FutureFlight

Diamond Aircraft's Chinese parent group Wanfeng has agreed to work with the Wolong Electric Drive Group to advance technologies such as the use of magnesium allow in electric motors to power aircraft. Diamond produces a family of light aircraft at its facilities in Canada.

The Airbus VSR700 optionally piloted vehicle (OPV) recently made fully autonomous takeoff and landing (ATOL) approaches to and from a DeckMotion moving platform simulator—a pitching, yawing surface, mounted on a trailer to simulate the conditions of a moving ship deck. The small rotorcraft, derived from the Helicopteres Guimbal Cabri G2, used Airbus’s DeckFinder technology to locate and interface with the DeckMotion simulator. 

Embraer's new Eve division will work with air navigation service provider Airservices Australia to develop a draft concept of operations for eVTOL aircraft flights in cities like Melbourne. Air traffic management technology and processes are a key part of this work.

Airflow concluded that all-electric propulsion would not deliver sufficient payload and range to meet the rapidly changing needs of logistics companies, which need to be able to serve regional routes of up to 300 miles.

From its base in eastern France, Avions Mauboussin is seeking to build a green future with two new fixed-wing aircraft.

China's General Office of the State Council has issued a "circular" giving approval for government officials to speed up plans to regulate operations by new aircraft being developed for urban air mobility services. However, the document does not provide a detailed timeline for initiatives.

After some delays, partly caused by the Covid pandemic, Samad Aerospace has begun flight testing a half-scale model of its e-Starling all-electric aircraft and says that a full-scale prototype could be ready to fly in 2023.

Around £300 million in joint government and private sector funding is supporting the UK's Future Flight Challenge, which is intended to boost the country's aspirations in the advanced air mobility sector.

The converted Cesssna 337 Skymaster has been shipped from California and has been undergoing ground tests at Kahului Airport on the island of Maui.

The European Marine Energy Centre has developed a mobile hydrogen refueling system to support test flights being conducted by ZeroAvia at Cranfield Airport in the UK.