FutureFlight

Front-running eVTOL aircraft developers Joby Aviation and Lilium are both reportedly in line to raise significant funding via a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company.

Through the new EU-backed Air Mobility Urban-Large Experimental Demonstrations program, 17 companies and organizations from across Europe and the U.S. are looking to demonstrate the viability of using eVTOL aircraft for roles such as passenger and freight transportation, police surveillance, and emergency medical support.

Airbus Helicopters has start flight testing new technologies around hybrid and electric propulsion, autonomous operations, and noise reduction. Its Flightlab facility is supporting work on new helicopters, as well as fixed-wing and eVTOL aircraft designs.

A consortium involving eVTOL aircraft developers Embraer, Vertical Aerospace, and Volocopter, as well as air traffic management specialists Skyports and Atech, will conduct simulated operations connecting London's Heathrow and City airports.

UK-based Hybrid Air Vehicles says it could be close to securing a large investment that, along with a new booking for charter services, could reinvigorate its prolonged efforts to bring the Airlander airship into commercial service.

A report in FlightGlobal this week showed what is purported to be a significant redesign of Eviation's Alice all-electric aircraft in which three sets of pusher-configured propellers have been replaced by a pair of forward-facing motors. Separate reports say Eviation may be moving its flight test operations to Arlington Municipal Airport in Washington state.

SkyGrid has added its DeepArmor cybersecurity protection to the AerialOS operating system for autonomous aircraft to protect them from unidentified zero-day hacking threats for which systems suppliers do not have a security patch.

Thirty companies and organizations, including half a dozen eVTOL aircraft developers, will begin extensive trials to prepare for the planned launch in 2024 of commercial air taxi operations in and around the French capital.

Germany's Volocopter says the FAA has accepted its application to concurrently validate its anticipated type certification under EASA's new Special Condition VTOL rules. It is already in talks with prospective U.S. partners and stakeholders.

The French government is investing $8.5 billion to support efforts to use hydrogen in place of carbon-based fuels as part of a national effort to decarbonize and rebuild its economy in the wake of the Covid pandemic. In the U.S., the Vertical Flight Society is forming a hydrogen committee to focus on possibilities for eVTOL aircraft.