On Nov. 30, Bedfordshire, UK-based Samad Aerospace announced the successful electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) first flight of its half-scale e-Starling prototype. The aircraft flew at 90 mph (145 km/h) for five minutes, setting the groundwork for eVTOL tests flights in 2021.
Sydney, Australia-based AMSL Aero was founded in June 2017 by Andrew Moore (AM) and Siobhan Lyndon (SL). The group has flown 1/5-scale models and has now unveiled its full-scale eVTOL tilt-propeller demonstrator.
In October, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced the first Unmanned Civil Aviation Experimental Zones (UCAEZs) to promote China’s global leadership in developing an unmanned civil aviation industry. The list of UCAEZs covers as many as 13 cities, including Hezhou (shown), Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Zigong, Anyang, Nanjing, Tianjin, Yulin, Shenyang, Dongying, Anqing and Ganzhou.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government co-hosted an event with the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) on Nov. 11 to highlight AAM in Korea. Guangzhou, China-based EHang brought six examples of its two-seat EH216 autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) and conducted unmanned flights of the 1,435-lb (650-kg) eVTOL, according to Yonhap News Agency. In addition, Korean industrial giants Hyundai and Hanwha displayed one-third-scale models of their vectored-thrust eVTOL designs.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Civil Aviation Authority Singapore (CAAS) announced on Dec. 4 that they had updated their bilateral agreement to facilitate CAAS validation of EASA aircraft type certifications. This amendment allows the two regulators to “collaborate on facilitating aviation innovations, such as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
Bruchsal, Germany-based Volocopter GmbH has continued pushing forward with its two-seat, 18-propeller multicopter eVTOL since the “roll-out” of its first production model, the VC 2-1 VoloCity on Sept. 30. On Oct. 28, the company announced a cooperative effort with Lufthansa Industry Solutions to build Volocopter’s proprietary intelligent and integrated “Urban Air Mobility [UAM] Software Platform,” called VoloIQ (shown), which will run on Microsoft Azure.
On Oct. 23, Dallas, Texas-based Jaunt Air Mobility announced that it was launching Access Skyways, a group of partner companies providing expertise to support the integration of AAM. Jaunt announced memorandums of understanding with PS&S Integrated Services, an architectural and engineering firm with experience in vertiport design, and PRICE Systems, which specializes in predictive cost modeling and has the capability to calculate passenger demand for air taxi services.
The US Air Force’s AFWERX innovation organization announced on Oct. 26 that it intended to select more than 250 proposals as part of its “X20D” Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) open topic solicitation, a record in the program’s nearly three-decade history. This X20D solicitation was focused on the Agility Prime program, the AFWERX initiative to operationalize AAM/eVTOL for government missions in a way that accelerates the emerging commercial market.
NASA announced on Nov. 16 that Wisk and Alaka’i Technologies signed information exchange agreements with NASA this year, joining 17 companies who were announced in March (see “NASA’s National Campaign,” Vertiflite, May/June 2020). The two new vehicle partners are now preparing for the first National Campaign (NC-1) beginning in 2022, with the intent to assess operational safety scenarios focused on their respective automation and vehicle designs.
NASA and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have been hosting a series of workshops to provide information on test and evaluation requirements, vehicle safety system development, and certification challenges for eVTOL aircraft.
