FutureFlight

Merlin, a Boston-based company developing “drop-in” autonomy kits for legacy fixed-wing aircraft, has received a $1 million contract from the FAA to demonstrate its autonomous flight control technology in the National Airspace System. Flight trials will take place over Alaska starting in the second quarter of 2023, and all test flights will have safety pilots on board to monitor the airplanes, which initially will be remotely operated or monitored by a pilot on the ground.

Aircraft leasing group LCI is looking to accelerate its diversification strategy fueled by a capital injection from the acquisition of a 35 percent stake by Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Company (SMFL). Announcing the agreement on March 29, LCI’s parent, Libra Group, said the further support from its Japanese partner will aid efforts to grow LCI’s business by around $1.5 billion, with a significant portion of this expansion coming from taking positions in the fast-emerging advanced air mobility (AAM) sector.

The advanced air mobility (AAM) industry aims to begin operating thousands of air taxis, delivery drones, and other types of novel aircraft in the U.S. within the next decade. Along with the rise in the number of aircraft flying in our skies, the amount of noise pollution created by the aviation industry is certainly going to increase. In an effort to better understand and reduce aviation noise, the FAA has awarded $19 million in research grants to 14 universities across the nation. Projects that these grant recipients will be working on include developing noise abatement procedures, assessing the impact of noise on the environment and communities, and acoustic modeling of new aircraft emerging from the AAM sector.

European aircraft systems specialist Liebherr is supporting Airbus's ZeroE hydrogen airliner program by developing an air supply system for its fuel cells. The study announced this week will support efforts for the development of a technology demonstrator aircraft to establish the most realistic approach to producing commercially viable aircraft for service entry during the 2030s.

In response to an anticipated need for many eVTOL aircraft pilots, Future Aviation Simulation Technologies is working with EvFly and other operators to provide mixed-reality training devices and full-flight simulators. The German company says it already has a demonstration example of its latest equipment but is waiting on air safety regulators to finalize training requirements before it can be deployed.

As part of the White House’s Investing in America Tour, U.S. First Lady Jill Biden and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona visited eVTOL aircraft developer Beta Technologies in Vermont this week to see how the electric aviation company is prioritizing educational opportunities and workforce development to create jobs in the clean-energy industry.

Plana has revealed a new design for its five-seat hybrid-electric aircraft and is seeking partners to supply all key systems, including propulsion and avionics. As it prepares to launch a Series A funding round to support its plans, the Korean company has announced the signing of a letter of intent with a prospective U.S. launch customer called Ghenus Air.

Fuel cell developer H2Fly has completed initial ground tests to refuel its hydrogen-electric HY4 aircraft with liquid hydrogen. On April 5, the German company conducted the test in Grenoble in France at a facility operated by its partner, the industrial gas group Air Liquide as part of preparations for the start of a new round of flight testing this summer.

Volocopter has opened the purpose-built hangar in which it is preparing to start manufacturing its two-seat VoloCity eVTOL vehicle in time for commercial air taxi services to begin in 2024. At the company's Bruchsal headquarters in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, Volocopter is also working on the VoloDrone freighter and a larger, longer-range eVTOL vehicle called the VoloConnect.

Newly released video from Horizon Aircraft shows the company’s half-scale Cavorite X5 eVTOL technology demonstrator conducting its first transition flight tests at the ACE Climatic Wind Tunnel in Oshawa, Ontario.