FutureFlight

Chinese tourism group Tianxingjian plans to use EHang’s EH216 autonomous eVTOL aircraft for sightseeing tours. On June 21, the company said it has signed an “initial purchase order” for five of the two-seat vehicles, with options to take another 25 as it expands flights from the Aizhai Wonder Tourist Area at Jishou in Hunan province, where Tianxingjian is based.

Archer has resumed test flights with its Maker subscale eVTOL technology demonstrator six months after its first takeoff. The company has started testing the tilt propeller system that adjusts the angle of the forward propellers to control the transition from hover to cruise flight. It says it remains on track to complete type certification of the full-scale, four-passenger aircraft by the end of 2024, even though the first example now won't be built until 2023.

To make it easier for its ES-19 electric regional airliner to enter commercial service in the U.S., Sweden's Heart Aerospace will now seek type certification under Part 25 rules that are more closely aligned between the FAA and EASA. It has a provisional sales agreement for up to 300 of the 19-seaters with United Airlines and regional affiliate Mesa.

The U.S. Air Force's Afwerx team is evaluating the potential for Transcend Air's Vy 400 tiltwing aircraft to more rapidly rescue stranded military pilots by flying undetected close to terrain and at higher speeds than current helicopters. The work will be continued under a new Phase II small business technology transfer research and development contract.

State and city legislation in New York is set to ban many helicopter flights deemed to be "non-essential" and make it easier for civil lawsuits against rotorcraft operators to succeed. The bills appear to apply to existing rotorcraft but may raise concerns about the attitudes of local officials toward eVTOL flights.

Ampaire maintains that connecting islands in regions such as the Caribbean is an ideal application for hybrid-electric aircraft such as its Eco Caravan conversion of the Cessna Grand Caravan EX turboprop. At the Caribavia conference in St. Maarten this week, the U.S. company provided case studies with local airlines to demonstrate how fuel burn could be significantly reduced.

UK companies should find it easier to achieve concurrent type certification for eVTOL aircraft now that the country's Civil Aviation Authority has adopted EASA’s Special Conditions (SC) VTOL standards. The move follows an announcement earlier this year signaling the CAA's intention to also work closely with the FAA on the U.S. agency's different approach to type certification.

Cranfield Aerospace Solutions is working with Bremen-based Evia Aero to convert nine-seat Islander aircraft to hydrogen power to enable zero-emission subregional airline services. The UK company's longer-term goal is to develop its fuel-cell-based powertrain for use with larger airliners seating up to 100 passengers.

ZeroAvia is to provide its 600-kW ZA600 hydrogen powertrain for a stretched version of Otto Aviation's diesel-powered Celera 500L. The planned Celera 750L model could have a range of up to 1,000 nm and may be ready to enter service in 2027, two years after the six-seater 500L, which promises a range of 4,500 nm.

French seat manufacturer Expliseat will develop cabin and cockpit seats for the Lilium Jet, with the aim of achieving a 35 percent weight reduction compared with existing aircraft seats. These will feature smaller composite and titanium frames, as well as completely recycled materials to reduce the eVTOL vehicles' overall carbon footprint.