FutureFlight

Bye Aerospace this week raised a further $10 million to support the development of its all-electric eFlyer family of fixed-wing light aircraft. The U.S. company announced on July 13 that an undisclosed venture capital group has invested $5 million and that this was supplemented by an additional $5 million venture raise.

The Vertical Flight Society (VFS) has teamed with Nexa Advisors to form a new company, UAM Geomatics, that will promote the development and operation of eVTOL aircraft and the infrastructure required to support them in applications such as urban air mobility. The Virginia-based company will produce data and research to guide prospective investors and stakeholders, including the Urban Air Mobility—Economics and Global Markets 2020-2040 study, which will now be produced each quarter.

VoltAero is to work with on-demand charter provider KinectAir to explore possibilities for bringing its hybrid-electric Cassio fixed-wing aircraft into commercial service. U.S.-based KinectAir will explore ways to integrate its planned flight booking app with the Cassio’s cockpit to make it easier to track aircraft availability and utilization.

Hydrogen fuel cell developer HyPoint expects to have a full-scale 150 kW system ready to deliver to an undisclosed electric aircraft manufacturer during the first quarter of 2022. The California-based startup aims to announce the identity of this partner in September and hopes to have a 1 kW unit ready for testing by early 2021, followed by a 15 kW unit, as part of its strategy to advance hydrogen propulsion systems as an alternative to both battery-dependent motors and hybrid systems using Jet-A-powered engines.

BAE Systems is reducing the size and weight of its energy management and engine controls technology to be used with propulsion systems for new hybrid-electric and electric aircraft. The company has already produced equipment that is 40 percent smaller and lighter than units now in service on much larger turbofans, while claiming that they will deliver 10 times the processing power.

Private aviation startup Kinect Air has launched a crowdfunding campaign to support its plans to provide a mix of on-demand, per-seat charter and fractional ownership. The company, which intends to offer a mixed fixed-wing fleet before later adding new hybrid electric and eVTOL aircraft as these enter service, is in the process of establishing air operator certificates in both the U.S. and UK.

Airbus has completed two years of flight testing for its Autonomous Taxi, Take-Off, and Landing (ATTOL) project. The work culminated in a fully automatic, vision-based flight of an A350-1000 widebody airliner, achieved through the use of on-board image recognition technology, which the manufacturer described as a world-first in a June 29 press statement.

Hydrogen fuel cell propulsion pioneer ZeroAvia this week flew its powertrain in a six-seat Piper M-Class aircraft, using electric batteries. The flight was made on June 23 from Cranfield University’s airfield in the UK where it is working on the government-backed HyFlyer program to advance zero-emissions aviation.

Honeywell has developed a new air conditioning system for urban air mobility (UAM) and electric aircraft. The first to be equipped with the new oil-free Micro Vapor Cycle System (MicroVCS) will be Eviation’s in-development Alice conventional takeoff and landing electric commuter airplane. 

SkyDrive is part of the Cartivator Resource Management consortium, which has drawn support for a flying car program from a wide array of Japansese corporations in a bid to advance urban air mobility in the country.