Most Viewed Future StoriesFlight 2023

Air taxis set to land Canadian jobs and revenue

Source: eVTOL Insights

Author: Boris Sedacca

New research by Horizon Aircraft shows growing support for the development of air taxi services in Canada, with73% of Canadians supporting the development of the eVTOL industry.

Nearly four out of five (78%) would be happy to fly in them once they are commercially operational. Just 7% say they would never use an eVTOL, while 15% are currently undecided. A major reason driving support for the industry is the potential to create jobs and boost the Canadian economy while also helping cut greenhouse gas emissions by reducing traffic congestion.

The global air taxi and urban air mobility industry is forecast to see revenues grow from $2.3 billion in 2021 to as much as $30.7 billion by 2031, with more than 430,000 air taxis operating worldwide.

The research by Horizon found that 75% of Canadians believe the jobs boost for Canada should increase Government support for the sector, while 68% want the Government to target becoming a world leader in eVTOL development.

Nearly seven out of 10 (69%) of Canadians believe the country’s geography and landmass give it major advantages over other countries and present a compelling case for developing a strong eVTOL market. Around 74% believe using eVTOLs will benefit urban areas by cutting traffic congestion and its impact on the environment.

Brandon Robinson, CEO of Horizon Aircraft, said: “The eVTOL market is expanding rapidly and will soon be a major global industry, which Canada can become a world leader in. We already have strong support from regulators and the Government, and public support is increasing as people see the opportunities to create jobs and generate revenue.”

Horizon Aircraft’s Cavorite X5 eVTOL is built for longer-range regional passenger or cargo, as well as special missions. It will take off and land vertically like a helicopter but will fly almost twice as fast at a fraction of the cost. It will have a maximum passenger capacity of four plus a pilot, a payload of 500 kg (1,100 lb), and an average range of 800 km (500 miles) with full fuel reserves.

Horizon’s technology allows its Cavorite X5 to fly 98% of its mission in a very low-drag configuration like a traditional aircraft. The fullscale aircraft will also be powered by a hybrid electric system that can recharge the battery array in-flight while providing additional system redundancy.

The study was conducted in May 2023 by independent research agency Pure Profile among a nationally representative sample of 1,000 Canadians aged 18-plus, which included 203 who currently live in or have lived in a remote area of Canada.

In April, Horizon Aircraft successfully completed initial transition flight testing of its Cavorite X5 half-scale eVTOL prototype at Ontario Tech University’s ACE Climatic Wind Tunnel in Canada.

Lilium starts assembly of the Lilium Jet’s electric propulsion system

Source: Lilium Press Release

Lilium, announced that it is starting assembly of the Lilium Jet’s revolutionary electric propulsion system at its dedicated propulsion facility located next to its headquarters in Wessling, Germany.

The announcement marks another exciting milestone on the targeted path towards industrialization and commercial entry into service of the Lilium Jet and reconfirms Lilium’s roadmap towards achieving first manned flight of the aircraft in late 2024.

Yves Yemsi, COO of Lilium, said: “The start of propulsion assembly represents a significant step towards industrializing the Lilium Jet. In the coming weeks we will be systematically working towards validating our manufacturing capabilities and preparing to deliver the propulsion units for initial aircraft integration and type-certification testing.”

Klaus Roewe, CEO of Lilium, commented: “Today’s announcement brings us one big step closer to the dawn of a new, sustainable jet era. The iconic, sleek aircraft design is a key differentiator of the Lilium Jet. Thanks to the unique propulsion system and aerodynamic jet architecture, I believe the Lilium Jet will set the benchmark for the eVTOL industry, opening the way for superior performance, unit economics and comfort. Ninety-five percent of commercial airplanes today use jet engines, which offer high safety in addition to the best cabin experience with low vibration and noise, combined with great payload and range potential.”

Daniel Wiegand, Lilium co-founder and chief engineer for innovation & future programs, remarked: “For my fellow co-founders and myself, the start of industrial assembly of the Lilium Jet’s propulsion unit marks a special moment. It was our shared belief in the radical potential of our electric jet technology that formed the nucleus of our company and that has driven Lilium forward ever since. I’m more convinced than ever that our vision of a sustainable new form of high speed and affordable regional transportation will become a commercial reality.”

In the first phase of assembly, the propulsion system’s rotating parts, including the shaft, magnets and titanium compressor fan are assembled and mated with the associated static components such as the e-motor stator and guide vanes (for structural support and cooling).

These are then integrated into the high performing engine. In the next phase later this year, the electric engines will be integrated into the Lilium Jet’s propulsion mounting system, the unique flap structure that forms the rear part of the wings and front canards and that houses the propulsion and vectoring systems responsible for vertical and horizontal flight.

Successful testing of propulsion subsystems

The start of assembly follows extensive testing of propulsion subsystems delivered by suppliers: The custom-designed aircraft e-motor, developed and built-in collaboration with Denso and Honeywell; the titanium compressor fan, developed and built in collaboration with Aeronamic; and electric motor bearings built in collaboration with SKF.

In July this year, Lilium completed testing of a full-size prototype Lilium Jet fan and stator at Jetpel’s facilities, one of Germany’s leading aviation technology centers, which confirmed the fan design’s robust operating parameters.

Jetson One: Personal flying vehicle Sold Out for 2023, nearly all of 2024

Source: www.autoevolution.com

Who would have thought that personal flying vehicles would prove to be such a hit, but Jetson One, a global leader in the market, is showing the way. The company recently said that its planned 200 production units for 2023 is now sold out, while 2024 orders are close to completion with just three craft still available, reports autoevolution.com. In the first month of 2022, Jetson had already sold out all the units for that year and the overall sales figure has now hit 3,000 purchase requests since October 2021.

The vast majority of sales are in the U.S. This is because after originally being founded in Poland and then relocating to Sweden, the company moved its HQ to Palo Alto, California.

The craft comes in kit form and costs around USD100,000. Purchasers require an USD8,000 deposit first. Others suggest, if assembled by the company, the price is around USD150,000. Jetson One was specifically designed for private use and doesn’t require a pilot’s license.

Last summer, one of the company’s cofounders, Tomasz Patan, flew his own

Jetson from his home to work, completing what he claimed was the first eVTOL commute in the world. The pioneering flight, part of which can be viewed on video via the company’s social media platforms, reduced the normal travel time by 88 percent.

The article states, “Although technically not a flying car (it doesn’t combine flying capabilities with riding on roads), the Jetson One is pretty close to a winged alternative to personal vehicles. It’s small and lightweight and fitted with eight motors that can propel it at 63 mph (102 kph).

“At the same time, it claims to offer exceptional safety, starting with the race car-inspired frame, down to state-of-the-art safety systems, including a triple-redundant flight computer, terrain tracking, and obstacle avoidance.”

This personal flying vehicle can be flown by almost anybody after basic training. To repeat, no pilot license is required. The specifics of its structure and recreational purpose place it in a separate category in terms of regulations, which greatly simplifies the road to certification.

Wealthy people who own large tracts of land or others like farmers who can use it like a quad bike or tractor to travel around a farm, are its natural customers.

Jetson has a much larger vision for the future. The company aims to construct an aircraft version that can include passengers, culminating with a four-seat flying car by the end of this decade.

For more information https://www.jetsonaero.com

Zapata Personal Airscooter VTOL Aircraft “to launch in 2024”

Source: eVTOL Insights

Author: Chris Stonor

Imagine

a scooter, now see it flying in the sky. That is the vision of inventor, Franky Zapata, who has created a personal Airscooter VTOL one-seater aircraft. First shown at the Paris Viva Technology event in June, the craft wowed the crowds and Zapata now says, “It will be commercially launched next year.”

The craft with its patented hybrid-electric propulsion system is compliant with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) PART 103 Regulations, and therefore does not require a flight certificate and so can be flown without a pilot’s license in the USA and China as an “ultralight aircraft”.

The company explains on its website, “Airscooter offers a longer flight time than any other VTOL in the market; patented computer assisted fly by wire controls ensure the highest degree of safety while requiring minimal training; and thanks to its hybrid powertrain and sustainable fuel, the Airscooter carbon footprint is comparable to a passenger car.”

The Airscooter comes in the form of a fully glazed cockpit resembling an egg and is piloted using two joysticks. It has a top speed of 100 km/h, a cruise speed of 80 km/h and a flight time of more than 2 hours. The maximum payload is 120 kg.

Described by the company as “the world’s most advanced personal flying machine”, it will compete with the growing number of one-seater personal aircraft now being developed including Lift’s HEXA, the Jetson One and RYSE Aero.

Zapata’s Community Manager, Beatriz Esteban Cara, talking to Euronews Next at the VivaTech event, said that the public will be able to have a go at flying the scooters in flight centres located around the US from next year. The first to open will be in Lake Havasu City, close to Phoenix, Arizona. She emphasised that the Airscooter is safe, for if anything does go wrong, onboard computers can automatically guide the scooter safely back to earth.

Zapata’s initial aim is to sell the aircraft to companies that want to open their own flight centres to offer customers recreational flight experiences. Therefore, it is unlikely you’ll be seeing these scooters flying overhead in European cities any time soon. The cost to buy such an aircraft is unclear.

44 year-old Zapata is a fascinating character. He is the inventor of the Flyboard and Flyboard Air and founder of Zapata Racing in 1998 which he later sold to a U.S defence contractor. Since 2012, Zapata’s efforts have been focused on the development and manufacture of personal flyers for land and aquatic applications.

In August 2019, Zapata crossed the English Channel in just 20 minutes using a Flyboard Air, with a refuelling stop at midpoint. His 22-mile journey was completed with an escort from several French helicopters and warships, while aided by a backpack fuel reservoir.

Films of him on hoverboards and flying via a jetpack have gone viral across social media.

For more information https://www.zapata.com

Alef's flying car receives FAA special airworthiness certification

Source: Revolution.Aero

Author: Yves Le Marquand

Alef

Aeronautics has become the first road legal electric car to be certified by the FAA – through a special airworthiness certificate.

The firm unveiled its ‘Model A’ flying car after emerging from stealth in October 2022 and has been taking $300,000 preorder deposits for the vehicle since and is currently raising for its Series A investment round. The Model A is marketed as the only electric vehicle capable of vertical takeoff and landing from a parking space that can also drive on public roads.

“This is one small step for planes, one giant step for cars,” says Jim Dukhovny, founder and CEO of Alef.

Alef started as a small drone in 2015. Eight iterations later, the team is test flying and driving a full-scale prototype. The Model A will be capable of carrying one passenger 200 miles on roads or 110 miles by air. With no foldable wings, the car body rotates 90-degrees once airborne to act as a flying wing with thrust provided by eight rotors integrated into the body of the vehicle. A mesh forms the upper surface of the car from the outer edge of the body to the passenger compartment which enables airflow for the rotors. Dukhovny tells Revolution.Aero that Alef has been flying for a long time, but, emerged from stealth only late last year. The firm does not like coming to the press unless it has some “real news” to make public, he says. This is one of those occasions.

Dukhovny is keen to distance Alef from eVTOL OEMs. It is not an aviation manufacturer. “Our use case is automotive, our market is automotive, our business model is automotive. That being said, when you get to the technology and legal side of things, we spent most of our time on aeronautics because this is a harder problem to solve. However, we are not an air taxi. We are not a traditional eVTOL like Joby or Archer. We are a car with one more functionality and everything else comes from that.”

Dukhovny founded Alef because his father, Joseph (Leonid) Dukhovny – a famous Ukrainian folk singer and Soviet space scientist – passed his love of science fiction on to his son. That genre, which has inspired daydreams for decades, clearly defines what a flying car should look like. “It is hard to find a person anywhere in the world who hasn’t read a book or seen a film with a flying car in it,” he says. “People understand how it is supposed to function, so we should deliver to people the product they want rather can calling everything ‘flying cars’.”

The problem with working inside that definition is the technological constraints all eVTOL OEMs face – size and weight. Alef’s Model A has to fit in a parking space and driving lane, but still be capable of vertical takeoff and landing and flight. “This has been one of the biggest challenges because the laws of physics do everything to stop you from doing that. Transition is the way we have been able to solve this problem,” says Dukhovny.

He says that Boeing and Lockheed Martin both previously attempted this technology and failed. Alef’s patented system attaches the passenger compartment to the main body through a gimbal, allowing it to rotate. This transforms the car into a flying wing where the bodywork extends to the driver’s left and right. “It is not because we are cooler or smarter than Lockheed or Boeing, it is probably because the timing was wrong,” he says. Transition is made possible through software, which makes today’s computing power much more capable of performing this action. (There is also the fast-evolving drone industry to learn from.)

Whilst the award of the special airworthiness certificate is nothing new in the world of eVTOLs, it is in ground transportation. “This is the first car that can drive on the street, it is driving on the roads right now, which also has the certification to fly,” says Dukhovny. The certification essentially creates an aerial testbed in which Alef can continue to flight test Model A through the full flight envelope. Whilst the exact location of the airspace has not been released, Alef has a specific set of coordinates within Silicon Valley outside of any densely populated and routine air traffic areas, explains Dukhovny. “Whilst there are limitations this gives us everything we need right now to continue testing and more.”

After making contact with the FAA, the certification process took no more than a few months. Dukhovny gives the FAA credit for its approach with limited resources. “Many people say the FAA is slow and it can be. But as you know, eVTOLs don’t fit in the current process and flying cars don’t fit even more.”

Dukhovny believes Alef’s ‘obssession’ with safety helped make the process more efficient. The car has 12 motors in total, one for each wheel when driving (common in modern cars) and one for each rotor when flying. All of which are fully redundant. Each of these motors could potentially be powered by an independent battery which would up the safety levels further.

The team has been testing its prototype with the batteries located underneath the passenger compartment and has yet to decide on which approach. “There are advantages to both. We are crazy about safety, so having eight separate batteries ups the redundancy, but also having one grouping of battery cells increased safety in terms of centre of gravity,” says Dukhovny. “The FAA could see there was both intersystem and multi-system redundancy [with the Model A]. Even if there was a complete system failure, we have backup system that can take over.” Compared with aircraft and helicopters flying today, Dukhovny claims Model A has at least eight times the safety levels.

In a statement regarding the special airworthiness certification, the FAA said: “The FAA issued a Special Airworthiness Certificate for the Armada Model Zero aircraft on June 12, 2023. This is not the first aircraft of its kind for which the FAA has issued a Special Airworthiness Certificate. This certificate allows the aircraft to be used for limited purposes, including exhibition, research and development.” Defining itself to regulators, who have often labelled Model A no differently from a Cessna, has been a challenge for Alef. “If you class us as a Cessna, there are a lot of questions. There is a lot of terminology that does not apply. We cannot be looked at the same way as Sikorsky, Cessna, Boeing or Airbus. I understand that policy is going to take some time to be formed and the FAA is doing a good job, so big kudos to them. But, as of today, trying to fit us in any existing light, sport aircraft or helicopter class does not work. Hence, we have to come up with some creative solutions in the short-term.”

He is not neutral, but Dukhovny believes, that compared with eVTOLs, flying cars can get to market as quickly as eVTOLs and then scale at a greater pace. The first use cases for air taxis are largely as a supplement to helicopters and will be used mainly by business travellers he says. “The reason for it is infrastructure. If you think about what Joby needs to operate in London for example, what needs to be there? A lot of helipads need to be adapted and you know how long it takes to build in London,” he says. “Expensive too. And that price is going to be passed to a consumer. I think AAM is much smaller scale in the long-term.”

Alef’s Model A can be a car for the whole commute should you wish. But then when the opportunity to fly, skip that traffic and save time comes up, you can take it. However, it is going to be a long time, if ever, before you can lift off from the interstate 405 and skip the rush hour jam. “So, while no one is taking off the freeway in the short-term, what you can do, after talking with cities such as Palo Alto, is take off from a designated area within a city,” he says. “Cities will mark certain areas in which takeoff and landing is okay, areas where flight is okay and areas where you can never go. The idea is, at first, you have a very small amount of designated white-listed areas for landing and taking off. This can then be expanded over time and in the future hopefully the majority of the city will available.”

The challenge to that expansion will be public acceptance, especially those living within the first white-listed areas (another reason why Dukhovny says he is so focused on safety). But Alef does have one big advantage compared with other OEMs currently certifying, according to its CEO. “As I said, everybody has seen or read about a flying car before. So, I expect it is naturally going to be a lot easier for people to accept something that doesn’t look dissimilar from a Toyota.”

Lilium completes final design organization approval audit by EASA

Source: Lilium Press Release

Lilium, developer of the first all-electric vertical take-off and landing jet, announced today that it has successfully completed the fourth and final Design Organization Approval (“DOA”) audit by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (“EASA”).

The successful completion of the DOA audit is a key milestone in Lilium’s progress toward becoming an EASA DOA holder, a requirement for aircraft manufacturers, and demonstrates that Lilium has the necessary organization, procedures, competencies, and resources to design and certify aircraft.

EASA grants DOA holders’ special privileges. In particular DOA holders can a) have compliance documents accepted by EASA without further verification and b) perform activities independently from EASA.

In collaboration with EASA, Lilium is pursuing a DOA specifically tailored for eVTOL and electric propulsion certification.

“In simple terms, a Design Organisation Approval can be thought of as a ‘licence to operate.’ An aerospace company in Europe can neither hold a Type Certificate, nor undertake or approve design activity without having a DOA. Successfully completing the fourth and final DOA Audit pays tribute to the calibre of our team and the rigour of our design processes,” said Alastair McIntosh, Lilium's CTO.

Lilium applied for EASA DOA in 2017 and has since been working to develop, implement, and demonstrate the appropriate systems and resources. Having completed this fourth EASA audit, Lilium will now enter the final phase of the DOA process – the follow up and closure of outstanding actions and administrative steps to complete the process. Satisfactory conclusion of this phase leads to the issuance of the DOA certificate, targeted for later this year.

In parallel with the ongoing DOA process, Lilium continues to make substantial progress towards type certification of its Lilium Jet. Lilium was awarded its EASA certification basis for the Lilium Jet in 2020. EASA’s requirements (“SC-VTOL”), published in 2019 after extensive industry consultation, represent the highest safety objectives globally for eVTOL aircraft. As previously announced, Lilium has submitted 100% of its proposed certification plans for the Lilium Jet, with 78% of the Means of Compliance agreed or accepted.

The FAA issued its G-1 for the Lilium Jet last month, making Lilium the only eVTOL manufacturer with both an EASA and FAA certification basis for a powered lift eVTOL aircraft.