FutureFlight

Collins Aerospace will provide the inceptor sidestick controls for the Lilium Jet eVTOL aircraft. Under an agreement announced on February 23, the companies said their engineers will work together to design and develop inceptors that meet the same safety and performance as equipment already in service on commercial airliners.

The FAA has confirmed that Skyryse’s automated flight control system has met all of its means-of-compliance requirements, clearing the way for it to complete applications for supplemental type certificates (STCs) to convert existing aircraft, starting with the Robinson R66 light helicopter. According to the company, the outcome of a recently completed system review means that the U.S. air safety agency will not require additional rulemaking to cover any aspect of the system’s hardware, software, or human factor components.

AMSL Aero, an advanced air mobility start-up based in Sydney, says it has conducted the first tethered hover flight tests with a prototype of its all-electric, five-seat Vertiia eVTOL aircraft. This is the first time that an eVTOL aircraft designed and built in Australia has flown, according to AMSL. The company says the all-electric Vertiia will be the most energy-efficient in the world, with a range of about 250 kilometers (155 miles) on a single charge.

Japan’s Civil Aviation Bureau has accepted Volocopter’s request to process its application to type certify its two-seat VoloCity eVTOL aircraft concurrently with the European air safety agency EASA. The German manufacturer is also working on type certification with the FAA and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.

Birmingham Airport in the UK is following in the footsteps of Rotterdam The Hague Airport in the Netherlands and Scotland's AGS airports group to prepare the infrastructure to support flights by hydrogen-powered regional airliners. It is working with ZeroAvia, which aims to have approval for a converted 10- to 19-seat aircraft to enter service in 2025.

The AirCraft Company, a new start-up based in Wichita, Kansas, has revealed its plans to produce a hybrid-electric, 30-seat regional airliner. Called the Pangea SY30J, this spacious and accessible airplane will have a range about 250 miles (400 km) on battery power, and a SAF- or hydrogen-powered range extender could increase the range to more than 500 miles (800 km).

Joby Aviation has begun wind tunnel testing with one of its eVTOL aircraft propellers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. The tests are taking place inside the National Full-Scale Aerodynamic Complex, which is the world’s largest wind tunnel facility.

The Tech TP technology demonstrator project is part of the wider Clean Sky European Union-funded Achieve program. The main objective is to drive the propeller electrically, enabling new operating modes such as taxiing and inflight auxiliary power, without using power directly from the aircraft’s main turbine engines, delivering an 18 percent cut in fuel consumption and reduced CO2 emissions.

Airbus, now in its seventh year of refining its strategy for the advanced air mobility sector, expects its efforts to bring new products to market to be more visible this year. The European aerospace group is preparing to start taking delivery of parts for its CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL prototype, allowing it to begin assembly of the four-seat vehicle this year ahead of the planned launch of flight testing in 2024.

As the advanced air mobility sector works on plans for digital flight operations and air traffic management, it should learn lessons from the chaotic implementation of 5G C-band communications, says the aeronautics standards organization RTCA. The new communications technology has caused interference with aircraft avionics systems, resulting in disruption to commercial flights.