AeroMobil will be unveiling their “flight only” VTOL design, the 6.0, in late 2019.

A conceptual rendering of the AeroMobil 5.0, their previous flying car model.

The development process for the AeroMobil 6.0 is still in the preliminary stages; company executives reported that they were currently considering the optimal capabilities of the 6.0 in three performance bands, 30 km for one to two passengers, 30-to 70 km  for two passengers, or 70 km for four passengers. The final decision will most likely depend on the company’s intentions for the 6.0, whether it will be utilized for short-range urban transportation or long-range intercity transportation.

The AeroMobil 5.0

To help this process along, AeroMobil shared that they had been developing and analyzing over 50 eVTOL aircraft designs over the last 18 months. According to AeroMobil Deputy Head of Engineering Simon Bendrey, “We have a lot of expertise in assessing and developing different technology and design configurations for rotors, wings and other aircraft systems. For instance, we have developed rotor blades for the 4.0 that are around half the weight of comparable blades now being used with 300-hp engines.”

The AeroMobil 4.0

AeroMobil is currently also still in the process of releasing the market versions of their AeroMobil 4.0 and 5.0 as well. AeroMobil began the certification process under the European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s CS-23 regulations for their 4.0 flying car in December 2018, and is expecting their first flight for the aircraft soon. As for the AeroMobil 5.0, there are designs for a larger model for the 5.0, and should have a full-scale prototype available by 2025.

Why it’s important: Even with the ongoing development of previous aircraft models, AeroMobil looks to continuously improve and progress in different types of aircraft. The 6.0 will differ from previous AeroMobil models in that it will be flight-only, conveying possible interest into the air taxi market, where many various VTOL models being developed for the air taxi market only travel through the air. AeroMobil continues to innovate and find new avenues for success.

Sources // AIN

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With many decades of experience in the aerospace industry, BAE Systems announced that they are preparing to offer energy management, avionics and power conversion systems that are scalable and adaptable for aircraft ranging from regional jets to small urban air mobility (UAM) aircraft. 

BAE Systems Regional Aircraft – J31 Air to Air. Photo credit: BAE Systems

BAE Systems plans to offer both fully electric and hybrid electric systems. According to Yesh Premkumar, BAE System’s Business Development/Strategy Lead for Aircraft Electrification, “I think there is merit to both, and as a product supplier, we’re positioning ourselves to be able to play in both as demand and market trends change.”

Additionally, BAE Systems is working in coordination with other companies working in the UAM industry, including Uber Elevate partners, although specifics have not been released. “What Uber and its partners are trying to do is push electric platforms, and we see energy management systems and fly-by-wire/integrated control systems are critical to both safety and successful operation of the platforms,” said Premkumar, “We’re aiming to deliver the most simplified version of a solution that meets the operational needs of the platform without compromising on cost, safety, and reliability.”

BAE Systems Regional Aircraft – RDO Repair in Hangar. Photo Credit: BAE Systems

BAE Systems intends to put out working prototypes by early 2021 for flight tests. According to Premkumar, what BAE Systems envisions in their prototypes is a control system similarly to that of traditional fly-by-wire systems — providing information from aircraft sensors to a flight controller, who sends commands to the surfaces and engine or engine controller — but more compact and integrated, similar to the FBW systems that Honeywell is currently developing. “We believe this will help reduce the number of boxes, improve reliability and economics of the control system.” BAE Systems are also discussing opportunities in the avionics and energy management industries with electric jet startup Wright Electric, according to Premkumar. 

BAE Systems Regional Aircraft – RJ85. Photo Credit: BAE Systems

Why it’s important: BAE Systems plan to offer their products on the market by the mid-2020s, matching the timing of many aerospace companies and startups to begin flight operations in the UAM industry, which would be critical for commercial success. These new

Sources // Aviation Today

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Successful integration of piloted air taxi into Air Traffic Management system

Volocopter has successfully performed the first flight of an Air Taxi at an International Airport (Helsinki) integrated into both Air Traffic Management (ATM) and Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) systems.

This demonstration is the final component of the Gulf of Finland (GOF) u-space project showing how ATM and UTM systems will enable Urban Air Mobility (UAM). The GOF space project is a portion of the larger Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) Program. The GOF U-space flight trial demonstrated how ATM and UTM can act in combination to enable safe and efficient air taxi operation in urban environments, including airports.

Source // ANS Finland

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Elroy Air announced the successful completion of its first full-scale system flight test yesterday. The first flight of the 1215 lb prototype reached a height of 10 feet and hovered for 64 seconds before descending and landing safely.

According to Elroy’s Medium Article on the first flight, the test was completed at 9:14AM PST on August 14th, 2019 at McMillan Airfield at Camp Roberts, CA in partnership with the Naval Postgraduate School, and the aircraft was remotely piloted by the company’s lead test pilot.

“Today is an important step toward the future of logistics,” said David Merrill, CEO of Elroy Air. “Since the earliest days of powered flight people have wanted to use the skies for convenient, rapid cargo transport to anywhere. The airport-dependence of traditional manned air cargo options shows that air cargo still has great opportunity to evolve! Autonomous VTOL cargo systems will make the dream of ultra-responsive logistics possible, because they decouple air cargo from airports. These large cargo systems are about to become mainstream, and the Elroy Air team is leading the industry with our development of the Chaparral aerial cargo system.”

The Elroy Air Chaparral and Cargo Pod at McMillan Airfield, Camp Roberts, CA.

Elroy Air’s large cargo eVTOL system uses a hybrid-electric powertrain that enables long range deliveries. Additionally, the company emphasizes its cargo-handling automation for quick and safe loading and unloading of packages.

“The development is a response to a global pilot shortage and growing demand for more flexible and rapid logistics across all traffic and terrain scenarios on the ground. Autonomous air cargo transportation has the ability to improve the quality of life globally by increasing access to time-sensitive critical supplies,“ said Kofi Asante, Head of Strategy and Business Development.

“Developing a robust VTOL system at this scale of payload is a challenging feat that requires the right team and resources,” said Clint Cope, VP of Engineering at Elroy Air. “The set of flight-critical systems that all have to be working perfectly together for robust, repeatable performance is non-trivial. The Elroy Air team is a squad of experts who know exactly what it takes in their respective domains to build a world-class aerial cargo system. This flight is a huge milestone, because it validates what our team can do. We’ll celebrate this accomplishment with our investors and customers, then continue our work toward deployed systems.”

Elroy Air Cargo Pod, with Chaparral in the background.

Why it’s important: Elroy Air’s first flight of Chaparral is a great achievement for the company on its path towards certification of large-scale autonomous hybrid eVTOL’s for logistics applications. As is the approach of numbers of other eVTOL OEM’s, Elroy’s early adoption of hybrid electric powertrain solutions will most likely aid in bridging the gap between the battery technology of today and the targets for energy storage capabilities in the next 10-15 years.

Bell has just achieved the first autonomous flight of its Autonomous Pod Transport (APT) 70 aircraft, and will continue testing throughout the year.

The U.S. helicopter and tilt-rotor manufacturer has just shared footage of its cargo eVTOL drone completing a first of many fully autonomous flights. Bell will ramp up flight testing under an experimental type certificate at its facility near Fort Worth, Texas to eventually support missions such as package delivery, medical support, and disaster relief. The vehicle has key design features such as a modular design for rapid battery swap & recharging, and a payload pod that is attached via pylons to two wings, each fitted with electric-powered propellers.

The APT70 is a tail-sitting VTOL with load capacity up to 70lbs, and a top speed up to 100mph. It takes off vertically as does a drone, then rotates to horizontal flight in a bi-plane configuration using its built-in fixed wings. A near-final version of the APT70 will conduct another flight demonstration in 2020 through NASA’s Systems Integration and Operationalization partnership. Meanwhile, the company continues to develop its wider APT family of eVTOL aircraft to achieve varying payload and range capabilities.

Bell’s APT70 (left) and APT20 (right). // AIN Online

According to Bell, next year’s demonstration through the NASA partnership will simulate commercial missions in the U.S. National Airspace System and will include beyond visual line of sight operations. Through this collaboration, NASA and Bell hope to deliver new technologies for unmanned aerial systems including integrated Detect and Avoid (DAA) and Command and Control (C2). Bell is also working with Japanese logistics group Yamato to create an integrated package handling system with the APT 70, and strives to launch commercial operations by the early 2020s.

Related: Bell Flight Unveils Nexus Prototype at CES 2019

First flight for the Nexus passenger eVTOL is planned for 2020 and Bell hopes to achieve type certification in 2023. The aircraft design features a central wing, integrated landing skids, and six ducted tilt-rotor fans. It will carry four passengers on flights of up to around 150 miles and at speeds of up to 175 mph. Read more about the Bell Nexus’ technical specifications in the Hangar.

Why it’s important: Bell is expanding its aircraft profile in the urban air mobility industry and demonstrates time and resource investments in both the passenger and cargo sectors. Small-scale cargo transportation has been an area of interest for both the military as well as large online retailers such as Amazon, demonstrating a wide swath of applications for the APT 70 and the company’s future fleet of cargo eVTOLs.

Collins Aerospace announced their intentions to develop the world’s first 1MW electric aircraft motor. With a $50 million dollar investment towards an electric systems lab, named the “Grid”, in Illinois, Collins Aerospace looks to soon provide aircraft and eVTOL manufacturers with a practical and vastly more efficient electric drivetrain.

The Grid will be put to work on developing a working model for a fully electric aircraft motor capable of outputting 1MW. Based in Rockford, Illinois, the 25,000 square-foot facility is outfitted with 4 independent modular electric power systems that will be ready to go by 2021. Both Collins Aerospace and their holding company, United Technologies, have large expectations for this investment. According to Collins Aerospace CEO Kelly Ortberg, “Our internal UTC studies indicate that commercial electric and hybrid electric propulsion could reduce aircraft noise by up to 85 percent, can improve fuel consumption by up to 40 percent, can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 20 percent and reduce airline operating and maintenance costs by up to 20 percent.”

To develop an electric engine that would be able to rival the power output of a generator in a Boeing 787, Collins Aerospace will begin with Project 804. Project 804 is Collins Aerospace’s first project, to develop a hybrid-electric flight demonstrator. Project 804 will use a Bombardier Dash-8 with a 2MW hybrid-electric powertrain. According to Ortberg, “The goal of Project 804, developed by the company’s advanced projects group, is to re-engine and fly a regional turboprop aircraft powered by a 2 megawatt-class hybrid-electric propulsion system on a highly aggressive timeline. The advanced projects group combines the engineering expertise and experience of Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney and UTC’s research center.”

More details on Project 804 can be found here

A render of the inside of the Grid

Why it’s important: Collins Aerospace will have a lot of work to do to create a practical, powerful electric drivetrain capable of meeting their goals. The electric motor will most likely need vast improvements in efficiency while maintaining practicality and safety standards. However, if this project does result with a working electric drivetrain capable of outputting 1MW, development and manufacturing off fully electric VTOLs as opposed to hybrid electric models for the UAM industry could happen within the next decade. 

Sources // Clean Technica

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Embraer has revealed their first all-electric demonstrator, a fixed-wing aircraft that is currently under development as the Ipanema project.

The prototype is based off of the EMB-203 Ipanema agricultural aircraft, a small single-engine aircraft, in order to test and evaluate the electric engine prototypes. “We chose Ipanema because it is our platform that requires the least modifications to receive electric propulsion systems,” said Daniel Moczydlowe, Embraer’s Vice President of Engineering and Technology, “It will be a prototype system designed to test technology on short, 30-minute flights”.

The demonstrator is based off of the Embraer EMB 202/203 Ipanema, an agricultural aircraft. Photo courtesy of Evandro Fiho.

The demonstrator’s electric motor and controller are being designed and manufactured by Brazilian electric engineering company WEG SA, at the company’s HQ at Jaraguá do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil, as part of their agreement in May. The cooler is being provided by Parker Aerospace. Especially in the next few months, Embraer and these companies will be heavily involved in testing the various systems involved in the all-electric aircraft design in lab conditions, and the first flight for the demonstrator is scheduled for 2020. 

Why it’s important: The Ipanema project has large implications for the development process for EmbraerX, Embraer’s urban air tax division. As the new eVTOL will most likely have to feature high efficiency and reliability paired with low operating costs and environmental and noise footprints, a fully-finished all-electric engine would be a perfect fit for the new air taxi by EmbraerX. “As a market accelerator committed to developing solutions to transform life’s experiences, we have been combining human-centered design thinking with our 50-year history of building and engineering expertise in a unique manner,” said Antonio Campello, President & CEO, EmbraerX, “These are the factors behind the technical progress and leading-edge innovations we are bringing to this new eVTOL concept.”

Sources // The Driven

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It may sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but flying car racing may come to planet Earth in 2020. Land speeder races in sci-fi movies and Formula 1 legends breaking records have excited generations of aviation, racing, and sci-fi fanatics. These same fans may now have another formidable competitor contending for their attention.

The company at the center of most of this flying car activity is Alauda Aeronautics – creator of the Alauda Airspeeder. Alauda is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, and has been working to bring racing to the skies for almost 4 years. Their Airspeeder concept builds upon the popular drone racing format and design, but takes the stakes to the next level with an increased size chassis, larger brushless DC electric motors, and a flight control system that’s designed for a “pilot” or “driver” – whichever you prefer. Here’s the teaser for their 2020 flying carGrand Prix:

Alauda’s design is familiar to that of many drone enthusiasts: a quadcopter-esque drivetrain, with each corner of the vehicle featuring two props for vertical and forward thrust. The fuselage (or body) of the Airspeeder is sleek and the cockpit is retracted towards the aft portion of the vehicle. While this may reduce forward visibility, the vehicle is safer in this configuration. Matt Pearson, founder of Alauda Aeronautics, recommitted the company to the 2020 Grand Prix bid after a 2017 Kickstarter campaign wasn’t as successful as originally intended. Now, the company is gaining momentum towards the next iteration of fundraising and progress on larger scales.

Alauda’s Airpseeder is fast, attractive, the stuff of sci-fi, but even better – being publicly displayed in the GP 2020

Why it’s important: Alauda’s 2020 GP has the potential to expose a much larger audience to eVTOL aircraft, UAM, and air taxis. By formulating a Grand Prix that leverages the familiarities of Formula 1 racing while adding the excitement of drone racing and aerial jockeying, Alauda is positioning themselves well for the future. It’s not difficult to find similar pathways to Alauda’s goal either: The Drone Racing League rose from being virtually unknown in 2015 to a globally recognized professional sport a mere two years later, with awareness continuing to increase. While Alauda isn’t there yet, they’re getting closer.

Learn more about the Alauda Airspeeder

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The work to complete Malaysia’s first flying car is 85% complete, according to Malaysia’s Entrepeneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof. The prototype is currently under construction in a site in Japan, where the Aerodyne Group is currently overseeing the vehicle’s development.

A model of the planned prototype was unveiled at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace 2019 (Lima ’19) exhibition

After announcing their intentions to produce a national flying car earlier this year, the vehicle could soon be unveiled in the near future. For now, the prototype resides in Japan, as the country is an economic powerhouse with the supporting ecosystem to develop the flying car industry, according to the minister. 

“I am going to Japan in September for the Aviation Conference and I hope to get to see the almost complete (flying) car that we will be going to bring back towards the end of the year, ” said Malaysia’s Entrepeneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof, ““Whether the flying car will be launched by year-end, it would depend on Malaysia’s ecosystem for flying cars, especially in term of availability to fly at that time”. 

Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof

According to the minister, a special zone in Cyberjaya has already been prepared exclusively for testing and developing the prototype. Once the flying car is finished, the future for Malaysia’s possible air taxi industry depends on their native ecosystem. The sooner Malaysia can develop an ecosystem ready to support such an industry, the sooner Malaysia could promote their own air taxi industry. 

The Ministry of Entrepreneur Development is also in contact with other ministries involved with the aviation sector in order to create available space for flying cars in Malaysia. While the flying car is technically a private initiative, the government and specifically the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development hopes to be heavily involved with the process of developing and manufacturing the flying car in order to create their own budding air taxi industry. 

Why it’s important: With a successful presentation of the flying car prototype, Malaysia could soon end up supporting the project with the full backing and funding of the government. UAM presents an exciting prospect and potential solution to the transportation issues currently plaguing dozens of countries, and could be the solution for Malaysia in the near future. 

Sources // Malay Mail

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• Payload to accommodate 2 people including hand luggage
• Increased flight efficiency through aerodynamically shaped rotor beams, a newly introduced stabilizer to create increased stability in flight and additional lift
• Iconic design with fluid lines is a seamless continuation of architectural language of the future VoloPort all the while combining unprecedented technological achievements and user comfort

• 200 kg maximum payload
• 18 brushless DC electric motors (BLDC’s)
• 700kg OEW
• 900 kg MTOW

VoloCity features 9 Lithium Ion Battery Packs and 18 Brushless DC Electric Motors (BLDC’s). Visit the Hangar to read more about the VoloCity’s technical specs.