timelines.”
Pipistrel is one of eight “vehicle partners” selected by Uber, with the others being Boeing’s Aurora Flight Sciences subsidiary, Bell, Embraer X, Hyundai, Jaunt Air Mobility, Joby Aviation, and Karem Aircraft. The company has insisted that it remains fully committed as an Uber's Elevate project, which is preparing for the launch of Uber Air.
A Pipistrel spokesperson told&nbsp;FutureFlight&nbsp;that it has decided to "reduce the intensity" of the development on the grounds that "due to regulatory and other constraints" it will not be realistic to achieve service entry for the 801 eVTOL until 2028. "The 801 project was never interrupted but is continuing with slowed-down pace in favor of accelerating large cargo delivery UAVs," the company explained. "We keep both projects in parallel, which allows the use of the same development methodology and tools for both vehicles. The project has flown several scale models and performed full-scale system testing in the meantime."
One of the cargo aircraft now being advanced by Pipistrel is of a similar design to the 801 eVTOL and would carry a payload of 660 pounds approximately 200 miles. The company said that it plans to deliver the first aircraft to an undisclosed customer in Asia during 2022 but, for now, has released no more details on its performance and specifications.
The second cargo aircraft is a fixed-wing design based on Pipistrel Alpha Electro electric light aircraft. It is being developed to be remotely piloted or manned and would be used for missions such as humanitarian relief, with packages being dropped from pods on each side of the wing and a cargo payload of almost 250 pounds.
Meanwhile, Pipistrel is working&nbsp;to develop a 20-seat aircraft that it says would fly routes of up to 625&nbsp;miles at around one-quarter of the operational cost of conventional aircraft. The company reported that&nbsp;the so-called Miniliner concept could be ready to enter service in 2028.
The company explained that the 19-seat aircraft is part of the&nbsp;Unifier 19 project being advanced in partnership with various undisclosed academic partners. The work is tapping the efforts of a separate Pipistrel-led Mahepa project, which is developing and testing various new powertrain technologies, including electric and hydrogen-fuel cell propulsion systems. The Pipistrel team hopes to begin flight testing a prototype for this design before the end of 2020.
[This report was updated on May 18 to include clarifications and further information provided by Pipistrel following the earlier publication of a company newsletter by its Pipistrel USA distributor.]

Pipistrel Slows Uber eVTOL Work to Advance Other New Aircraft

Ross Perot, Jr. believes the 26,000-acre Fort Worth Alliance Airport complex in Texas is just the place to develop and test a new generation of delivery drones and passenger eVTOL aircraft. Beginning in the 1980s, Perot’s Hillwood Development donated the land for the public-use airport and developed adjacent industrial, retail, and 10,000 residential properties.
Today, more than 525 companies and 61,000 employees are part of the Alliance complex that includes logistics hubs and high-tech facilities for Amazon, UPS, Santa Fe Railroad, and Facebook, and Perot is known as the most powerful real estate developer in Texas. He is a big backer of new technology, hosting the TexasUP summit of industry investors in urban air mobility&nbsp;last year and driving the formation of a “mobility zone” at Alliance.&nbsp;
Referring to that property, Perot said, “We have a big lab” for UAS and eVTOL trials, including residential home delivery. Perot envisions a future where heavy-lift drones would be used to move rail shipping containers and working with industry to bring clients to Alliance for the manufacture, training in, and maintenance of these and other new-generation aircraft.&nbsp;
Speaking at the Air Force’s “Agility Prime” virtual conference in May, Perot stressed the historical importance of military programs as a catalyst for breakthroughs in civil aviation that included GPS navigation and transformational aircraft such as the Boeing 707 and 747. He sees the military playing the same role today with eVTOLs. “The Air Force’s vision gives the industry the courage to take the risk to develop technologies for our military, then have tremendous civilian-use spinoffs and have had a huge economic impact on the world today.”
Despite the current Covid-19-generated crisis and industry skepticism with regard to UASs and eVTOLs, Perot sees them as inevitable. “We’re going to improve the human race and give people a much better life with these new flying products. I see this as the [same] opportunity that we saw back in the 1930s when [commercial] aviation started coming to life. Billions of people around the world will benefit.” He characterized the market as potentially worth $1.6 trillion and called it a “revolution in aircraft [that's] going to be here before we know it.”&nbsp;
A former U.S. Air Force F-4 fighter pilot&nbsp;and world-record-setting&nbsp;helicopter pilot, Perot said he is personally eager to take the controls of an eVTOL. “I’m ready…I’m always ready to fly.”

Ross Perot Jr Pushes Alliance Airport as eVTOL Development Hub

Wisk hopes to resume flight testing of its Cora eVTOL aircraft before the end of May, subject to the further lifting of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions in New Zealand, where much of the program’s development work is being conducted. Since April 28, when New Zealand moved from level four to level three of its lockdown, Wisk technicians have been able to work in the company’s hangar preparing its prototypes to fly. Tests will be able to restart when level two is achieved, possibly by the end of next week.
“New Zealand has done a good job [responding to the Covid-19 pandemic], having been very restrictive early on,” explained Gary Gysin, CEO of California-based Wisk. “We will probably be able to resume flight testing earlier than we would have been able to do in the U.S. and this gives us an advantage.”
The Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand recently held talks with the FAA to agree plans for American officials to be able to observe type certification work on the Cora and share data. Gysin told&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;he hopes this will help to establish the safety track record of the fully-autonomous, all-electric aircraft, saving some time for the program and also “generating trust and confidence.”
The lastest Wisk prototype aircraft is the fourth iteration of the two-seat model and the company said it has been making refinements as it gets closer to defining the production version. According to Gysin, the multi-rotor propulsion system architecture is essentially finalized, although it remains open to possible improved battery technology. The company, which has yet to release full specifications, intends to the weight of the Cora to allow more payload and will also add more detect and avoid sensors.
To date, the four prototypes have made just over 1,200 flights. The engineering team is now focusing on issues such as how to incorporate lightning strike protection.
Gysin said that during disruption to Cora’s flight test program, the company has redeployed employees to focus on documentation work that he hopes will save time in the latter stage of the certification process. “In a strange way, it [the disruption] has helped because when you are busy developing and innovating you don’t stay on top of the documentation,” he said.
In early February, the New Zealand government and Wisk signed a memorandum of understanding covering plans to conduct autonomous passenger-carrying flight trials in the Canterbury region. The agreement is part of the government's industry-wide Airspace Integration Trials.
The two sides have yet to confirm dates for this stage of the project to establish urban air mobility services, with development work being handled by the local Wisk New Zealand (formerly Zephyr Airworks) subsidiary. Flag carrier Air New Zealand is also a partner in the project.&nbsp;
During the course of 2019, eVTOL start-up Kitty Hawk and Boeing advanced a partnership agreement to establish Wisk as a new joint venture.&nbsp;No ownership details or investment amounts have been reported, but Boeing is understood to be the majority shareholder.
Gysin told&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;that the company was “fortunate” to have raised financing and forged a partnership before Covid-19 raised questions about further investment in the eVTOL programs. He said that, in his opinion, strategic investors like Boeing are more likely to remain committed to the emerging sector than venture capital or private equity investors. Despite Boeing’s well-documented business challenges, he maintained that this remains a strategic priority for the U.S. aerospace group.
On April 29, Wisk appointed Dan Dalton as v-p of global partnerships. He will focus on the regulatory process but also forging alliances with companies that might provide support with requirements such as sensors, airspace integration, and ground infrastructure. Dalton was formerly executive v-p of strategic partnerships with artificial intelligence and robotics specialist Airspace Systems. He has also worked with unmanned aircraft group General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and the U.S. Department of Energy, and has served as a visiting scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Cora eVTOL Set to Resume Flight Testing in New Zealand

VoltAero this week revealed the production configuration for its Cassio hybrid-electric aircraft. The French company started flight testing the fixed-wing design in early March and plans to achieve type certification under EASA’s CS-23 rules in time for deliveries to begin by the end of 2022.
On May 6, VoltAero announced that it intends to offer three variants of the single pusherprop aircraft, featuring a distinctive aft main wing and tail boom, as well as a canard configuration. These will include the four-seat Cassio 330 with a combined hybrid-electric power rating of 330 kW, the six-seat Cassio 480 (480 kW), and the 10-seat Cassio 600 (600 kW).
Intended for a variety of business and general aviation applications, including air taxi, the Cassio family will offer range of up to 920 nm and 200-knot cruise speed. Takeoff and landing distance is projected to be less than 1,800 feet and VoltAero says the aircraft will be able to operate for up to 10 hours each day, allowing multiple rotations. Max takeoff weight will be below 2.5 tonnes (5,511 pounds) to comply with CS-23 requirements.
The hub of the Cassio’s proprietary propulsion system is an internal combustion engine that drives three 60-kW electric motors. In standard operations, the electric motors would be used for takeoff and landings (partly to reduce noise), with the engine extending range.
VoltAero is testing this power combination in an early prototype, the Cassio 1, which is loosely based on the Cessna 337 Skymaster. The production aircraft will not include this prototype’s two forward-facing sets of propellers and or the forward high wing.
The company intends to produce the all-composite aircraft in a purpose-built final assembly line in the Nouvelle Aquitaine region of southwest France. It will also seek partners for licensed production in North America and Asia.
VoltAero was founded by former Airbus chief technology officer Jean Botti, who led the European aerospace group’s E-Fan X electric aircraft development program.

VoltAero Unveils Production Version of Hybrid-Electric Cassio

NASA demonstrated its intent to show leadership in advancing electric aviation with the unveiling in late March 2020 of its X-57 Maxwell experimental test aircraft. The aircraft is a product of&nbsp;the agency’s first crewed X-plane program in two decades, and three different models are due to take to the skies by early 2022.
The X-57 is based on the Italian Tecnam P2006T twin piston light aircraft but is fitted with&nbsp;14 electric motors. To enable this change, the NASA team, led by principal investigator Sean Clarke, has redesigned the aircraft’s wing. The agency says that by using an existing aircraft design, it will have baseline specifications that will be useful for assessing the performance of the electric powerplant.
“Normally, they design a wing and then the powerplant guys put a cell underneath, which screws up wing performance a bit,” Clarke explained to FutureFlight. “We designed a propulsion system from the beginning along with the wing. That’s a fundamental part of our aerodynamic approach.”
The goal of the project—which&nbsp;earned the X-plane designation reserved for NASA’s more radical technology advancement programs—was to design an aircraft for optimal cruise efficiency without worrying about stall speed or low-speed performance. Some of the knowledge that might most help to electrify aviation at large was an unintentional byproduct of NASA’s early work on the concept. 
Initially, NASA intended to use off-the-shelf propulsion technology, and the team wasn’t committed to an electric power source. It simply settled on battery power as the best way to achieve&nbsp;its main goal of improving power efficiency, based on the point energy density was getting to;&nbsp;and then the agency realized it needed to do some development work to get where it wanted to go.
Clarke explained that NASA soon realized that more work would need to be done to integrate electric propulsion with aircraft. The program will focus on developing standards for operations and maintenance. 
In the U.S., NASA, the FAA, and the Department of Defense have separate paths to certification for aircraft technology. However, since new electric vehicles are largely being targeted at potential urban air mobility applications, what NASA is learning about airworthiness standards for these could serve as a blueprint for FAA type certification requirements, while also providing valuable guidance for private-sector aircraft developers. 
To that end, the X-57 team has been publishing design criteria and documentation from early in the process and engaging more with industry than most NASA projects typically do, Clarke said. The agency also has been working with standards organizations ASTM International and RTCA to help inform and align the development of standards for new commercial aircraft with architectures similar to that of the X-57 Maxwell. 
The ability to self-certify its technology lets NASA move faster than commercial entities, which are, in some ways, working blindly toward still-unknown standards. So does the fact that NASA isn’t answering to stakeholders demanding a return on investment.
“Nobody should buy the X-57 and start commuting in it,” Clarke said. “But it’s useful for maturing technology and getting it to the point that they could be useful for other products. We’re interested in enabling this and making this new marketplace more accessible, more affordable, more efficient. Maybe it turns out this airplane isn’t very efficient. That’s still a successful project for us, because we learn its shortcomings.”
So far, NASA has tested the first of four modifications of the X-57 design—an experimental electric wing called the Hybrid Electric Integrated Systems Testbed was mounted atop a big rig, which drove at high speeds to simulate the effects of a wind tunnel. By the end of 2020, the agency plans to fly the first electrified P2006T, called Modification II, which is the same aircraft aerodynamically but powered by all-electric engines. NASA aims to decrease high-speed energy usage by nearly 70 percent through that change.
Modification III, which is being worked on in parallel with Modification II, will use the same powerplant but feature a structural redesign. A new, smaller-area, high-efficiency wing will be put on and the P2006T’s original motors will be replaced by electric motors developed by eVTOL aircraft pioneer Joby Aviation. 
The electric motors will be fitted closer to the wingtips and the new wing’s high aspect ratio and the electric motors’ lighter weight are expected to result in significant efficiency gains. The objective for this phase of the program is to demonstrate an additional energy reduction at cruise of one-third over Modification II. NASA hopes to be flight testing Modification III in 2021.
Modification IV, which the Maxwell team recently reworked to use the same wing as Modification III, should fly in late 2021 or early 2022. Representing the final configuration of the X-57, Modification IV is an opportunity for the team to look at the data from Modification III and make any necessary adjustments before taking to the air again.
The final X-57 model will be powered by two 60-kilowatt cruise motors and propellers and 12 10.5-kilowatt high-lift motors and propellers. This combination will be supported by 860 pounds of lithium-ion batteries that can provide 69.1 kilowatt-hours of power (of which 47 are usable). 
That’s expected to let the 3,000-pound Maxwell aircraft cruise at 172 mph and reach an altitude of 14,000 feet. The overall goal is a 500 percent increase in high-speed efficiency, compared with the standard Tecnam aircraft, without the carbon emissions. 
Whether NASA’s latest X-plane meets that goal—and whether doing so is practical—remains to be seen. But, if the agency can provide inspiration and guidance for electric aircraft developers, and also for regulators trying to define certification best practices in a new industry, that alone might make the project worthwhile. 
Correction:&nbsp;An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that NASA had flown the Modification I version of the X-57. Modification I was not a flying aircraft prototype, but rather a phase of ground testing that involved an electrified wing mounted on top of a big rig.&nbsp;

NASA Targets a Fivefold Gain in High-speed Energy Efficiency with X-57 Program

The U.S. Air Force recently awarded Sabrewing Aircraft the first contract under its new Agility Prime program to support development of eVTOL aircraft for potential military applications. The $3.25 million contract was confirmed on April 21 under Agility Prime’s AFWERX Small Business Innovative Research Phase II project and will involve testing of Sabrewing’s Rhaegal-A prototype unmanned cargo aircraft. 
On May 1, Sabrewing “rolled out” the Rhaegal-A prototype&nbsp;as the finale to the Air Force’s week-long Agility Prime event. The California-based company has also built a Rhaegal-B model as part of its wider Rhaegal program to develop a family of autonomous cargo-carrying aircraft for civil and military applications. The Rhaegal-B is about twice the size of the -A model. Already in the works is a larger Wyvern model, which will be almost twice the size of the -B.
Sabrewing’s aircraft promise significantly greater payload and range than other eVTOL designs aimed at the air cargo sector. “Our cargo UAV can takeoff and land like a helicopter with a heavy payload, as well as fly farther, faster, and higher at a fraction of the cost of any other aircraft in its class,” commented company CEO Ed De Reyes.
The Rhaegal-B is designated as the program’s production aircraft, and it can carry standard industry Unit Load Devices used by existing air freight carriers. It can carry two LD-1 containers&nbsp;or four smaller LD-2 containers&nbsp;or two LD-3 containers.
The aircraft is expected to deliver&nbsp;payload capacity of 5,400 pounds. Operating in eVTOL mode, it can fly in and out of locations without a runway on flights of up to 1,150 miles. If it operates&nbsp;as a conventional fixed-wing aircraft into an airport, the maximum payload it can carry increases to 10,000 pounds. The aircraft can fly at altitudes of up to 22,000 feet and at speeds of up to 230 mph.
The Agility Prime evaluation of the Rhaegal will test its detect-and- avoid capability, which is a key feature of autonomous operations, as well as confirm&nbsp;whether it can operate in an environment where GPS signals are jammed or unavailable. The trials&nbsp;will simulate operations with typical cargo payloads and also casualty evacuation missions. According to Sabrewing CEO Ed De Reyes, the company hopes that the U.S. military will opt to buy a&nbsp;version of the Rhaegal-B to be operated under the name, the Aleut.&nbsp;
Sabrewing is aiming to achieve Part 23 type certification with Europe's EASA by July 2021 and with the U.S. FAA by December 2021. The company expects to have fully built the first production example of the Rhaegal by January 2021.
De Reyes described the Rhaegal as a semi-autonomous aircraft that can have its flight path adjusted by a remote ground station. However, due to its weight class and current certification requirements, it will be operated with a pilot on board.
Speaking at the Agility Prime event, Dr. Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, said that the purpose of the program is&nbsp;“to accelerate this [eVTOL] market for domestic use in a way that also helps our military.” The Air Force has yet to make clear how much total funding will be available to private-sector companies or the terms under which it will be offered. 
However, it has indicated that the Pentagon’s “Trusted Capital” policy will be applied to block participation by companies deemed to be backed by so-called “adversarial capital” from countries seeking to gain an economic and/or national-security advantage over the U.S. China is widely considered&nbsp;the primary cause for concern in this regard, so the policy&nbsp;raises&nbsp;questions as to whether companies with Chinese backers will be able to participate in Agility Prime work.

Sabrewing’s Rhaegal Cargo Carriers Boosted by U.S. Air Force Agility Prime Funding

Airbus says it will continue developing its plans to build eVTOL aircraft for urban air mobility applications, despite the recent cancellation of its joint E-Fan X hybrid-electric aircraft program with Rolls-Royce. Flight testing of the CityAirbus multicopter is set to resume at the Airbus Helicopter facilities at Manching in southern Germany as soon as Covid-19 lockdown restrictions permit, a company spokesman confirmed on May 5.
The two-seat CityAirbus made its first untethered flight in late 2019. Like the earlier single-seat Vahana tiltwing eVTOL, it is intended as a technology demonstrator to provide data that will inform Airbus’s eventual plans to develop a production aircraft.
In late April, Airbus and aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce announced that they are ending development work on the E-Fan X technology demonstrator, which was based on a BAE 146 regional airliner. The project was launched in 2017 as part of a long-term effort to develop a hybrid electric commercial aircraft, starting with the replacement of one of the 146’s four turbofan engines with a 2MW electric motor.
For the E-Fan X project, Rolls-Royce developed a hybrid-electric power generation system built around one of its AE2100 gas turbines driving a 2.5MW generator and a 3,000V power electronics and electric propulsion unit. According to the UK-based group’s chief technology officer, Paul Stein, this represented the largest-scale hybrid-electric propulsion system yet developed for an aircraft. 
Announcing a 49 percent decline in operating profit and a 15 percent dip in revenues for the first quarter of 2020 on April 29, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury made a point of saying that the decarbonization of aviation remains a key research and development priority for the European group. Meanwhile, Airbus is reducing capital expenditure for this year by around $761 million.
Airbus has previously indicated that flight testing of the CityAirbus would likely be complete by the end of 2020, although this timeline may now have to be pushed back because of delays associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. The company has not published a timeline for developing its first production eVTOL model, but it appears to view this as a longer-term project that may well run through to the second half of the current decade.

Airbus Commits to eVTOL Development Despite Ending Work on E-Fan X Hybrid-Electric Aircraft

Constraints on capital and shifting investment priorities could trigger a shakeout in the crowded eVTOL aircraft and urban air mobility sector, according to Kirsten Bartok Touw, founder and managing partner of the AirFinance group. Speaking at an April 29 NBAA-organized webinar on the future of innovation in aviation, she said companies able to attract investment before the Covid-19 emergency are now far better placed to bring their aircraft to market than competitors that still need to find funding.
“If companies have enough cash, they will be full steam ahead, but others will have to step back as they face uncertainty over where they are going, especially those who do not have a diversified cash flow,” Bartok said. “There will now be much more differentiation between winners and losers.”
According to Bartok, the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to accelerate consolidation that will see more than 250 prospective eVTOL programs reduced to just three&nbsp;or four&nbsp;players among the independent startups. She added that a few of the leading aerospace groups will also be&nbsp;active in the fast-emerging sector, although some large companies may now re-evaluate their willingness to put more money into the technology.
“I would bet on companies that already have the cash [to advance their programs] and don’t need any more for at least another 18 months,” she stated. In her view, companies probably need to plan on spending as much as $2 billion to $3&nbsp;billion to get their eVTOL aircraft into production.
AirFinance has been working with several eVTOL companies trying to raise funds and Bartok said that it has generally been harder to get some venture capitalists to consider proposals in recent weeks. “Most venture capitalists are now trying to shore up their portfolios and ensure that they have enough cash to get through the next 24 months,” she explained. “There has been a downturn in many [venture capital] portfolios and now it is harder for them to raise funds from places like endowments and foundations.”
In her view, Airbus is one large group that is likely to remain committed to eVTOL development. This view was supported by comments made earlier on April 29 by group CEO Guillaume Faury, who told analysts that he views investments in the “decarbonization and increased digitization” of aviation as long-term priorities.
However, Bartok believes that financial pressures on rival Boeing in the wake of the grounding of its 737 Max airliner, compounded by the steep downturn in the air transport industry, could cause it to scale back its exposure in the eVTOL sector. Just last year, the U.S. group invested in startup Kitty Hawk to form a joint venture called Wisk to develop the Cora aircraft.
One company that did secure significant investment before Covid-19 wreaked havoc in financial markets was Joby Aviation, which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2020-01-15/toyota-invests-big-evtol-developer-joby">in January</a>&nbsp;completed a $590 million Series C funding round led by Japanese automaker Toyota, which invested $394 million. Kate Fraser, the company’s safety lead, told the webinar that Joby is still on track to complete type certification of its four-seat S4 eVTOL by the end of 2023. However, she added the caveat that this date would represent “an introductory launch” for urban air mobility operations, and that it would take several more years to scale up to mass transportation and add features such as the ability to operate in all weather conditions and fly autonomously.
Fraser argued that Covid-19 could tip consumer sentiment more in favor of new transportation options provided by eVTOLs that would allow travelers to bypass more crowded spaces. She also believes that rising environmental concerns will strengthen the case for electrically&nbsp;powered aircraft.
That said, the disruption to working lives evidently has affected companies trying to advance new aircraft designs, and companies have had to make adjustments to their programs. “We’re trying to stay on track [with the S4], but it could slide to the right a bit [in terms of the aircraft’s development timeline,” explained Fraser. “However, our people who have been focusing mainly on hands-on work have now had more time to provide input for the certification effort, and we’ve also been able to focus more on areas such as training and how we can reprioritize to come out of this as the best company we can be with the strongest focus being on safety.”
Both webinar speakers indicated that regulators have demonstrated significant flexibility in response to the latest public health emergency. They expressed hope that this might encourage agencies such as the FAA to be more willing to fast-track regulatory process for the new-generation aircraft. However, according to Bartok, the breakdown of trust resulting from the controversy over the FAA’s handling of the 737 Max certification appears to have undermined the degree of integration and partnership between the U.S. agency and its European counterparts at EASA.
Bartok also pointed to the U.S. Department of Defense’s recent declared interest in supporting eVTOL innovators to ensure its warfighters can benefit from the technology. Just this week at the Agility Prime event, U.S. Air Force leaders appealed to private companies to take advantage of its joint-development opportunities, such as support for flight testing.

eVTOL Aircraft Programs Could Face Investment Squeeze

Hyundai Motor Company and Uber are working together to develop a new electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to be used for rideshare air-taxi service. The announcement was made on the eve of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last month, making the South Korean automotive group the eighth prospective eVTOL aircraft manufacturer selected by Uber to support its planned Uber Air rideshare service.
At CES, Hyundai displayed a scale model of a “personal air vehicle” designated the S-A1. The all-electric aircraft is projected to offer a range of 60 miles, speeds of up to 180 mph, and a cruising altitude of between 1,000 and 2,000 feet.
Hyundai has yet to announce a timeline for certifying the new aircraft and it is unclear when it expects to fly a full-scale prototype. Uber has said it wants to start flight demonstrations this year with aircraft produced by its partners and be ready to start commercial air-taxi service in 2023.
The eVTOL, which features four sets of rotors for vertical lift and four propellers for cruise flight, will seat four passengers. It will initially have a pilot on board, but the plan is for the S-A1 eventually to be flown autonomously. According to Hyundai, the aircraft’s batteries will need between five and seven minutes to recharge.
Uber said Hyundai will be able to produce aircraft on a far greater and more cost-effective scale than its other partners. These include experienced aerospace companies such as Boeing (through its Aurora Flight Sciences subsidiary), Embraer, Bell, and Pipistrel Aircraft, as well as three startups: Karem Aircraft, Joby Aviation, and Jaunt Air Mobility.
“Hyundai is our first vehicle partner with experience of manufacturing passenger cars on a global scale,” said Uber Elevate head Eric Allison. “We believe Hyundai has the potential to build Uber Air vehicles at rates unseen in the current aerospace industry, producing high-quality, reliable aircraft at high volumes to drive down passenger costs per trip. Combining Hyundai’s manufacturing muscle with Uber’s technology platform represents a giant leap forward for launching a vibrant air-taxi network in the coming years.”
Jaiwon Shin, the recently appointed executive vice president and head of Hyundai’s urban air mobility division, said its aircraft will “transform the concept of urban transportation.” However, Hyundai has not outlined how many engineers it has working on the new program and what experience they have in developing aircraft.
At CES, Hyundai also unveiled its Purpose Built Vehicle (PBV), which it bills as an “eco-friendly” ground-based mobility solution, and the Hub, which it said will be used for transfers between the PBV and the new Hyundai eVTOL. The company did not announce a development timeline or specifications for either the PBV or Hub.

Latest from Martha Jercinovich