FutureFlight

Since early January, when it announced plans to enter the eVTOL sector, South Korean carmaker Hyundai has kept its cards close to its chest over how the program will take shape. Had Uber not named the company as one of its partner manufacturers for the planned Uber Air rideshare network, it's quite possible that the program would be even more under wraps.

German air rescue service ADAC Luftrettung says that piloted multicopters have the potential to improve the effectiveness of emergency support flights. This is the headline conclusion from the results of a feasibility study that the not-for-profit operator conducted with eVTOL aircraft developer Volocopter.

It seems as if ages have passed since last New Year’s Eve, when the FAA issued its long-anticipated notice of proposed rulemaking document, spelling out how it intended to establish standards for remote identification (Remote ID) of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). This was a whole year after the FAA first issued a request for information in December 2018, calling on the industry to help the agency explore possible technological solutions for Remote ID.

The past week has been revealing for those trying to understand the role major aerospace groups are likely to play in cutting aviation’s dependence on fossil fuels. In the space of only four days, the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers announced strategic decisions that could reshape their role in sustainable aviation for the next two decades.

Australia’s Deakin University this month published a white paper evaluating the opportunities and next steps for what it calls Advanced Aerial Mobility (AAM) and the use of eVTOL aircraft for passenger and freight services. The report argues that the emerging sector offers a significant opportunity for Australia to develop high-tech businesses while highlighting the challenges related to regulation, safety, noise, and community acceptance.

The aviation industry is showing a growing interest in the potential for hydrogen propulsion as an alternative to battery-based electrical systems. In recent months, for instance, Airbus has increasingly signaled its intention to prioritize this aspect of its development work after testing two all-electric eVTOL technology demonstrators (the Vahana and CityAirbus).

EmbraerX continues to be extremely secretive about its plans to bring an eVTOL aircraft to market. Back in April 2017, the advanced technology division of the Brazilian aerospace group was named as one of the early partners for Uber’s planned air taxi network, but since then it has said little about its plans.

The Pathways to the Future of Transportation document was published on July 28, 2020, by the Non-Traditional & Emerging Transportation Technology Council (NETT) established by the U.S. Department for Transportation in 2019. At face value, the document appears to do little more than lay more groundwork for the NETT Council's mission of bringing innovators and entrepreneurs together to advance the adoption of new transportation technology. 

Even allowing for the hopefully short-term reduction of airline traffic volumes due to the Covid-19 pandemic, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will triple by 2050, according to aviation consultancy Roland Berger. In fact, current annual levels of 1 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions had appeared likely to quadruple by 2050, but now emission levels are set to fall during 2020, followed by some “muted growth” anticipated for the next few years, according to a new study released by the company on July 21 during the FIA Connect event.

In his cover letter accompanying the FAA’s first version of the concept of operations (ConOps) for Urban Air Mobility (UAM), Steve Bradford, the agency’s chief scientist for architecture and NextGen development, admits that the document is a “work in progress.” Given the content and the reaction to it, that perhaps is an understatement.