Look!  Up in the Sky!  At Oshkosh

Dean Sigler Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Two different machines, with vastly different purposes and unique looks, are flying electrically above Wittman Field for the worlds’ biggest airshow.  The Experimental Aircraft Association’s gathering, having skipped a year because of the pandemic, is back with nearly twice the number of attendees.  It’s a crowd ready to be rocked. Volocopter Helena Treeck, head of public relations for Volocopter GmbH, is on scene at AirVenture, not only promoting her company’s machines, but granting interviews and reporting herself. She shares the experience.  “The crewed Volocopter 2X took off at 2:45 PM CST for a 4-minute flight at ~164 feet and a top speed of 18 mph over Wittman Regional Airport as part of EAA’s AirVenture aviation celebration. Event attendees were able to watch the Volocopter 2X fly and take a seat in the VoloCity model at Volocopter’s booth to experience these aircraft. Nicknamed the ‘World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration,’ more than 600,000 visitors are expected to come to see pioneering designs in …

Going Big and Bigger with Hydrogen

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Fuel Cells, GFC, Hydrogen Fuel, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Two companies promoting hydrogen power for aircraft are upsizing their aspirations, with aircraft  hauling four to up to 40 passengers.  Both have ambitious timelines. ZeroAvia, operating in Hollister, California and Cirencester, England has been flying a Piper Malibu demonstrator, but anticipates flying a 10 to 20 passenger Dornier by 2024.  It would expand that to a 50-passenger craft by 2026.  H2Fly in Germany has been flying their Pipistrel-designed HY4 for several years and through six generations. The firm looks forward to taking incremental steps toward a 40-passenger regional airliner by 2030. ZeroAvia ZeroAvia reports on troubling trends in aviation’s contribution to greenhouse gases, but follows with a possible solution.  According to their web site, aviation accounts for over 12 percent of total transportation emissions, and may double that by 2050.  High altitude contrails mean aviation emissions have two to four times the effect of ground source emissions.  Regulators want drastic changes.  The European Union mandates a one quarter the CO2 …

Eviation Moves Alice’s Tail – to Washington

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Israel’s Eviation has moved its manufacturing resources to Arlington, Washington, north of Seattle.  There, they are making an all-new version of Alice, changing its configuration from “V”-tailed to “T”-tailed and its power from tri-motor to bi-motor. The revised craft will be powered by two Magni650 power units, a package that includes a 640 kilowatt (850 shaft horsepower) motor, four magniDrive-100 inverter/motor control units, and “a closed-loop integrated thermal management system.” A New Alice Charles Alcock, reporting in FutureFlight.aero, says Eviation Aircraft confirms plans to make a first test flight of the redesigned craft by year’s end and have the new Alice certified and entering service in 2024. Obvious changes include a clean, high-aspect ratio wing and pylon-mounted motors flanking the “T” tail.  According to Alcock’s report, a company spokeswoman explained, “We moved from a V-tail to a T-tail to optimize performance and handling and make it easy and reliable for pilots to seamlessly transition to flying the aircraft.” Two crew …

Archer Debuts – Meet Its Maker

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Immersive Introduction Amidst stage smoke and Hollywood-style dazzling lights, Archer Aviation “flew” its Maker into public view two weeks ago.  On an immersive cinema platform in a hangar in Hawthorne, California, Maker emerged amid all the pounding two drummers could produce.  It seemed to hover above the varied scenery over which it appeared and the on-stage and on-screen special effects were special indeed. The cynosure of the hoopla, however, was strangely static, even though its guiding lights were highly animated.  Co-founders and Co-CEOs Brett Adcock and Adam Goldstein performed flawlessly in promoting their creation, adding to the professionalism of the event.  Since the event was inside, and the crowd was allowed to come on stage under the rotor blades, it was probably prudent to have the motors raised and inactive. Less static in this Computer Fluid Dynamics (CFD) rendering, the Maker displays the flow around its 12 rotors in vertical flight.  Since battery tests are underway, perhaps soon we will …

Two Similar eSTOLs

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Hybrid Aircraft, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Two different but very similar electric Short Take Off and Landing (eSTOL) aircraft from two different companies are making progress toward realization.  Both are products of teams originally committed to electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) designs, so the shift to different configurations is of interest.  eVTOLs are limited in range by the need to lift their entire weight on their rotors – some for the totality of the flight.  eSTOLs use aerodynamics to enable longer range, and with high-lift devices, can use small fields from which to operate. Dr. Brien Seeley, head of the Sustainable Aviation Foundation, has been a long-time proponent of what he called “pocket airparks.”  These neighborhood or urban sites would be contained within roughly one-block perimeters, use aircraft capable of extremely short takeoffs and landings, low noise, and quick turnarounds.  Electric aircraft and their quiet operation would allow placing such airparks in more areas and could make access to air travel as common as …

Harbor Air’s eBeaver, MagniX’s Motor, H55’s Batteries

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

In our last blog entry, we discussed a three-partner enterprise with an American airframe propelled by a French motor powered by British batteries.  In this round, we have a Canadian airframe powered by an Australian/American motor driven by Swiss batteries.  These international collaborations may pay off in big ways. Datelined Vancouver, B.C., Everett, WA, and Sion, Switzerland, the joint press release shows a strong and well-organized partnership in action.  “Harbour Air, North America’s largest seaplane airline; magniX the company powering the electric aviation revolution; and H55, the spin off from Solar Impulse, producing highly efficient certified battery packs, announced a partnership to certify the world’s first electric Beaver (eBeaver) commuter airplane through a supplemental type certificate (STC) program.”  H55 is a part, also, of the Solar Impulse Foundation, organized to promote “1000+ efficient and profitable solutions to protect the environment.”  Their collaboration with Harbour Air and magniX is one of those solutions. Even though a small airline (40 aircraft) flying …

BETA and Blade Cut Deal for 20 Alia’s

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Business as Unusual BETA Technologies made a big move from its highly complex Ava to a simpler Alia, and managed to snag an initial order for up to 150 of its new craft from United Parcel Service (UPS).  This was followed by the signing of a binding agreement with Blade for another 20 craft for passenger service. Vermont Business Magazine reports that BETA Technologies started with its first customer and partner, United Therapeutics, which will rely on BETA’s aircraft to deliver organs for human transplantation.  High speed and reliability are obvious premiums in this endeavor.  Recently, United Parcel Service (UPS) announced it reserved the right to purchase 150 of BETA’s aircraft, with the first 10 to be delivered beginning in 2024. UPS also purchased BETA’s charging stations as part of an integrated solution. Gaining government backing, the United States Air Force Agility Prime program continues testing BETA’s machines.  The program, “Marshals government resources to accelerate commercialization of air mobility vehicles.” …

Landing in the Baobab Trees with eHang

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

eHang, expanding its horizons with its two-passenger EH216 autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs), has announced a partnership with Italian architecture firm Giancarlo Zema Design Group (GZDG).  GZDG’s eco-sustainable, Baobab tree-mimicking vertiport will act as a landing zone for eHang’s electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) craft. Basing its design on the Baobab tree, native to Madagascar, Africa, and Australia, GZDG’s structure will fit into urban and rural environments equally well.  The 30-meter (98.4-feet) tower, built of laminated wood and steel emulating the shape of the “Tree of Life,” the vertiport will be topped with a multi-purpose landing deck.  The structure will incorporate a waiting room, café, a 200-square-meter (2,153-square-foot) panoramic restaurant and connecting lift.  Non-slip photovoltaic panels will generate over 300 kilowatts of electric power per day. GZDG’s vertiport is a green design made of sustainable construction materials, “and can generate energy to recharge the EH216 passenger-grade AAVs.” According to the partner’s joint press release, “Vertiports will play a significant …

Scylax and Tecnam Field Electric Regional Commuters

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Two electric regional commuters are nearing reality.  A Scylax design from Calin Gologan reflects its “clean sheet” origins: the other, derived from an existing Tecnam design, honors its Italian craftsmanship heritage. Calin Gologan, Rosario De Luca and the Scylax E Series Calin, designing and building solar-powered aircraft since 2011 , and Rosario De Luca, Co Founder and CEO of EADCO GmbH and EADCO US LLC., and CEO of SCYLAX GmbH, have joined forces to create two small airliners, the Scylax E6 and E10, each enumerating its passenger capacity.  Joined by the airline FLN FRISIA-Luftverkehr GmbH Norddeich, they will begin flying their pure-electric craft soon with existing batteries enabling 300-kilometer (180-mile) trips.  Within the next decade, cell improvements will allow 600-kilometer with the same battery volume and weight. The pair foresees a five-percent increase in battery capacity every year, making an easy case for ongoing improvements in energy storage, aircraft range, and greater power for safer takeoffs and climbs. (Of interest …

Hypoint’s Radical Radial Fuel Cell Solution

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Fuel Cells, Hydrogen Fuel, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Hypoint proclaims, “We make zero emission air transport possible.”  They do this by, “Building a next generation hydrogen fuel cell system that can deliver “Both high specific power: “2,000 Watts/kilogram and high energy density “1,500 Watt-hours/kilogram Exactly what aircraft designers are looking for.” These numbers exceed what the best batteries can manage at this time, and according to the company’s white paper, even better performance is on the way. Batteries vs. Fuel Cells Hypoint proclaims, “The age of zero-emission aviation is currently being prevented by the industry’s reliance on Li-ion batteries, which have a fundamental barrier at the chemistry level.”  The firm limits cell performance to 200 Whr/kg, although Bye Aerospace claims 260 Whr/kg for their full battery packs, battery management systems and all. Elon Musk disagrees.  CNBC reports, “Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk has dismissed hydrogen fuel cells as ‘mind-bogglingly stupid,’ and that is not the only negative thing he has had to say about the technology. He …