Pyka: All Red and Green and Unpiloted

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Appearing in a festive nighttime garb of red and green lights, Pyka’s aerial sprayer has been authorized by Costa Rica’s General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) to fly unpiloted aerial spraying missions at night. Pelican night spray missions are a go! Pyka recently secured the world’s first regulatory approval for nighttime aerial spray operations with a fixed-wing UAS. Read more about this industry breakthrough here – https://t.co/3SdOndk6pu#flypyka pic.twitter.com/c6aZv8vWhs — Pyka (@flypyka) November 2, 2022 The fully autonomous, all electric craft is now approved to spray large banana plantations – both day and night.  Since the aircraft flies well-defined routes daily, spraying crops at night should be no different. This first-ever regulatory approval to fly unmanned aerial spray missions at night with a fixed wing aircraft is a simple expansion of what Pyka’s been doing in New Zealand and Central America for the last few years. As reported in 2020, “Pyka seems as much about software as aerodynamics.  Its FPGA (Field …

Following the Sky Taxi Money: eVTOLs

Dean Sigler Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

As though by magic, money from Wall Street, venture capitalists and other investors show a growing interest and cash flow in sky taxis.  It started on August 11 with JoeBen Bevirt of JOBY ringing the bell that starts trading on the stock market floor. As one web site points out, it’s up to the discretion of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as to who gets to ring the bell and, “Only those companies with stocks or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed on the exchange can ring the bell.” We’ll look at a sampling of companies making electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) vehicles and selling in domestic and foreign markets for an overview of what’s hot.  Later, we’ll look at the inroads being made by makers of fixed-wing aerial vehicles in the nascent regional market. Archer “The closing of the business combination (with Atlas Crest Investment Corp.) generated $857.6 million of gross proceeds, which will help fund Archer’s vision …

EmbraerX and Pyka Team Up

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Aircraft Components, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Accelerating Innovation Embraer, a major Brazilian airframe developer, and Pyka, an Oakland, California-based autonomous agricultural aircraft builder, are teaming up.  They hope, “To accelerate the future of autonomous aerial agriculture operations.”  Beyond that, Pyka is expanding into regional air transport which could open 5,000 U. S. airports to usually unserved areas. Pyka has flown autonomous agricultural aircraft in New Zealand for over two years, demonstrating high efficiency and economy in aerial application, or crop dusting (or spraying) as it’s historically called.  Apparently, the island nation’s Part 101 and 102 civil aviation licensing requirements are receptive to such flight.  According to Dan Grossman, Pyka’s new President (and formerly of Zipcar, Ford and Maven), Pelican made more than 3,000 flights. Airframer.com reports, “Grossman joins a team of former Joby Aviation, Google, Wisk, Makani and Saildrone engineers and leaders. ‘Electric and hydrogen propulsion technologies are playing an increasingly important role in the future of human mobility,’ he says. ‘Pyka’s benchmark-setting electric propulsion systems, …

Referencing Uber’s Elevated Challenge

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

We can tell things are heating up in the electric aircraft marketplace.  Established aircraft companies are investing (Boeing and Airbus for starters), growing numbers are planning for electrified and autonomous future flight (Uber Elevate Summit), and an absolute plethora of new designs are tumbling forth from an aeronautical cornucopia.  Their video of an Uber sky taxi ride illustrates the charm of the idea. A Common Reference Uber provided two common reference eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) reference models for partners to emulate.  Both seem to share a common passenger pod with an unusually long tail boom. Perhaps taking the 2011 Green Flight Challenge as his reference point, Mark Moore explained how Uber inspires others to give their best efforts to create several plausible vehicles.  The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) reports, “’We will never build a vehicle, but we want to make sure that our partners who are building vehicles are successful and that these aircraft are …