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On March 24, 2022 the European Union Aviation Safety Agency published the world’s first guidance for the design of vertiports, the ground infrastructure needed for the safe operation of Urban Air Mobility services such as air taxis in locations across Europe, including in urban areas.

The Prototype Technical Design Specifications for Vertiports offers guidance to urban planners and local decision-makers as well as industry to enable the safe design of vertiports that will serve these new types of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, which are already at an advanced stage of development.

“Urban air mobility is a completely new field of aviation and we therefore have a unique opportunity to develop a set of infrastructure requirements from scratch,” Patrick Ky, Executive Director of EASA said. “With the world’s first guidance for safe vertiport operations, EASA’s ambition is to provide our stakeholders with the ‘gold standard’ when it comes to safe vertiport design and operational frameworks. By harmonising design and operational standards for vertiports we will support European industry, who are already starting to embark on exciting projects in Europe and around the world to make new urban air mobility a reality.”

One notable innovation is the concept of a funnel-shaped area above the vertiport, designated as an “obstacle free volume”. This concept is tailored to the operational capabilities of the new VTOL aircraft, which can perform landing and take-off with a significant vertical segment. Depending on the urban environment and on the performance of certain VTOL-capable aircraft, omnidirectional trajectories to vertiports will be also possible. Such approaches can more easily take account of environmental and noise restrictions and are more suitable for an urban environment than conventional heliport operations, which are constrained in the approaches that can be safely applied.

download link for the specification: https://www.easa.europa.eu/downloads/136259/en

Elektra Trainer, the latest Aircraft from the German Company Elektra Solar, had the world debut for Media on April 1st in the “Flugwerft Oberschleißheim”  – the aviation department of the Deutsche Museum in Munich which is the leading technical Museum in Germany.  The two-seat electric trainer is designed by the Elektra Solar Founder Calin Gologan. “ We think due to its aerodynamic efficiency and low energy consumption the Elektra Trainer is the ideal trainer for basic aviation training as  even with the existing Battery technology which is not strong enough up to now to give an converted basic trainer, the necessary endurance we can fly is up to 2.5 Hours + reserve inside the maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of the 600 kg MTOW allowed in the German UL-Class in which the first Version of the aircraft will be certified. Later a Part 22 certified motor glider and a Part 23 version are planned”, stated Gologan in the presentation  at the unveiling event where the Bavarian Government and many supporters of the Project were  present.

The ceremony was hosted by Prof. Dr. W. M. Heckl, the director general of the “Deutsches Museum”. Afterwards Gologan and his partners in the company  Prof. Gerd Hirzinger  (former Head of the DLR ( German National aviation Research center) Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics) and his  Co-CEO Konstantin Kondak reported on the founding and development of the company and its products and then unveiled the small yellow aircraft next to historical Airplanes like the Dornier D 31 VTOL airplane, the  Do 24 Seaplane and under the wings of another famous electric airplane from Germany the Solair 1 from the Munich designer Günter Rochelt which hangs under the roof of the principal hangar of the German Museum in the permanent exhibition.  More info about the event in the next PDF edition of the e-flight-Journal, more about the Elektra  Trainer here. or in the New Flügel Magazin (online and at the German News stand on April 15th)

If you want to see the aircraft yourself , come to the first appearance of the airplane at the show at the next e-flight-Expo @AERO which will take place in Friedrichshafen from April 27-30^th 2022

The German car manufacturer Porsche has been evaluating the VTOL field for more than 4 years. Up until now Porsche Engineering Group, located near company headquarters in Stuttgart, has been leading the program. During this time there was a cooperation with the US Company Boeing, which appears to have since been discontinued. Until now only a few design studies have been published. Everything else has happened under the radar.

Now the Porsche Group is taking the next step. On March 28, 2022, the automotive company formally founded the P3X Management GmbH (limited Corporation) in Munich under the registration number: HRB 274681.
CEOs of the new company are Guan Chew Ph.D. and Philip Kastel. Chew was Head of Technical Research at the Porsche Engineering Group. It’s rumored that the company may be planing to start developing its vehicles at the research airport Oberpfaffenhofen just west of Munich.

More info https://twitter.com/nextvisions

To be continued…

There are some images circulating on the Chinese social media which are claimed to be the patent application of HT Aero for a roadable eVTOL flying car, i.e. a vehicle with both driving and flying functions.

The design in the images appears to be a tilt-rotor configuration with wings. There is no further detail about the folding mechanism.

HT Aero is an eVTOL startup based in Guangzhou, China. HT Aero was acquired by the Chinese electric car company Xpeng in 2020 and revealed a design concept of a roadable eVTOL flying car last year as shown below. HT Aero plans to begin sale of this flying car in 2024 for a projected price tag of one million RMB (157,000 USD or 143,000 euro)

On 22 March 2021 the Japanese eVTOL startup SkyDrive and Suzuki Motor Corporation jointly announced a partnership for the commercialization of the eVTOL developed by SkyDrive.

SkyDrive and Suzuki will start consideration to collaborate in areas of business and technology that include technology R&D, planning of manufacturing and mass-production systems, development of overseas markets with an initial focus on India which is the major market for Suzuki Motor, and promotion of efforts to attain carbon neutrality.

SkyDrive was founded in 2018. The companay has been test flying its SD-03 single-seat multicopter eVTOL prototype since at least 2020 and aims to begin air taxi service during the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka, Japan, as well as to initiate service in other regions of Japan.

In Japan, the Public-Private Council for Air Mobility Revolution was established in 2018 with meetings held since then. The project is expected to lead to taxi services in urban areas, new means of transportation for remote islands and mountainous areas, and emergency transportation in times of disaster. A roadmap has been formulated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT) for the start of business in 2023 and full-scale deployment in 2030.

PROVIDENCE USA – AJDOVŠČINA SLOVENIA. — Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT), home to the Cessna, Beechcraft, and Bell aviation brands, today announced it has entered into an agreement to purchase Pipistrel, an award-winning pioneer and global leader in electrically powered aircraft.
“Pipistrel puts Textron in a uniquely strong position to develop technologies for the sustainable aviation market and develop a variety of new aircraft to meet a wide range of customer missions,” said Textron Chairman and CEO Scott Donnelly. “Today’s announcement supports Textron’s long-term strategy to offer a family of sustainable aircraft for urban air mobility, general aviation, cargo and special mission roles.”

Pipistrel founder and CEO Ivo Boscarol will remain a minority shareholder as well as Chairman Emeritus, consulting on future product plans and strategies for a two-year period.
“Under my 30-year leadership, Pipistrel’s team has achieved a unique prime position in personal, affordable, environmentally friendly and electric aviation. The trend and foundation for future projects has clearly been set,” said Boscarol. “To drive Pipistrel’s ambitious goals and to continue its story of success, the joining of Textron and Pipistrel provides deep expertise and resources which would otherwise be inaccessible to Pipistrel alone. “

more info soon – at the AERO and under Pipistrel and Textron

H2FLY the company of Hydrogen aviation pioneer Prof. Dr.-Ing. Josef Kallo started a new area with its Hy4 Aircraft as a new milestone in aviation for the first time passengers will be flown in a fuel cell Aircraft.
#H2FLY started a test campaign from March to May 2022 using emission free hydrogen electric passenger aircraft integrated in daily operations at the international Airport of Stuttgart.
First evaluation shows full operation flexibility on ground and with ATC and low noise flight operation. 

More information at linked in or live at the AERO-E-flight-Expo in Friedrichshafen

27. – 30. April 2022–The Leading Show for General Aviation

Whisper Aero, the electric aviation startup founded by the eVTOL veteran and former exectutive of Uber Elevate Mark Moore, unveiled their first product at the Heli-Expo in Dallas, US–an electric drone named “Whisper Drone”.

The Tennessee-based company said the the drone is designed to be very quite and highly efficient, is intended for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) use, and has finished validation testing for the Pentagon. Based on validation testing, the US Air Force has awarded Whisper Aero two contracts totaling $1.5 million to further the project development. The company did not yet specify any further details of the drone.

Mark Moore set up Whisper Aero in 2020 to pursue ultra-quiet and efficient electric propulsion for aviation use. Besides Whisper Drone, the company is developing Whisper Jet, a regional electric airplane. The company has raised at least $7.5 millions USD according to public report before winning the research contracts of the US Air Force this time.

https://www.whisper.aero

AutoFlight today announced the successful completion of the transition test flight of the proof-of-concept eVTOL prototype named “Prosperity I” , in which the aircraft switches from a vertical take-off motion to the more energy efficient, horizontal flight and back to vertical flight, before landing. The successful transition test flight was achieved in January 2022. The unmanned flight, which took place at Autoflight flight test area in JiangSu province, China with CEO Tian Yu, the R&D team and 40 AutoFlight staff present, while Prosperity I rose to an altitude of 150 meters at speeds of up to 123 mph (196km/h).

Footage of the transition test flight:

Prosperity I was designed for short transfers between parts of a city, airport commutes, connecting two nearby cities or enabling trips to the countryside while avoiding traffic on the ground. Autoflight expect it to be ready for commercial flight in 2025.

A ‘transition’ is when an aircraft moves from a vertical to horizontal motion and is one of the most challenging parts of an eVTOL flight. Vertical flight for the proof of concept for Prosperity I required eight rotors to lift the 3,307 pounds, including four-person, state-of-the-art electric aircraft into the air. Once the aircraft reached an altitude of 150 meters and the airspeed of 100-110mph the fixed wing part of the eVTOL generated lift. At this point, Prosperity I entered the complex transition phase – the rotors on the top stopped spinning and locked in a streamlined position, whilst the propellers on the rear pushed the aircraft forward like a traditional fixed wing plane.

AutoFlight CEO Tian Yu, who has over two decades of experience designing and building electric aircraft, and 300 electric aviation-related patents, said:

“The team and I are thrilled to have cracked the smooth transition phase of eVTOL flight, unlocking the skies for Prosperity I and our commercial products. We were confident we had a good design underpinned by sound engineering, and delighted to see that the transition was smooth, safe and seamless.”

Mark Henning, Managing Director of AutoFlight Europe said:

“Achieving a smooth transition phase in record time, from prototype to flight. Underlines the caliber of the engineering team we have at AutoFlight and gives great confidence as we progress into the development phase and layout plans for our first manned aircraft, the Prosperity I. The simplicity of AutoFlight’s design lies in our patented ‘Lift and Cruise’ configuration, which combines superior range and safety with low technical complexity, making it affordable to manufacture, maintain and operate as an air taxi.”

The milestone is the latest of significant recent developments for AutoFlight including the establishment of a European base in Augsburg, Germany, the appointment of  Mark Henning (formerly of Airbus) as its European Managing Director, as well as $100 million investment from next-generation mobility investor Team Global.

The Tecnam P2010 H3PS parallel hybrid electric powered airplane, developed jointly by Tecnam, Rolls Royce and Rotax, made the first flight on December  21^st, 2021, at precisely 3:54 pm CET. The Permit to Fly was issued by ENAC, the Italian Civil Aviation Authority.

This is the first General Aviation aircraft with a parallel hybrid configuration to take flight.

The flight was performed by Tecnam’s Chief Experimental Test Pilot Lorenzo De Stefano, with Tecnam, Rolls-Royce and Rotax Teams on the ground assisting in this historic moment.

Tecnam P2010 H3PS is powered by a 104kW Rotax 915 IS engine coupled with a 30kW Rolls-Royce electric motor, totaling 134kW (180hp) powertrain in a fully integrated parallel hybrid configuration. As such, this four-seat aircraft is first of its kind.

H3PS, which stands for “High Power High Scalability Aircraft Hybrid Powertrain”, is a project funded under the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. Launched in 2018, the project has reached its objectives. With H3PS’ success, Tecnam Aircraft and project partners have validated the aircraft’s scalability potential, lower emissions, state of the art power management technology, building a viable launchpad for future green aircraft models.