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News and developments about aircraft engines, including turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft and piston.

News and issues relating to civil and military unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) of all kinds and sizes, including those used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), combat (unmanned combat air vehicles, or UCAVs), law enforcement, research and other applications. Of particular focus is the FAA's planned integration of UAS into the U.S. national airspace system.

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Ascendance and Delair partner on hybrid UAV for French DGA 

Ascendance's Hybrid Propulsion System To Power French Drones

News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

First full-scale prototype of the hybrid-electric Atea aircraft is “in the production phase”

Ascendance Plans to Fly Hybrid eVTOL Prototype This Year

French eVTOL aircraft developer Ascendance Flight Technologies, which&nbsp;says it is building sales momentum for its Atea model, announced&nbsp;this week that it now holds letters of intent for 245 copies of&nbsp;the four-passenger vehicle. The commitments have come from a mix of six helicopter operators and private flight providers spread across Europe, the U.S, and Asia.
According to Ascendance’s co-founder and chief customer officer, Thibault Baldivia, the Toulouse-based start-up formed a “Care Group” to provide a channel for prospective operators to have input on the program and to be sure that it is commercially viable. “We are talking a lot with customers to ensure that the machine we are designing will be what they need,” he told FutureFlight. “For instance, we chose to have hybrid-electric [propulsion] to get the range and performance they need.”
The <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/aircraft-program/atea">Atea</a> is expected to be able to fly up to 400 km (250 miles) at speeds of up to 200 km/h (125 mph). The design features eight ducted fan rotors installed in a pair of wings for vertical lift and two propellers for cruise flight.
The customers identified this week include air mobility platforms Evfly and <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2022-02-10/asian-flight-booking-platform-yugo-commits-electras-estol-aircraft">Yugo</a> in Singapore, France-based <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2021-01-18/paris-selects-30-partners-its-urban-air-mobility-initiative">HeliFirst</a> and Jet Systems Helicoptères Services, California-based Flyshare, and Philjets Group in the Philippines. They all have different business models and plans for the Atea.
For instance, Flyshare is an established Part 135 operator that, according to Baldivia, intends to operate regional services, linking communities around the wider Los Angeles area. “Ascendance has implemented several features in the Atea that gives it superior range, speed, and load capacity, [and] matches the needs of our business model extremely well,” commented Flyshare chairman James Hopkins. “We are impressed with Ascendance’s technical decisions with respect to the powerplant and the ability to incrementally improve the emissions profile of the aircraft over the first few years of its introduction into service.”
Philjets intends to use the aircraft to operate a mix of private charters, tourist sightseeing flights, and emergency medical evacuations across the Philippines’s 7,000-island archipelago. The company’s head of sales and marketing, Geoffrey Cahen, said the manufacturer’s willingness to include the company in the development process had encouraged it to make the early commitment to include the Atea in its fleet.
According to Baldivia, eVTOL aircraft like <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2021-12-01/ascendance-reveals-new-design-atea-hybrid-electric-vtol-aircraft">the Atea</a> will have significantly lower maintenance costs than today’s helicopters, mostly by avoiding the need to have a main gearbox and rotors. While no price has yet been disclosed, he indicated that the Atea will likely cost about as much as&nbsp;a similar-sized rotorcraft.
In 2021, Ascendance, which was founded by former Airbus engineers who were&nbsp;involved in its E-Fan electric aircraft program, conducted flight tests with subscale models and extensive wind tunnel test campaigns. It is now working on a full-scale prototype to be ready for the next phase of flight testing in 2023 and has set up an ‘iron bird’ test rig in Toulouse. The company aims to achieve EASA type certification in 2025&nbsp;and to be ready to start deliveries soon after.

Managing Editor

Charles Alcock

Six Commercial Operators Commit To Adding Atea eVTOL Aircraft to Fleets

Ascendance Flight Technologies this week unveiled a significantly revised design for the Atea hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft that it aims to certify by 2025. The French start-up has spent the past three years detailing plans for the five-seat, lift-and cruise model, which is is expected to deliver a range of &nbsp;250 miles and speeds of 124 mph. 
Digital images released on December 1 show eight ducted fans for vertical lift, with four installed in the main wing and four more in a new large canard, as well a single horizontal propeller at the top of the tail section and another in the nose of the aircraft. An earlier design, released by the Toulouse-based company in February, had just a pair of ducted fans for vertical lift in the inner-wing section and a single three-bladed propeller in the nose.
According to Ascendance, the additional fans&nbsp;increase the power available during takeoff and landing&nbsp;and&nbsp;add redundancy and improve manoeuvrability in the event of one or more fans shutting down in flight. The company told&nbsp;FutureFlight&nbsp;that it also believes the new design will be easier to certify under EASA's Part 23 special conditions rules.
By moving the main wing toward&nbsp;the rear of the airframe, the Ascendance engineering team has improved access to the four-passenger cabin, which now features large&nbsp;"skyview"&nbsp;windows. The Atea has retractable main and nose landing gear.
“We set up Ascendance Flight Technologies with a very clear vision of what we wanted to achieve: to accelerate transition towards green aviation thanks to hybrid technology,” said co-founder and CEO Jean-Christophe Lambert. “The design of Atea is the concrete reflection of our values, our experience, and our know-how. The aircraft we are presenting today is the result of huge efforts by our research and development department, tests and trials on four prototypes, and a great deal of thought on costs and the ease of flying such an&nbsp;aircraft.”
In September, the company raised €10 million ($11.7 million) to support the development of the Atea. It expects to be ready to start flight testing a production-conforming prototype in 2023. 
The Atea is to be powered by Ascendance’s proprietary Sterna hybrid-electric powertrain. The company says that Sterna’s modular design and “embedded intelligence” will allow it to support various energy sources, including sustainable aviation fuel or hydrogen. 
The Atea will use electrical power for takeoff and landing, with a turbine engine powering the cruise phase of flight when less power is needed. This approach is mainly motivated by the desire to reduce noise and emissions.
The company’s founders previously worked on Airbus’s now- suspended E-Fan electric light aircraft program. Its board of directors was recently bolstered with the appointment of several senior executives from the aerospace and automotive sectors, including former Safran chairman Jean-Paul Herteman and former Renault executive committee member Jean-Christophe Kugler. Also on the board is Agnes Plagneux-Bertrand, who was head of the E-Fan program.

Ascendance Reveals New Design for Atea Hybrid-Electric VTOL Aircraft

Ascendance Flight Technologies has raised €10 million ($11.7 million) to support the development of its Atea hybrid-electric aircraft. In a funding round that closed last week, the French company was backed by investors including Habert Dassault Finance, Celeste Management, M Capital, Kima Ventures, and IRDI.
Announcing the funding, Toulouse-based Ascendance said it is on track to achieve type certification and service entry for the four-passenger model by 2025, albeit with further funding rounds needed to reach that point. The company said&nbsp;it aims to achieve a first flight with a prototype by 2024 in time for the Paris Olympic Games.
The Ascendance board of directors has been boosted with the appointment of several senior executives from the aerospace and automotive sectors including former Safran chairman Jean-Paul Herteman and former Renault executive committee member Jean-Christophe Kugler. Also on the board is Agnes Plagneux-Bertrand, who was head of Airbus’s E-Fan electric aircraft program, on which several of the start-up’s founders previously worked.
The new investment will support the recruitment of at least 15 more employees to boost Ascendance’s current team of 25. According to co-founder and CEO Jean-Christophe Lambert, the company is in talks with prospective partners and suppliers for the project. It already has support from Capgemini Engineering.
Work on the Atea is still in the design phase, with scaled prototypes being used to mature the planned architecture for the fixed-wing model. The latest funding round will support the construction of technology demonstrator units.
“This successful round of funding will allow us to focus on full-scale prototypes and patents in order to accelerate the development and industrialization of our technologies and products,” Lambert said. “We will also continue to recruit the best talents to shape a team that will impact tomorrow’s clean aviation.”
The Atea is to be powered by Ascendance’s proprietary Sterna hybrid-electric powertrain. The company says that Sterna’s modular design and “embedded intelligence” will allow it to support various different energy sources, including hydrogen. 
The piloted fixed-wing design features a pair of ducted fans for vertical lift in the inner-wing section and a single three-bladed propeller in the nose. It is expected to deliver a range of up to 250 miles and speeds of 124 mph. 
The Atea will use electrical power for takeoff and landing, with a turbine engine powering the cruise phase of flight when less power is needed. Lambert explained that this approach is mainly motivated by the desire to reduce noise and emissions, adding that the planned propulsion system could be switched to run on sustainable aviation fuel or hydrogen at a later date. 
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Ascendance Raises Capital For Atea Hybrid Electric Aircraft

A group of young French aerospace engineers who were part of Airbus’s plans for the E-Fan electric light aircraft are&nbsp;pursuing their dream&nbsp;of bringing an&nbsp;eVTOL to market through a start-up called Ascendance Flight Technologies. Airbus stopped the E-Fan project in April 2017 and the following year Jean-Christophe Lambert, Thibault Baldivia, and Clement Dinel were joined by Benoit Ferran to form the Toulouse-based company, which is working to get the four-passenger, hybrid-electric Atea model into commercial service by 2025.
The fixed-wing design, which features a pair of ducted fans for vertical lift in the inner-wing section and a single three-bladed propeller in the nose, is expected to deliver a range of up to 280 miles and speeds of 124 mph. Lambert, who is CEO, told FutureFlight last month that the team expects to have a full-scale prototype ready to begin test flights in 2023.
Ascendance, which is looking to add to its 10 employees, received a boost in January when it was selected as a partner in the Re.Invent Air Mobility project, which aims&nbsp;to introduce air taxi services to the Paris area, starting with public demonstrations in 2024 when the French capital hosts the Olympic Games. Along with 29 other partners—which include aircraft developers Volocopter, EHang, Vertical Aerospace, and Pipistrel—the company will start development work in June in a test area being established at Pontoise-Cormeilles-en-Vexin Airport. 
Under an agreement signed with airports group ADP in 2019, Ascendance is already working to develop plans for eVTOL operations, dealing with issues such as aircraft noise and ground infrastructure. According to Lambert, the Atea is not only being designed with urban operations in mind, and he sees the aircraft connecting more remote communities with larger cities, and also being used in public-service roles, such as for medical support.
The Ascendance team is close to freezing the design for the Atea and has had discussions with EASA about its plans to seek type certification under the agency’s new Special Conditions-VTOL rules. Lambert said that they have been able to use simulations to assess requirements for key elements of the design, including the critical transition from vertical to horizontal flight, aerodynamics, and flight-control laws.
The Atea will use electrical power for takeoff and landing, with the turbine engine powering the cruise phase of flight when less power is needed. Lambert explained that this approach is mainly motivated by the desire to reduce noise and emissions, adding that the planned propulsion system could be switched to run on sustainable aviation fuel or hydrogen at a later date. The company has not ruled out developing an all-electric version of the aircraft as battery technology improves.
This year, Ascendance will be selecting partners to supply some components and systems, such as avionics. Later, it intends to appoint a sub-contractor for the manufacturing phase of the program.
Unlike several other eVTOL start-ups, Ascendance is not looking to operate the aircraft itself in some sort of on-demand air taxi business model. Instead, it will market the Atea directly to existing aircraft operators, some of which are likely operating helicopters today, offering a service-based business model rather than a straightforward purchase transaction. 
The Atea is named after a god worshipped in the islands of French Polynesia that represents space. Ascendance says that there is potential to develop a family of larger aircraft after the initial model makes it to market.
Lambert told FutureFlight that, initially at least, there is likely only room in the market for five to 10 eVTOL aircraft. “Only the smartest and leanest companies will get to the certification stage,” he predicted.
The company says that it has sufficient early-stage financial support for the current phase of the project. Lambert indicated that it may initiate another funding round at some point in 2022.
In his view, the lessons he and his colleagues learned about the nascent electric aircraft sector with Airbus was a critical foundation for its plans with Ascendance. “We had a great adventure with E-Fan and learned a lot about electric propulsion and batteries,” he reflected. “We saw that it is not just a case of [designing] the electric drives and wiring, and that [instead] the whole aircraft has to be designed around the propulsion [system] and the ground infrastructure to support it.”
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Ascendance

News

Ascendance's Hybrid Propulsion System To Power French Drones

Ascendance Plans to Fly Hybrid eVTOL Prototype This Year

Six Commercial Operators Commit To Adding Atea eVTOL Aircraft to Fleets

Ascendance Reveals New Design for Atea Hybrid-Electric VTOL Aircraft

Ascendance Raises Capital For Atea Hybrid Electric Aircraft

Airbus E-Fan Alumni Chart a New Course with Atea eVTOL Aircraft

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