Flight automation pioneer Skyryse recently opened a 27,000-sq-ft headquarters in El Segundo, California, as it increases the size of the engineering team developing the FlightOS system it says will support single-pilot, fly-by-wire capability under instrument flight rules (IFR) for helicopters like the Robinson R66. The expansion program follows confirmation from the FAA in February that the company's flight control system has met all of the federal agency's means-of-compliance requirements, clearing the way for it to complete applications for supplemental type certificates (STCs) to convert existing aircraft.
The company’s founder and CEO, Mark Groden, who has been working on FlightOS for six years, says his team now has a direct path to bring the technology into commercial service with multiple aircraft. “It means that it’s a clear execution task for us, and we’re in a unique position because no other company has achieved 100 percent means of compliance,” he told AIN. “Part of the reason we can do it is that we didn’t want to take technology off the shelf that the FAA isn’t familiar with, and we’re working to the 10-to-the-minus-9 [safety standard] that is more than what the FAA requires for general aviation aircraft. It wouldn’t be enough just to make these aircraft IFR [capable].”
The equipment replaces some of the complex controls in a typical general aviation flight deck with a touchscreen tablet display and a joystick. Fly-by-wire hardware and software handle most of the core piloting functions, according to Skyryse, preventing pilots from inadvertently exceeding safe flight envelopes.
Skyryse has conducted air taxi services in the Los Angeles area and also supported emergency medical service first responders in the city of Tracy. It says these exercises proved the need for IFR capability because, even in the generally moderate weather conditions of southern California, around 25 percent of its planned flights couldn’t operate due to the limitations of visual flight rules (VFR).
No IFR, No eVTOL Air Taxi Services
In Groden’s view, the new urban air mobility (UAM) concept for eVTOL air taxi services will fail without IFR capability. “Imagine if your [car] ride-hailing service didn’t show up a quarter of the time,” said Groden. “You’d likely abandon that method of transport. With IFR capabilities, UAM becomes a reality.
“You really need this or you don’t have a reliable transportation system,” Groden said, adding that helicopter operators can all too easily find themselves in unplanned instrument meteorological conditions. Skyryse’s belief is that general aviation operators should have access to the same level of safety as commercial airlines.
“You shouldn’t have to spend $10 million or more to have that level of safety, and so we’re elevating an industry,” Groden commented. According to him, accident records and data from organizations such as the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association show that these situations can quickly result in an accident.
“About 80 percent of accidents are related to weather and pilot error, and that’s why we’ve created a product that addresses these issues,” he stated. “Taking fatal accidents off the table is what will make a difference because things like cyclic and collective [pitch] mixing and rudder pedals are gone, and you [the pilot] are no longer trying to rub your belly and pat your head at the same time while riding a unicycle. It’s a very revolutionary cockpit.”
Among those who have had the chance to evaluate the FlightOS system for themselves are Bruce Lansberg, vice chair of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, and Jim Viola, president of Helicopter Association International. “One of the things we’ve been lacking for a long time is the ability to file and fly by IFR or fly in the clouds with small helicopters, commented Viola. “The NTSB has recommended that you should be able to file and fly IFR to carry passengers. The ability of this system to do that safely, I saw firsthand. The question is how long before we can implement it more broadly.”
The work at El Segundo will now largely focus on further flight testing and Skyryse aims to be ready to fly a “production-representative” aircraft in late 2023, with the aim of having the first aircraft converted under STCs in service in less than 18 months from now. The company aims to offer FlightOS as a retrofit to multiple in-service aircraft and also as standard or optional equipment on new aircraft. It maintains that the technology will bring IFR capability to far more affordable aircraft than helicopters that cost an average of $5 million to purchase and more than $1,500 per hour to operate.
Skyryse says it will release exact pricing for the FlightOS retrofit closer to the completion of type certification. The company anticipates that many operators will choose to install FlightOS during scheduled major overhaul processes in which existing avionics suites will be completely replaced to make the upgrade more economical.
In April 2028, Air Methods invested $5 million in Skyryse under an agreement that included commitments to retrofit more than 400 single-engine helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft in its air ambulance fleet. The FlightOS installations will include the Airbus EC130 and AS350 helicopters, as well as the Bell 407, and the Pilatus PC-12 turboprop single. The group intends to equip its whole fleet with the FlightOS system, removing all current avionics suites in the process.
Accelerating Pilot Recruitment
In addition to the main safety driver, Skyryse believes, FlightOS will also help to clear the logjam caused by shortages of trained pilots, especially for vertical lift operations that could soon be expanded significantly by the arrival of new eVTOL aircraft.
“Our goal is to elevate any pilot to be as effective as the most experienced pilots," Groden stated, "and we can dramatically lower the time it takes to train pilots because a lot of the muscle memory tasks will be done by the system, and we can take the aviate burden off the pilot. There are far too few pilots and even fewer who can fly vertically. We think there are only around 1,000 pilots in the whole country who we’d want to put you in a helicopter with.”
In the third quarter of 2021, Skyryse completed a $200 million Series B funding round. It has now raised more than $260 million from investors including Fidelity, Monashee Investment Management, ArrowMark Partners, Venrock, Eclipse Ventures, Cantos, Stanford University, and Ford Motor Company chairman Bill Ford. The company’s headcount has grown from around 30 employees at the start of 2022 to 90 at the end of the year, and it is now recruiting at least another dozen engineers.
Several other startups are working to introduce higher degrees of automation to the flight deck. These include remotely piloted systems pioneers such as Reliable Robotics, Xwing, and Merlin.