Given the strict regulatory environment that commercial aviation operates in, it’s almost impossible to imagine a passenger-carrying aircraft without a pilot – or two.
Nevertheless, a number of companies including XWing and Merlin have developed, tested and flown a number of older generation aircraft without a pilot at the controls. To comply with safety regulations, even under experimental aircraft rules, a safety pilot has been on board.
However, on 27 November 2023, Reliable Robotics, a Mountain View, California-based company, has successfully operated a Cessna 208B Caravan from start-up to taxi-out to take-off to flight to approach to touch-down to taxi-in at Hollister Municipal Airport in San Benito County, California – with no pilots on board. The flight was “flown” remotely from 50 miles away in Mountain View. (Reliable Robotics was founded by Robert Rose in 2017).
The company states that 70% of all General Aviation fatal accidents “can be prevented with the use of Advanced Automation Systems”. Furthermore, 80% of all “aviation accidents are caused by human factors” according to the FAA.
Even though the Cessna 208 flew its own first prototype in December 1981 and was certified in December 1982, over 40 years ago, the use of modern sophisticated software and hardware technology has enabled the aircraft to operate under UAS conditions: Unmanned Aerial Systems. Whilst the certification and deployment of UAS in a commercial passenger carrying capacity may seem a long way off and will almost certainly be cargo focused initially, the technology has progressed to the point where full regulatory approval is more likely to be years away rather than decades. Looking at this video, it does seem inevitable. Given the large majority of underlying accident causes focuses on human error, it also seems very compelling.
Incidentally, Hollister Airport offers easy local access to Silicon Valley which may be handy with future funding requirements…
Continuous upgrades to business jets are a regular feature of OEM marketing campaigns. Often they are insignificant and little more than cosmetic, even if requiring regulatory approval.
The HondaJet is different and their improvements since receiving the initial FAA Type Certificate (TC) in 2015. With the latest TC for the Elite II in October 2022, the latest iteration of the popular and unique Light Jet provides for extra range as well as some welcome safety features such as ground spoilers, Autothrottle and by the end of 2023, Emergency Autoland.
The new matt black colour scheme looks great and even a tad menacing, never a bad way to stand out from the crowd.
Now, the folks at HondaJet TV have come up with a very abstract way to grab attention. ASMR means a number of things to lots of people but this idea is novel, and sounds wonderful.
Nicely done.
PS technically, ASMR stands for “autonomous sensory meridian response”.
For those who were lucky enough to attend the June 2023 Paris Air Show, the highlights were usually airborne. The numerous flying displays, were invariably loud, impressive and memorable. The military jets attracted the most attention, perhaps due to the sheer speed, noise and acrobatics. However, these were small jets and designed (partly) for maximum maneuverability.
What is very impressive is when you get large commercial aircraft strutting their stuff. An interesting take is the view from the cockpit during the flying display and especially so when you can see (and feel) the pilots demonstrate their flying skills as well as the extraordinary technical achievements of the aircraft.
If you have a touchscreen, click, twirl and scroll to get the full 360 sensation.
Universal Hydrogen’s first flight on a retrofitted Dash-8 300 aircraft powered by (partly) Hydrogen Fuel Cells electric engine took place on 2 March 2023 from Moses Lake in Washington State. Nicknamed Lightning McClean and using a modified magniX motor with Plug Power PowerGen fuel cells, the aircraft flew for 15 minutes and reached a height of 3,500 feet.
Although one of the aircraft’s two engines was powered by traditional kerosene for safety reasons, the hydrogen fuel call electric engine was used in-flight on its own to demonstrate the technology.
With provisional orders for up to 100 ATR 72-600 regional airliners aircraft using Universal Hydrogen’s conversion platform from launch customer Connect Air, the market is watching closely as to the development and certification progress, scheduled for 2025.
Co-founder and CEO Paul Emerenko is understandably bullish after the successful first flight, saying his company’s: “…hydrogen fueling uses modular capsules compatible with existing freight networks and airport cargo handling equipment, making every airport in the world hydrogen-ready.”
With a mission to “…put aviation on a trajectory to meet Paris Agreement emissions targets by making hydrogen-powered commercial flight a near-term reality”, Universal Hydrogen’s claim of “True Zero Emissions” – as emblazoned on the fuselage of the company’s launch flight – promises exciting times ahead.
With the new design all-electric eVTOLs gaining most of the Advanced Air Mobility media coverage (and capital) to the end of 2022, the hybrid-electric propulsion market using retrofitted existing aircraft has been quietly and steadily building its own “power base”.
Formed in 2016 and based in Hawthorne, California, Ampaire’s focus on hybrid technology using older generation aircraft has resulted in steady, if perhaps unspectacular progress. Using a retrofitted Cessna 208B Grand Caravan and labeled the Eco-Caravan, it combines standard aviation fuel (and potentially SAF) with a hybrid-electric powertrain located in the cargo area and powered by a battery pack located along the fuselage belly area. The first Eco Caravan flight using this hybrid technology flew on 22 November 2022 and is currently scheduled for certification in 2024.
Promising zero emissions or lower emissions with up to 70% reductions, Ampaire has already received significant orders for the Eco Caravan, including an order for 25 aircraft from Monte Aircraft Leasing.
Ampaire is also developing all-electric aircraft technology, also using modified older generation Cessna aircraft. The Cessna 337 (Skymaster) has been labeled the Electric EEL and has already flown multiple times under Experimental aircraft regulations, again using hybrid technology initially.
Ampaire is working closely with NASA on the technology which may be unsurprising considering several of the company’s executives have backgrounds in NASA, including founder/CEO Kevin Noertker and co-founder Cory Combs.
With certification delays already being announced by some of the high-profile, all-electric eVTOL OEMs such as Joby, perhaps crawling before walking (hybrid-electric before all-electric) may ultimately prove to be the AAM winning strategy.
“…almost certainly be undetectable against the noise background of a modern urban environment.”
One the biggest challenges (of many) faced by those aiming for success in the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) market, and in particular those in the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) market, is social acceptance. A large part of any potential resistance to these new aircraft designs is linked to noise and well, how LOUD they’ll be when flying over urban areas. This is especially so when compared to helicopters.
Joby Aviation has come up with a brilliant way of demonstrating the potential decibel level of their current eVTOL design in the attached video clip – and hopefully appeasing future potential objectors in the process.
It’s well known that many electric car manufacturers add a noise to the hum of electric motors for safety reasons. None other than Hans Zimmer is already working with BMW to create sounds for their iX and i4 models.
Hard to imagine an “Orchestra of Silence” in the new era of UAM eVTOLs and The Dark Knight isn’t to everyone’s taste.
With movie turns in Star Wars and famous for it’s record/extreme 53 degree centigrade heat, Death Valley in the Mojave Desert in Northern California is well known as a mecca for low-level flying (and aviation photographers) given it’s unique geography and gorgeous valley vistas.
Dassault Aviation brought one of its Falcon 8X fleet (N8X) to Inyokern Airport (KIYK) in January 2022 to demonstrate the capabilities and agility of it’s ultra-longe range flagship in the harsh environs of a truly unique location by flying through the Panamint Valley, part of the Death Valley National Park.
Even with a range of 6,450 nautical miles and MTOW of 73,200lbs, the 8X handled the task flawlessly.
When an aircraft looks as great as the 8X and can fly through Death Valley in much the same way as an F-15, do you really: “feel the need, the need for speed?” Nah.
“How in the name of Chuck Yeager did we get here?”
Spoiler Alert!
“Born as an idea, a sketch that my Dad did on a piece of paper…”
Narrated by the daughter of “…my Dad” (who we can safely assume to refer to Beta’s founder and CEO Kyle Clark,) and including simple drawings of the evolution of flight, this video from Beta is a nice take on the potential benefits from eVTOL’s using aviation history milestones and key aircraft developments in order to explain Beta’s vision of it’s air mobility vision.
Alia has already notched up an impressive customer profile (e.g. UPS, United Therapeutics, Blade and Bristow) and recently undertook a unique test flight between 23-30 May 2022 from Plattsburgh (New York) to Bentonville (Arkansas). This trip required eight stops enroute to recharge the batteries for it’s 1,219nm trip and covered nearly twelve hours (11:44) airborne time.
Based at Burlington Airport in Vermont USA, Beta’s Alia is also part of the US Air Force Agility Prime platform which aims to develop eVTOL technology for defense applications and Search & Rescue. With an expected certification timeline of mid-2024, Alia will also focus on passenger journeys (Air-Taxi) and logistics applications.
Appearing to be well ahead of the competition in terms of it’s flight test campaign, Beta’s tagline of: “simple enough to be revolutionary” hardly does justice to Alia’s futuristic look, sector-leading potential in terms of payload range, unique design, advanced technology and unbridled passion of Kyle Clark and his team.
Along with VoloConnect, VoloCopter, VoloDrones, VoloPorts and VoloIQ, VoloCity is part of the German company’s ambitious plans to “bring urban mobility to your life”.
Backed by Geely, Merecedes Benz, Intel Capital and Blackrock among others, Volocopter certainly does not lack ambition, no matter how big the technical, financial and certification challenge to bring their integrated eVTOL vision to life.
Founded in 2011 and with an initial focus on Munich and Singapore, Volocopter’s plans are impressive and may well be one of the front runners in a very crowded field of eVTOL start-ups, many of them also very well funded and with similar ambitions to revolutionize air mobility.
Volocopter is also one of the few high-profile eVTOL OEMs who haven’t yet gone for a SPAC-based public listing in order to raise capital, and actually cancelled well-publicized plans to list in November 2021.
Notwithstanding this pre-certification capital turbulence, Volocopter has raised €153m in March 2022 in a Series E funding round which gave it a pre-money valuation of US$1.7 billion and total funds raised of US$579m.
With certification scheduled for mid-2024, few will bet against it.
On 23 May 2022 at EBACE 2022 in Geneva, Bombardier announced the longest ever range business jet with the launched of the Global 8000. Yes, it looks great, will probably sell very well – even at US$78m apiece base price – and will eclipse Gulfstream’s G700 in the ultra-long range battle – at least for now.
However, perhaps the more significant aspect of this announcement was an accompanying video showing a 28 May 2021 test flight for the new variant that not only used Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) but actually passed Mach 1, the speed of sound and invariably described as supersonic flight.
Accompanied by a NASA F/A-18 chase plane, the faster than sound speed segment only lasted a few seconds – but it does represent a technological breakthrough for the Canadian manufacturer and for business aviation in general.
Whilst the Global 8000 is officially scheduled to be certified and enter into service in 2025 using a maximum operating speed (MMO) of MO.94, the fact that the aircraft is technically capable of Mach 1 speed whilst using SAF is truly remarkable.
This combination of supersonic speed capability, ultra-long range comfort and efforts to decarbonize will grab the business aircraft headlines – and turn buyer’s heads.
Should existing Global 7500 owners (and other aircraft owners) not wish to splash the cash on a new 8000, they can also retrofit and upgrade their existing 7500 aircraft, reportedly for a modest US$3m.
