FutureFlight

AutoFlight has appointed a new U.S.-based leadership team to oversee its plans to start deliveries of the four-seat Prosperity I eVTOL aircraft for commercial service in 2026. The Chinese company this week named Eviation Aircraft’s founder and former CEO, Omer Bar-Yohay, as its president. It also named Joby Aviation’s former head of business development, Chad Cashin, as its chief commercial officer.

Kite Magnetics has boosted its plans for an electric motor with a A$1.85 million ($1.2 million) seed funding round. The Australian start-up says the motor will be smaller, lighter, and more efficient than ones based on current technology and will employ a new magnetic material called Aeroperm developed at Monash University by its co-founders, Richard Parsons and Kiyonori Suzuki.

At least to start, most of the new eVTOL aircraft used for new air taxi and freight delivery services will have pilots on-board. That means the so-called advanced air mobility sector will face a significant challenge in recruiting and training unprecedented numbers of flight crew, and at a time when the existing air transport industry is already struggling with a skills shortage.

Autonomous eVTOL developer Wisk Aero today publicly revealed its new sixth-generation aircraft. The company's unpiloted Generation 6 aircraft is designed to carry passengers up to 90 miles, flying at a cruise speed of 120 knots and an altitude between 2,500 feet and 4,000 feet.

The aircraft features 12 propellers, six of which can tilt, which allows the aircraft to take off and land vertically. During cruise, the aircraft transitions to wingborne horizontal flight. Wisk says its batteries will take just 15 minutes to fully recharge.

Since the Civil Aviation Administration of China approved the special condition rules for certifying EHang's autonomous, two-passenger EH216-S eVTOL vehicle in February, EHang says it has made significant progress with compliance and verification testing. Now the agency has agreed what a Project Specific Certification Plan covering the remaining airworthiness approval work.

Ampaire recently selected EP Systems' Epic energy storage system for its hybrid-electric conversion of the Cessna Grand Caravan utility aircraft. With an energy density of over 200 Wh/kg, the battery cells are intended initially for smaller aircraft applications and the company says they can fully recharge in just 20 minutes.

European private charter flight operator GlobeAir this week became the latest business aircraft operator to commit to buying Lilium's six-passenger eVTOL vehicle. It plans to offer the all-electric aircraft for both "first-and-last mile" services and point-to-point flights in markets such as the French Riviera and Italy.

Textron Aviation will work with hydrogen-propulsion pioneer ZeroAvia to develop a program to convert its Cessna Grand Caravan turboprop aircraft to use the ZA600 powertrain. ZeroAvia says it expects to be able to get the technology certified in 2025, and it is also working on plans to convert regional airliners to hydrogen propulsion.

Sabrewing and its partner, Safran, have taken more time to improve the thrust available from the turbo-electric adaptation of the Ariel 2E helicopter engine. The Rhaegal B production aircraft is expected to be able to carry a payload of 5,400 pounds on flights of 1,000 nm. A subscale RH-1-A prototype is being used for early flight testing.

Lilium says its Phoenix 2 eVTOL aircraft technology demonstrator achieved its first full transition between vertical and horizontal operations during a September 23 test flight at the Atlas center in Spain. In a letter to shareholders reporting on second-quarter results, the company on Wednesday said the transition has been achieved during wing-borne flight on its main and canard wings at speeds of around 100 kt (190 km/h).