Good morning, everyone.
By now, everyone is aware of the tragedy that happened Sunday morning, only 50 miles northwest of this convention center.
I speak for all of us at the FAA when I say that we are saddened by this accident and the loss of so many lives, and our hearts go out to the family and friends of those onboard.
The NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI) held a Sustainable Aerospace Supply Chain and Manufacturing Workshop, Feb. 4-5, 2020, at NASA Ames Research Center, in Mountain View, California.
VFS Executive Director Mike Hirschberg presented on "The Future of Vertical Flight: How Do We Get There?" [pdf slides, 8 MB]. More information about the workshop is available at https://nari.arc.nasa.gov/aerosupplychain
Anaheim, California, Jan. 24, 2020 — The Vertical Flight Society, the world’s leading non-profit organization working to advance vertical flight, announces today its activities at Heli-Expo to highlight advanced new military and civil vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. Heli-Expo 2020 is hosted by the Helicopter Association International (HAI) and is being held Jan. 28–30, 2020, in the Anaheim Convention Center, in Anaheim, California.
On Jan. 13, 2020, the Transportation Research Board hosted a panel discussion, "Automation Technology and Transportation," with senior transportation officials to talk about automation technology in the transportation space. Representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) joined two deputy assistant Transportation secretaries to talk about various new technologies and the rulemaking processes governing them.
Toyota is exploring a new flight path for mobility through a new collaboration with Joby Aviation (Joby), an aerospace company that is developing and commercializing all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to enable the deployment of fast, quiet and affordable air transportation services. The collaboration reflects Toyota’s recognition of the long-term potential of the urban air mobility market to meet the evolving needs of society, as well as Joby’s position as an industry leader in working to deliver safe and affordable air travel to everyone.
Joby Aviation, a pioneer in the development of an electric air taxi, has raised $590 million in Series C funding led by Toyota Motor Corporation. Prior investors, including SPARX Group, Intel Capital, Capricorn Investment Group, JetBlue Technology Ventures, Toyota AI Ventures, and AME Cloud Ventures, also contributed to the round, and were joined by new investors Baillie Gifford and Global Oryx (ALJ family’s investment arm).
Palo Alto, CA, Jan. 14, 2020 -- OPENER, a pioneer of aerial vehicles for consumer travel, is pleased to announce the appointment of Ben Diachun as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). OPENER is producing BlackFly, the world’s first fixed-wing, all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) personal ultralight aircraft. Founder and former CEO, Marcus Leng, will oversee next-generation manufacturing and international operations as Chairman of the Board.
Geely's “integrated world” three-dimensional smart travel ecology is flourishing steadily in 2019. After the wholly-owned acquisition of Terrafugia in 2017, Geely quickly established the Terrafugia China R&D team to carry out independent research and development, and support the development of urban air mobility.
In mid-December 2019, Terrafugia, a subsidiary of Geely Technology Group, successfully conducted its first test flight of the TF-2A sub-scale demonstrator.
Terrafugia co-founder and president Dr. Carl Dietrich has announced a new urban air mobility (UAM) venture, Jump Aero.
With the tagline, "We will empower our heroes to become superheroes," the company aims to "enable first responders to fly to the scene of an emergency as fast as possible. We will cut emergency response time in half – helping save thousands of lives each year."
On Dec. 4, Disney unveiled its new “Rise of the Resistance” ride at the grand opening of its new “Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge” theme park in Orlando, Florida. Video of the nighttime event shows the two T-70 X-Wing fighters take off vertically, rotate and then translate forward away from the huge crowd. TheDrive.com website reported that the interceptors used the unmanned Boeing Cargo Air Vehicle (CAV) eVTOL aircraft as the platform for the two-thirds scale spaceships.
