Joby Bay Area Demo Starts a Tour

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A Bay Area Feat Joby Aviation flew its “FAA conforming” JAS4-1 N547JX in the Bay Area and beyond this week, the first of many demonstration flights it will perform nationwide as part of its Electric Skies Tour. “Conforming,” according to Flying magazine, “Means that the model aligns with Joby’s agency-approved airworthiness criteria and test plans. In other words, it is representative of the aircraft the company intends to certify and operate.” Flying around San Francisco brought out the local news crews, but Joby had a sentimental journey to reward its workers with a view of their long-term achievement. Landing at a quarry near the original Woodpeacker Ridge compound that was JoeBen Bevirt’s home and workshop, N545JX was welcomed by a crowd of workers and their families, alsways prominent in company events.  The Woodpecker Ridge site held probably less than three dozen workers in 2012, many of them grounds keepers and gardeners.  The blog has reported on personnel growth since then …

Joby’s Autonomous Cessna and Its Competition

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Joby Aviation is testing an autonomous Cessna Caravan with the United States Air Force, part of “a successful demonstration and validation of its SuperpilotTM autonomous flight technology.”   The 208 Caravan logged more than 7,000 miles and 40 flight hours over the Pacific Ocean and Hawaii.  A similar Cessna 208 Caravan has been flying similar missions for Reliable Robotics.  And yet a third Caraban is flying for Merlin Labs on the U. S. East Coast and in New Zealand.  The three companies have chosen to test their autonomous systems on Caravans because of the craft’s reliability and availability worldwide. Over 3,000 Caravans worldwide and their Pratt & Whitney PT-6 turboprop engines contribute to their ongoing popularity. Joby and Its Superpilot According to a company press release, Joby’s autonomous control system, Superpilot, was integrated into a Cessna Caravan 208, and tasked with a variety of missions, including: Mission Readiness: Superpilot demonstrated the capability to execute rapid cargo deliveries, hub-and-spoke logistics, inter-island transport, dynamic retasking, …

Getting Battery Materials Without China or Child Labor

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Aircraft Materials, Electric Powerplants, Fuel Cells, hydrogen, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Imagine finding essential battery materials in a common mineral and reducing atmospheric CO2 as a side benefit.  Imagine finding a source of these necessary materials without the need to negotiate with China or enrich those who employ child labor for their wealth.  Good News Network (not as Pollyanish as it may sound) featured a picture of a young woman working in a laboratory and the headline, “Chemical Process Produces Critical Battery Metals From This Unloved Mineral With No Waste.” Often, material other than the sought-for material is the largest amount of stuff removed from a mine.  Its worth is usually low because the labor and time involved in extracting any usable minerals is too great for the profits that might be realized.  This seems to be changing with a New Zealand firm called Aspiring Materials. Good News took its lead from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), which featured Aspiring Materials in its journal, IEEE Spectrum.   That journal …

Toyota – Solid State or Aluminum?

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Toyota has been coy with the idea of battery-powered cars, avoiding discussion of their presence in the world for several years, and now springing dual surprises in solid-state and aluminum cells. For several years, Toyota had been promoting a hydrogen fuel system, even developing a hydrogen-based trucking program from its San Diego docks.  and at an Ontario, California location.  They’ve been campaigning a sub-compact Yaris sedan which burns H2 directly, rather than using a fuel-cell electric approach.  Those efforts seem ongoing, perhaps camouflaging their very real battery efforts, which must have been underway for at least a few years.  Proof of that, Toyota has over 8,000 patents for solid-state energy storage. Toyota has been working, “With Japanese petroleum company Idemitsu Kosan to mass produce solid-state batteries. The collaboration will focus on sulfide solid electrolytes, a promising material for EV batteries.”  This partnership has been ongoing since 2013. The chart below, though, shows a renewed and current (no pun intended) interest …

ZeroAvia Does Paris and the UK

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ZeroAvia recently presented at the Paris Air Show and is working intensively on certifying its motors and systems in the United Kingdom.   Their two motors are now joined by several components, including a liquid hydrogen fuel management system.  This system comprises a “lightweight metallic tank design and associated systems for filling, storing, and distributing the fuel as hydrogen-electric technology is increasingly applied to larger aircraft,” according to the company. Here, Val Miftkhov explains the workings of the company at this year’s Paris Air Show.  Of special interest, he compares the positives and negatives of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) with those of hydrogen fuel cells, a matter of competitive importance. The Motors ZeroAvia has a pair of motors in the 600 kilowatt (804 horsepower) and 2,000 kilowatt (2,680 hp.) range, the ZA600 nearing certification in the UK and the ZA2000 attracting buyers in the regional airliner world.  The company claims several advantages for its motors.  They include, “90% Lower life cycle …

Blue Spirit Rolls Out Its Prototype

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On June 10, Blue Spirit Aero rolled out its full-scale hydrogen-powered Dragonfly prototype and completed the world’s first H2 refueling of a light aircraft directly from an airport station in Le Mans, France, site of the famous 24-hour endurance car race held four days later. Historic Antecedents In 1908, Wilbur Wright took an early Wright Flyer to Le Mans at the invitation of Léon Bollée, a prominent automotive manufacturer and balloon enthusiast.  Wilbur’s flights evoked admiration and stunned appreciation for what the two American brothers had achieved. As shown in the lead image for this entry H2 Today reported, “Yesterday’s event was nothing short of spectacular. Alongside the H24 EVO racing car, a 1912 Léon Bollée, and a replica of the Wright brothers’ Flyer, the presentation offered a striking blend of past and future. The ceremony was a resounding success, aided by clear skies and a fully operational aircraft.” Olivier Savin, founder of Blue Spirit Aero, proclaimed, “It was with great pride …

Sustainability at AeroExpo2025: Alphafrog

Dean Sigler Batteries, Biofuels, Electric Powerplants, Fuel Cells, Hybrid Aircraft, hydrogen, Hydrogen Fuel, Solar Power, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

This year’s AeroExpo was particularly supportive of sustainability, with green balloons over “green” displays, a series of seminars on electric, hydrogen, and other clean skies aspirants, and flight demonstrations showing how far the industry and the Friedrichshafen exhibit have come. Alphafrog’s Illustrious Ancestor Alphafrog is a reintroduced and wildly updated ultralight from the 1970s, the Sirocco.  Its high wing, pusher engine, and forward cockpit made for a comfortable way to cruise at leisurely speeds while avoiding the rigors of more open aviating.  Even the original 1983 version, a wire-braced monoplane with three-axis control, had a polyester fiber-glass fuselage and fiber-glass leading edges on wings and tail surfaces.  Spars were “bidirectional stratified” composite construction.  (Burger-Burr’s Ultralight Aircraft of the World, 1983, a Foulis Aviation Book) The original, even with a partially-open cockpit, was capable of an around-the-world tour.  As Alphafrog relates, “Forty years ago, on September 29, 1984, Patrice Franceschi embarked on the first circumnavigation of the world with an ultralight …

zepp.solutions has an Aeronautical Solution

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Aircraft Components, Electric Powerplants, Fuel Cells, hydrogen, Hydrogen Fuel, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Working With the NLR zepp.solutions is a multi-faceted Dutch firm intent on finding ways to apply hydrogen propulsion systems to sea, land, and aeronautical applications.  Their ultimate product will be the conversion of an eighty-passenger fossil-fuel powered commuter liner into a zero-emission vehicle that loses a few paying passenger to the goal of flying in clean air.  Working with the The Netherlands Aerospace Center (NLR), zepp will start with a Pipistrel Electro Velis as a proof-of-concept machine that will test new fuel cells and associated gear. zepp describes the large-scale partnership of which it is a part.  “This major Dutch partnership aims at building a hydrogen system for aircraft, completely green, from fuel to propulsion. The system will be scalable to larger aircraft. And it is entirely of Dutch origin. This will make the Netherlands the world’s leading supplier of hydrogen-powered aircraft,” according to zepp. “Hydrogen Aircraft Powertrain and Storage System (HAPSS)* is an entirely Dutch public-private partnership, set up …

Stralis – Audacious Australian Startup

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Stralis is an Australian startup with great ambition and some pretty audacious ideas.  Bob Criner, the firm’s Co-founder and CEO (with Stuart Johnstone who is also Chief Technical Officer or CTO),  gives a quick overview of those ambitions and the unique solutions he and his team are developing. Solutions include hydrogen-powered aircraft powered by fuel cells that are six times lighter than competing types.  The  certainly thinner, based on images from the company.  Stralis has, “…filed our provisional patent application for our our high-temperature PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel stack design.”  The firm has also been completing several rounds of fund raising from investors and building a customer base, with, “$263M in Letters of Intent from a range of customers across 5 countries,” for propulsion systems and aircraft. Bonnie and Clyde With the power system ready, the team created an airborne test bed (Bonnie) and a ground-based power systems test unit (Clyde) to demonstrate what their systems can do. The …

Kasaero Flies a Hydrogen Amphibian

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Kaesaero, a company specializing in unique aircraft, flew an ultralight hydrogen amphibian on September 23.  Often considered as too heavy and bulky for light aircraft, hydrogen has been seen recently on commercial commuter craft, but rarely on puddle-jumpers available at your local airport. The outing by a Dornier DS-2C, described by Dornier as, “a two-seat amphibious, light sports aircraft manufactured from lightweight, carbon fiber materials. Light by design, but incorporating structural integrity for safety of flight. The aircraft can host up to two occupants and 100 liters of fuel, which secures your next adventure.” Normally powered by a Rotax 912iS Sport engine of 73.5 kilowatts (95.5 horsepower), the two-seat, 650 kilogram (1,430 pound) craft has a maximum cruise speed of 250 kilometers per hour (155 mph) and a stall speed of 73 kilometers per hour (45 mph). Its 9.18 meter span gives it a rate of climb of 3.2 meters per second (630 feet per minute) and the ability to …