The manufacturer’s EL-2 Goldfinch, which first flew in May, got its first off-runway action when it lifted off from a grassy area smaller than 300 feet near a company facility in Manassas, Virginia.

The company has multimillion dollar contracts across the military, with the Air Force, Army, and Navy all exploring the use of eSTOL technology. The relatively cheap, runway-independent aircraft are viewed as an attractive alternative to conventional fixed wing aircraft and rotorcraft

Electra said the demonstrator completed several takeoffs and landings, climbing at a steep angle of 32 degrees. The aircraft did not require electric charging infrastructure, as many electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis do, because its propulsion unit charges the batteries in flight.

All the while, the Goldfinch produced just 55 decibels of noise, equivalent to the volume of a typical conversation, while flying overhead at 500 feet. Electra says its full-scale design, which will carry nine passengers or up to 2,500 pounds of cargo on trips up to 500 sm (434 nm), will be inaudible from the ground at its typical cruise altitude.

It seeks to certify a full-scale model under FAA Part 23 regulations by 2028.

“eSTOL technologies increase the number of available landing sites by orders of magnitude relative to traditional fixed wing aircraft while providing for higher cruise speeds, lower costs, and lower noise than vertical lift solutions,” said JP Stewart, vice president and general manager of Electra. “These first flights from a field demonstrate the beginnings of this strong capability that we will continue to develop.”

Electra’s eSTOL achieves its incredibly short runway requirement through the use of blown lift propulsion. Airflows are guided over the wing into flaps and ailerons that redirect them toward the ground, adding to thrust from the aircraft’s eight electric motors. This allows the vehicle to take off at what Electra describes as neighborhood driving speeds.

Though the manufacturer has several commercial customers lined up for its flagship design, it also views the eSTOL as ideal for airlift operations and agile combat employment, a U.S. Air Force doctrine that calls for the rapid deployment of assets to dispersed locations.

The military will be its first customer, but Electra in January surpassed 2,000 aircraft preorder sales from private partners including JSX, Bristow Group, and JetSetGo.

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The post Electra Completes Grass Field Takeoffs With Less Than 300 Feet appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The manufacturer on Wednesday announced that its EL-2 Goldfinch demonstrator—a two-seat version of the design used in testing—achieved its first piloted “ultra-short” takeoff and landing, lifting off with just 170 feet of runway and touching down with under 114 feet ground roll.

During a test campaign, the aircraft, which utilizes a unique blown-lift design, flew as slow as 25 knots during takeoff and landing. It reached an altitude of 6,500 feet and maxed out with a flight time of one hour and 43 minutes.

Flights took place in April and May at Manassas Regional Airport (KHEF) and Warrenton-Fauquier Airport (KHWY) in Virginia and were piloted by Cody Allee, chief technology officer of ABSI Aerospace & Defense and a former U.S. Marine Corps pilot.

“The aircraft handling at low speeds has been exceptional and is matching our analysis well, building confidence in the predicted capability of the nine-passenger product design,” said JP Stewart, vice president and general manager of Electra. “We’ll continue to develop our technologies, including the ‘thrust-by-wire’ flight control system, to allow us to fly even slower on approach and further improve the STOL takeoff and landing performance in the ongoing test campaign.”

Electra’s Goldfinch demonstrator first flew in November during a test to assess aircraft systems and functionality. Teams then began expanding the flight envelope with slower operations and practicing takeoffs, landings, and approaches.

But the initial demonstration of eSTOL maneuvers represents a major milestone for Electra. The company has made the ability to take off from soccer field-sized spaces the calling card of its flagship model, which like the Goldfinch makes use of blown-lift technology.

Electra envisions the eSTOL serving as a quieter, lower-emissions alternative to helicopters, with fewer infrastructure requirements than fully electric aircraft. It is expected to have a range of 500 sm (434 nm) and cruise at 200 mph (175 knots), faster than most rotorcraft. Use cases will range from passenger transport and on-demand urban air mobility services to cargo logistics, humanitarian aid, and disaster response, the manufacturer says.

To amplify lift, eight electric motors on the wing’s leading edge guide air flows over the wing into large flaps and ailerons, which direct them downward. The result, Electra says, is the ability to take off and land at speeds as slow as 35 mph, reducing the runway requirement to one-tenth that of conventional aircraft.

The eSTOL can be flown in hybrid or all-electric mode. It draws power from a combination of a turbogenerator and battery packs, with the former designed to power cruise flight and the latter takeoff and landing. The manufacturer says this keeps fuel burn and maintenance costs low. The turbogenerator—built to support sustainable aviation fuel, e-fuels, and hydrogen—can also charge the batteries during flight, making ground-based charging systems optional.

Electra hopes to introduce the nine-passenger model to the commercial market by 2028 as a multiengine, Level 3, low-speed airplane under FAA Part 23 regulations.

The company in January surpassed 2,000 aircraft preorder sales, with customers including U.S. operators JSX and Bristow Group and India’s JetSetGo. It also has aircraft testing and development contracts with the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force, which are exploring potential military use cases for the design.

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The Lockheed Martin-owned firm on Tuesday unveiled its plan to build, test, and fly a fully autonomous, hybrid-electric VTOL demonstrator called HEX, which it said will be the first in a series of large, self-flying VTOL models.

Sikorsky said the HEX program is its first attempt to integrate hybrid-electric propulsion systems and advanced autonomy onto a VTOL design. The aircraft is intended to save fuel and improve performance for both commercial and military applications.

The manufacturer first hinted at a VTOL design in December 2022, announcing plans to design the HEX prototype in March. But Tuesday’s announcement revealed the aircraft will feature a unique tilt-wing architecture.

Tiltrotor or tilt-propeller designs are common in the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi space. They involve the repositioning of those components during the transition between vertical and forward flight. Tilt-wings, by contrast, rotate the entire wing vertically during takeoff to minimize their interference on thrust.

Sikorsky also confirmed that HEX represents the inception of a family of next-generation VTOL aircraft, which was only mentioned as a possibility in March. The designs will include both rotorcraft and winged models, the company said.

The aircraft will feature different degrees of electrification, but each will be powered by the company’s Matrix autonomy system for “optionally piloted flight.” Matrix enables an aircraft to be flown by two, one, or zero pilots.

“Autonomy and electrification will bring transformational change to flight safety and operational efficiency of large VTOL aircraft,” said Paul Lemmo, president of Sikorsky. “Our HEX demonstrator program will provide valuable insights as we look to a future family of aircraft built to the scale and preferred configurations relevant to commercial and military customers.”

Sikorsky is exploring the potential for such aircraft to perform utility missions for the U.S. military or fly passengers between cities. Other manufacturers exploring eVTOL designs for air taxi services, recreational flight, or potential military use include Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, and Pivotal.

According to Sikorsky’s website, HEX will be safer to fly and more efficient, cost effective, and sustainable to operate than conventional rotorcraft or fixed-wing designs. It said the aircraft will be capable of traveling 500 nm at high speed, lowering maintenance costs and limiting mechanical systems to reduce complexity.

Sikorsky Innovations—the company’s prototyping arm leading the HEX program—is working with partner GE Aerospace, the aircraft engine supplier subsidiary of General Electric, to finalize the design for a hybrid-electric power systems testbed aircraft, with a 600-kilowatt motor.

The testbed is the “first step,” according to the manufacturer and will be used to evaluate hover performance of the subsequent HEX demonstrator. The demonstrator will have a maximum gross weight of 9,900 pounds and a 1.2-megawatt-class turbogenerator, instead of the 1-megawatt generator proposed in March. Sikorsky in March also said that GE Aerospace would provide a CT7 turboshaft engine, though Tuesday’s announcement made no mention of it.

Over the next two to five years, the testbed and HEX demonstrator are expected to provide Sikorsky with insights into its future class of VTOL aircraft for regional and intercity travel.

“Within Sikorsky’s electric pillar, we are designing electric motors, power electronics and our own vehicle management hardware and actuation,” said Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky Innovations. “HEX will integrate these components, showcasing the growing maturity of our Matrix autonomy suite and the potential for maintenance-free systems. Seeing the results will lead us to more efficient overall designs.”

Sikorsky Innovations has developed three experimental helicopter prototypes featuring a coaxial design, with a rear propulsor in place of a tail rotor: the X2 demonstrator, S-97 Raider, and SB-1 Defiant. These models fly twice as fast as a single main rotor helicopter, with improved maneuverability and handling at low speeds, the manufacturer said.

Sikorsky has also worked with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to demonstrate military resupply and casualty evacuation. The missions were completed using an optionally piloted UH-60A Black Hawk retrofitted with Matrix and a full-authority, fly-by-wire flight control system.

VTOL technology is a decidedly new addition to the mix, by Sikorsky’s own admission. But the manufacturer’s long history of producing rotorcraft may help it merge VTOL with its existing airframes and autonomous capabilities.

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The firm on Thursday announced it successfully completed a hybrid-electric ground test using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from partner Dimensional Energy. The pure, 100 percent ASTM D7566 SAF is produced from electricity and carbon dioxide and was used to fuel Ampaire’s nine-seat Eco Caravan, a modified Cessna 208B Grand Caravan.

The goal of testing was to validate the performance of Dimensional Energy’s pure e-fuel SAF. According to Ampaire, the results “exceeded expectations,” demonstrating a massive increase in energy efficiency compared to traditional jet fuels.

Both Ampaire and Dimensional Energy received funding and support from climate technology investor Elemental Excelerator. According to Ampaire, the investment has helped the partners more than double the efficiency of SAF consumption while driving emissions to near zero.

“By showcasing the transformative efficiency gains achievable through hybrid-electric propulsion, we are driving the future of eco-friendly air travel,” said Kevin Noertker, CEO of Ampaire. “For those already recognizing the potential of SAF, its integration into our hybrid-electric aircraft enhances its appeal even further.”

Ampaire’s Eco Caravan is a hybrid-electric design with a range of 1,100 sm (956 nm) and a payload of 2,500 pounds. In 2022, the manufacturer said the model could be the first electric regional aircraft to fly commercially. Ampaire expects FAA certification this year.

The aircraft is equipped with Ampaire’s proprietary AMP-H570 AMP Drive hybrid-electric propulsion unit. According to the company, the system will reduce fuel consumption and emissions by 50 to 70 percent compared to conventional Pratt & Whitney PT6 engines, which are common on Cessna Caravan turboprops.

Ground tests paired the hybrid-electric propulsion system with Dimensional Energy e-fuels to “reimagine” 100 percent electric flight and address SAF quality and cost concerns, the goal being to enable broader use. According to Ampaire, Dimensional Energy has two projects that will “add significant inventory to the world’s availability of e-fuels.”

“Technology providers have to collaborate beyond innovation and into execution,” said Jason Salfi, CEO of Dimensional Energy. “By combining Dimensional Energy e-fuels with Ampaire’s aircraft technology that can reduce the amount of fuels combusted during flight, we quicken the pace up the steep curve of the energy transition and reduce the need for extraction faster.”

Nonprofit investor Elemental Excelerator provided both Ampaire and Dimensional Energy with project development capital and years of support to scale the companies’ tech. The three partners intend to continue their collaboration and research into sustainable flight.

“[Ampaire and Dimensional Energy’s] innovations reduce pollution and noise in neighborhoods around airports and make possible a cleaner way to fly,” said Dawn Lippert, CEO of Elemental Excelerator.

Ampaire’s recent ground test wasn’t the company’s only milestone in the past few months. In fact, it doesn’t even come close to the firm’s biggest achievement: a 12-hour, 1,375 sm (1,195 nm) flight of its Electric EEL demonstrator. The flight set a high-water mark for hybrid-electric aircraft endurance, eclipsing the company’s previous record.

The EEL is a modified Cessna 337 Skymaster, also equipped with the AMP-H570 AMP Drive, that functions primarily as a testbed aircraft but could also serve owner-flown, charter, and short-haul regional airlines and carriers. It has a 400 sm (348 nm) range and 450-pound payload.

In 2020, Ampaire and the EEL also completed the first trial of a hybrid-electric aircraft along an actual airline route, in partnership with Hawaii’s Mokulele Airlines. The Eco Caravan, meanwhile, made its maiden voyage in 2022.

Ampaire’s largest order for the hybrid-electric design comes from U.K.-based lessor Monte Aircraft, which agreed to order up to 50 Eco Caravans. The firm also has an agreement with Azul Conecta—a subsidiary of Azul, Brazil’s largest airline by passenger volume—to convert six Grand Caravans in its fleet.

Meanwhile, Ampaire is working with NASA on several projects, most notably one that would install its propulsion system aboard a Twin Otter DHC6. It has an agreement with private charter operator WingTips for the conversion of 50 Twin Otters to Eco Otters—another Ampaire concept—in addition to 20 Caravans.

Unsurprisingly, major airlines and manufacturers are ramping up development of SAF as Ampaire matures its tech. Both Gulfstream Aerospace and Virgin Atlantic completed inaugural transatlantic flights fueled entirely by SAF in November. Rolls-Royce that month said all of its current engines can now run on 100 percent SAF.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), SAF production tripled from 2021 to 2022. And with aviation industry groups working to speed its adoption, the dawn of SAF appears to be on the horizon.

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The post Ampaire Completes Hybrid-Electric Ground Test Using Pure SAF appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Daher’s position demonstrates well the state of the global aerospace market.

“We are in a paradox situation—some are happy; some are not happy,” said Patrick Daher, board chair for the Daher group, in kicking off the company’s performance review for 2023 in Paris on February 7. “We are feeling the impact of the international situation, and then we are still recovering from COVID, but the COVID crisis is over for us…But some international threats—for example the war in Ukraine and the Middle East, the future elections, the situation in China—all these events have created a political instability that is really worrying for the future.”

Yet industry events such as the 2023 Paris Air Show indicate where the future lies—with caution as to the expense of making change. “As chairman [of] the Salon de Bourget in 2023 and chairman of Daher…I have the chance to see that energy transition is coming with a really high price,” said Daher. “Speaking about industry, we have really good news in terms of an increase in production.”

In 2023, Daher recorded strong deliveries of both its TBM and Kodiak series turboprops, with a total of 56 TBMs and 18 Kodiaks, for a total of 76 units. In addition, it counts more than 100 turboprops in its order book, taking it well into 2025.

READ MORE: Daher Delivers 100th TBM 960

An Industry Overview

At the same time, major Daher client and partner Airbus has never manufactured so many aircraft—a record number went out the door in December, as Daher noted in the report. That is in spite of the constant pressures brought on by inflation, provisioning difficulties, recruitment challenges, rise in wages, and lowering margins. Collectively these have led to soft pricing models that have persisted through the past couple of years.

“We have forgotten how to deal with such problems of inflation that we experienced 20 years ago,” said Daher. “It was really hard to find raw materials, and this was linked to geopolitical problems, [such] as the war in Ukraine. We were missing material. This lack of raw materials is linked to the mismanagement of the supply chain—the suppliers failed to ship what we needed to manufacture our aircraft—and to produce what our clients asked us to do.”

Another problem Daher noted has been the lack of employee candidates. “It is not easy to recruit the right profiles…The COVID crisis changed behaviors in terms of wages and employees, so it is really hard for us to hire and find talents.” This has driven companies like Daher to invest heavily in training—because like never before they have had to recruit from outside the aviation industry.

“All these factors in 2023—after COVID, we were expecting 2021 and 2022 to be difficult—but these problems arrived in 2023,” Daher said. “All of these factors resulted in our weakened profitability. We need to consider the energy transition and the decrease in carbon intensity…2023 highlighted the emergency but also the [convergence], vis-à-vis the problem of decarbonization.”

The Daher group considers government support crucial—specifically CORAC, the French council for civil aviation research—and 300 million euros per year have been earmarked by CORAC to help fund the energy transition. “Aviation industry, all research efforts, have converged, because in the past each company focused on a specific research field, but right now there is a really clear target: low-carbon, low-emission aircraft,” Daher said.

Eco-Pulse Update

For the French OEM, the convergence flies today via its hybrid-electric Eco-Pulse technology demonstrator, which uses a TBM airframe, electric motors and powertrain components form Saran, and electric power storage by Airbus in a distributed lift model (simply put) to test various components and how they interact in actual flight operations. The Eco-Pulse retains a Pratt & Whitney PT6A turboprop engine, but in December made its first flight segments completely powered by the six electric motors.

“It is a major step towards decarbonization,” said Daher. “Because high voltage electricity can be a good solution…we are continuing with some hybrid tests. This is the first step…People thought I was crazy [last year] when I spoke about this target [to have a marketable product by 2027], but we are headed in that direction.” It will be a TBM or Kodiak because those are the models Daher has in its portfolio, but the company has yet to determine which will be chosen and exactly what that will look like.

FLYING asked if the OEM could share any feedback—including any performance data, if possible—from those first flights. Christophe Robin, vice president of engineering for Daher’s aircraft division, provided this insight: “EcoPulse is a technology demonstrator, therefore, aircraft performance is not the goal. The EcoPulse configuration has been chosen with the strategy of increasing the level of complexity in hybridization to develop a ‘maturity picture’ for all of the technologies involved—including examining side effects such as weight penalties, as well as issues induced by HIRF (high-intensity radiated field) and lightning.”

READ MORE: We Fly: Daher TBM 960

Log’in, Shap’in, Fly’in

To support innovation efforts, Daher launched its second tech center, Log’in, in Toulouse, also geared toward decarbonization. “Out of 7 million tonnes [of carbon emissions] we realized that a big quantity is related to our clients, and we want to work on these figures [as well] in order to work on decarbonization,” said Daher.

Fly’in will be the third tech center Daher launches, in Tarbes, focused on aircraft development, “stepping up” in both technology and the drive towards net-zero emissions.

FLYING also asked Daher to expand on the current projects that have already been realized from the new technology centers and Eco-Pulse. Robin shared a portion of what the group has learned thus far, and what it expects to benefit from. 

“In addition to the aspects of EcoPulse that are linked to aircraft hybridization, another important focus is demonstrating the application of advanced composites on aircraft,” said Robin. “Under the guidance of Daher’s research and technology teams, EcoPulse is using composites for the aircraft’s winglets, engine pylons, Karman and battery fairings, as well as the air inlet—which were produced primarily with an infusion-based carbon/cork micro-sandwich. A goal of EcoPulse is to make it possible to evolve the performance and feasibility of integrating these technologies on secondary parts/components of Daher-built aircraft, while developing rapid prototyping skills used within the aviation framework.”

This is complementary to other developments underway at Daher—including projects in cooperation with partners such as CORAC (the French Council for Civil Aeronautical Research).

Pascal Laguerre, chief technology officer for Daher, provided significant insight beyond the Eco-Pulse demonstrator. “Taking a wider view for activities outside the framework of EcoPulse, Daher devotes a significant part of its overall R&D budget to thermoplastics,” said Laguerre. “This material is particularly promising in the world of aerostructures for future applications on production aircraft. It lends itself more easily to the automation of production (issue of throughput), and it is recyclable, repairable and weldable. Its mechanical properties make it possible to use less material and, overall, make structures lighter—all of which are key qualities with a view toward reducing carbon emissions. This is focused on accelerating the development of real applications in the future for the benefit of its customers, including [several more widely focused] projects.”

For example, as part of CORAC, Daher leads the largest French research project on thermoplastics in current execution, called TRAMPOLINE 2 (TheRmoplAstic coMPosites for hOrizontaL tail plaNE), as well as utilizing induction welding instead of riveting—with a weight savings of 15 percent.

Also, the investment has already borne fruit in components that will be found on the company’s current TBM product lines.

“After more than three years of R&D work, Daher succeeded in manufacturing rudder pedals in recycled high-performance thermoplastic composites from production scraps to equip the TBM, which have been certified for flight on production TBMs,” said Laguerre. “In addition to being lightweight, thermoplastics have low thermal conduction, as well as equal or better physicochemical and mechanical properties: It’s a win-win for Daher customers. And beyond the environmental benefits, the cost of these parts is significantly reduced compared to metal machining.

“In addition, Daher has obtained the first results of an R&D project called CARAC TP, carried out in collaboration with a set of academic laboratories competent in composite materials. The objective [is] to identify and characterize the thermoplastic composites best suited to aeronautical applications and compare them to thermoset materials. The project makes it possible to study materials in depth through multiple tests that go beyond the scope of qualification programs carried out in the industry: impact resistance, fire resistance, environmental aging (ozone, UV, fluids), impact of manufacturing processes on physicochemical properties, material performance, etc.”

Daher looks also outside its walls to new small businesses to help drive this innovation charge. Encouragingly, more than 300 aerospace-relevant startups took part in the Paris Air Show.

“We had 25 of these startups at the Daher stand at Le Bourget,” said Daher, noting that the company looks forward to engaging with these innovators, perhaps through acquisition or collaboration, on various projects.

WATCH: We Fly the Kodiak 900, Ready for Grand Adventures

The Takeoff 2027 Strategy

Daher reported a strengthening bottom line but noted there is room for improvement. At the press conference, Daher CEO Didier Kayat indicated the belief that Daher would become profitable based on its strategic realignment to better serve four sectors: aircraft, industry, industrial services, and logistics. The company also plans a transformation of the organizational structure by 2025, to help align and draw down any existing silos between the business functions.

To this end, Daher made a quartet of additions to its executive committee in the later part of 2023. On October 1, Alain-Jory Barthe joined Daher’s Industry division as senior vice president. Then, on January 1, Cédric Eloy became the head of the Industrial Services division as senior vice president of manufacturing services, and Julie de Cevins became the group’s chief sustainability officer—a key appointment, given the group’s charge to attain net-zero goals by 2050. Finally, on February 1, Aymeric Daher became senior vice president of the Logistics division.

Daher is adapting its organization to support the four business units, with the following actions:

• To create a managerial culture that is based in what it calls the “Daher Leadership Model”—effectively empowering a cadre of 1,500 leaders within the company to act with an entrepreneurial spirit
• To anticipate challenges and innovate toward decarbonisation solutions, with Eco-Pulse among other projects
• To support the acquisitions needed for growth across the four sectors.

Acquisitions have already borne fruit for the company, including the Stuart, Florida, facility.

“The acquisition of AAA strengthened the Industrial Services division, for example,” Daher said. “We are now the leader of industrial services…We can support aircraft manufacturers in peak periods.”

If Daher can make its way through the concurrent challenges of acquisition-driven growth, corporate restructuring, price pressures, and order fulfillment, its plan for the years ahead puts it on track to form part of the global solution to decarbonization—as well as providing the aircraft the customer demands for the future.

The post Daher’s Decarbonization Plans Drive Towards Hybrid-Electric Aircraft, Composites appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Heart Aerospace, maker of the 30-seat, hybrid-electric ES-30 regional airplane, this week raised $107 million in a series B round, bringing the company’s total funding raised to date to $145 million. The money will go toward type certification for the ES-30 under the European Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) CS-25 large aeroplanes category, expected in 2028.

Compared to conventionally fueled airplanes on short-haul routes, the design will lower emissions, noise pollution, and, most importantly, operating costs, Heart Aerospace claims.

“Billions of people around the world are looking to be connected to this amazing infrastructure over the next decade,” said Anders Forslund, co-founder and CEO of Heart Aerospace. “Meanwhile, the industry has committed to net-zero emissions by 2050. The only way forward is to decouple the tremendous growth in aviation from its emissions, and we believe ES-30 is the first stepping stone.”

In its fully electric, zero-emissions configuration, in which the batteries power four electric motors, the ES-30 has a range of about 124 sm (108 nm). But the aircraft can also be flown in reserve-hybrid configuration, using a pair of turbogenerators running on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). This doubles the model’s range to 248 sm (215 nm). But it actually maxes out at about 497 sm (432 nm) with a slightly reduced load of 25 passengers.

Reserve-hybrid mode can also be used during cruise on longer flights, complementing the electrical power supplied by the batteries. As Heart’s battery technology matures, the ES-30’s range in all-electric mode is expected to increase, while battery maintenance and electricity costs go down.

At launch, the ES-30 will not produce emissions around airports or on routes up to 124 sm (108 nm). As battery technology improves, though, so too will zero-emissions range. Eventually, the company claims, it will cut emissions per seat in half compared to 50-seat turboprops on longer sectors, or by 90 percent if SAF is used.

In fact, Heart promises fuel costs, maintenance costs, and operating costs per seat comparable to a 50-seat turboprop, but with significant per-trip improvements. At the same time, the aircraft’s electric motors keep noise to a minimum during takeoff and landing.

“Moreover, because of the superior economics of electric aircraft over their fossil-fuel counterparts, the ES-30 will bring back service to communities that have lost connectivity and open many new markets,” said Forslund.

The ES-30 is the only clean-sheet, hybrid-electric airplane of its size possessing active type certification applications with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Heart expects to unveil a full-scale demonstrator this year. But first it will use this week’s cash injection to develop the aircraft’s hybrid-electric powertrain.

Sagitta Ventures, a Danish investor focused on early stage firms, is among the new investors in the series B, which included Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, EQT Ventures, and Y Combinator. Customers and previous investors United Airlines Ventures and Air Canada also participated in the round, with the latter providing $5 million.

Further, Ted Persson, partner at EQT Ventures, will join Heart’s board of investors.

“As someone said, the Stone Age didn’t end because we ran out of stones, and the fossil fuel age won’t end because we [ran] out of fossil fuels,” said Persson. “Heart Aerospace is taking decarbonization to the skies, and we’re proud to be funding technology that will fundamentally change the aviation industry.”

Heart has approximately 250 firm orders for the ES-30 to go along with options and purchase rights for 120 aircraft, as well as letters of intent for 191 more. Thirty of those belong to Air Canada. The bulk, though, come from United and Mesa Airlines, a subsidiary which will help the airline introduce electric aircraft. A conditional agreement in 2021 calls for each to acquire 100 aircraft.

“United’s goal of net-zero emissions requires bold solutions, and that’s why we’ve invested in a broad portfolio of low-carbon technologies including hybrid-electric aircraft,” said Andrew Chang, managing director of United Airlines Ventures. “Once operational, we believe Heart’s ES-30 aircraft have the potential to reduce our carbon footprint, while serving regional markets across the country.”

Recently, Heart was also part of a massive order from JSX, the largest Part 135/Part 380 charter operator in the U.S. JSX committed to 50 firm ES-30 orders and 50 options, part of a spending spree for as many as 332 hybrid-electric models.

The manufacturer’s 2028 launch target mirrors the FAA’s timeline for initial advanced air mobility (AAM) air taxi services in the U.S. That year, several manufacturers are expected to fly their air taxis at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and operations are projected to reach scale in major cities. United is also working with air taxi manufacturer Archer Aviation, so Heart’s ES-30 won’t be the only electric aircraft in its fleet.

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The post Hybrid-Electric Airplane Manufacturer Heart Aerospace Raises $107M appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Now for this week’s top story:

Historic Cargo Flight With Uncrewed Cessna Caravan

What happened? You’ve never seen a Cessna like this before—in fact, the world hadn’t, until this week. On Monday, Mountain View, California-based Reliable Robotics released footage of its November flight of a 208B Caravan, modified with its remotely operated aircraft system to fly without a pilot in the cockpit. The company claimed the feat is an aviation first.

How it works: Reliable’s uncrewed, FAA-approved flight—operated remotely from a control center 50 miles away—lasted about 12 minutes. But while the jaunt was relatively brief, it helped validate the firm’s technology, which automates all phases of flight from taxi to takeoff to landing. Control surfaces and engine controls, for example, are adjusted automatically.

A continuous autopilot system equipped with advanced navigation technology prevents common causes of aviation accidents, such as controlled flight into terrain or loss of control in flight. However, redundant voice and data networks allowed the modified Cessna to be commanded remotely. Other models could be equipped with the system too, since it’s aircraft agnostic.

Has automated aviation arrived? Well, not quite. Reliable and other automated flight systems developers still need to certify their tech, but they’re getting closer. The FAA in June accepted Reliable’s formal certification plan, which relies on existing regulations for normal and transport category aircraft and contains no special conditions or exceptions. In addition to test flights with the regulator, the company has demonstrated its system for NASA and the U.S. Air Force.

But it’s looking beyond defense use cases. Reliable plans to start a fully owned Part 135 airline subsidiary for automated commercial cargo flights. It’s also working with ASL Aviation Holdings to automate its fleet of more than 160 aircraft, which service Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

Quick quote: “This milestone accelerates dual-use uncrewed flight opportunities, increasing aviation safety and enabling us to bring a broad range of autonomous military capabilities into denied environments,” said Colonel Elliott Leigh, director of Air Force innovation arm AFWERX and the department’s chief commercialization officer.

My take: Automated flight systems are still in the early stages of development, but there is potential down the line for them to become ubiquitous. Some, such as autolanding, already are. Fully automated flight is another story.

Reliable is working with Textron Aviation and Textron eAviation to convert more Caravans, which are some of the most widely used turboprops in the world. Others such as Xwing and Merlin are building similar tech. But their success will depend on safety. Some believe automated systems will be more effective than pilots at reducing the risk of accidents. For now, though, humans have demonstrated the capacity for safe, routine, commercial flights—and automation simply hasn’t.

The cargo sector, which removes the risk of carrying humans, will likely be the first to adopt automated flight. That’s where Reliable is looking first. Others, who are eyeing the passenger segment, may need to wait on regulations and certification.

Deep dive: Reliable Robotics Completes Historic Cargo Flight—With No One on Board

In Other News…

Ampaire’s Modified Cessna Breaks Endurance Record

What happened? Historic Cessna flights pique your interest? How about another one: A Cessna 337 Skymaster equipped with hybrid-electric propulsion made a 12-hour, 1,375-mile trip. Ampaire, the maker of said propulsion system, believes the feat to be an endurance record. The previous high-water mark? Another Ampaire flight in 2022.

How about hybrid? Impressively, Ampaire’s Electric EEL demonstrator touched down with more than two hours of battery and fuel reserves remaining. That should be reassuring for the company—it claims the EEL offers a greater payload, cuts more emissions, and can be certified faster than hydrogen-powered designs. But hydrogen still has the advantage of range.

Ampaire went with hybrid propulsion because it believes it can take advantage of hydrogen fuel efficiency while weaving in the benefits of an all-electric system. Its designs are projected to reduce emissions less than the latter, but they’ll add greater range and payload while requiring less infrastructure. Plus, Ampaire believes it can certify its flagship model in 2024.

Deep dive: 12-Hour Hybrid-Electric Flight Sets New Endurance Record

This Strange Aircraft Could Come to Your Local Public Safety Agency

What happened? The funky-looking aircraft above is called Hexa—and it’s now on sale. Lift Aircraft, the manufacturer behind the unique, single-seat design, announced it will allocate five aircraft for public safety customers such as police and fire departments, emergency medical services, and first responders. Eventually, it’ll be available for personal use.

Anyone can fly: Lift enters the market with a unique proposition: an aircraft that anyone can learn to fly within an hour. Hexa qualifies as a Part 103 ultralight, which means the FAA doesn’t require a pilot certification to fly it. That may be a boon for public safety agencies, which could fly it for firefighting, supply drops, or air ambulance services without needing a licensed pilot.

Lift’s vision is for customers to one day walk into a vertiport, train for less than an hour, and leave flying their own personal eVTOL. The company actually has an agreement with helicopter tour operator Charm Aviation to bring Hexa to downtown Manhattan. But public safety customers will get the first crack at it.

Deep Dive: Lift Aircraft Sells Outlandish, Ultralight Personal eVTOL to Public Safety Agencies

And a Few More Headlines:

• NASA’s Voyager 1 probe can’t phone home, and it could take engineers weeks to fix the problem.

• Sean Cassidy stepped down as head of safety for Amazon’s drone arm, where he served as its main liaison to the FAA.

• The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) will collaborate with Google to decarbonize aviation.

• Textron Aviation announced a carbon offset program for its turbine aircraft customers.

• Air taxi startup AIBot chose Honeywell to develop the flight controls for its autonomous eVTOL design.

Spotlight on…

Maeve Aerospace

Dutch manufacturer Maeve Aerospace broke onto the scene in 2021 with its concept for a 44-passenger, all-electric regional jet. This week it came out with an even more ambitious design.

Maeve on Monday unveiled the M80: a hybrid-electric model for up to 80 passengers that it says fuses the performance of a jet, the efficiency and economics of a turboprop, and the emissions reduction of an all-electric aircraft. That combination is an attractive proposition—if the company can make it happen.

The M80 is scheduled for arrival in 2031, which should give Maeve plenty of time to refine its unique architecture. The secret sauce is the aircraft’s engine: It runs on electric battery packs and an aviation fuel of the operator’s choice, including power-to-liquid (PtL) and other forms of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Combined with a redesigned airframe, the engine can reduce emissions to near zero and fuel burn by 40 percent—which, according to Maeve, will keep trip costs low.

Plus, airports won’t need to install electric infrastructure to welcome the M80. The aircraft’s batteries are only needed for takeoff and climb. In cruise, an altitude optimized thermal engine takes over, which allows the aircraft to charge its own batteries during descent, Maeve said.

Deep Dive: The Efficiency of a Turboprop, the Performance of a Jet: Meet Maeve’s M80

On the Horizon…

Will the FAA ever be reauthorized? The answer is almost certainly yes, but it may not happen soon.

On Tuesday, federal lawmakers extended the deadline for reauthorization to March 8, just a few months after it was stretched to December 31. The second extension will keep the agency funded into the new year. However, industry stakeholders are getting antsy about the long-term outlook. Reauthorization would secure the FAA funding for the next half-decade, but it would also introduce new standards for air traffic control, pilot retirement, and advanced air mobility (AAM). For now, though, Senators continue to quibble over certain provisions.

Simultaneously, lawmakers are working to bolster American defenses against rogue drones. The State Department this week hosted its first counter-drone policy forum workshop, which brought together stakeholders from the governments of the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Attendees shared their countries’ respective goals and challenges. For the U.S., that could be useful—according to reports, federal authority to down drones expired last month.

Also in the works is a bipartisan bill called the NASA Talent Exchange Program Act. The legislation would assign NASA employees to temporary aerospace industry positions, and vice versa, creating new linkages between the regulator and other stakeholders.

Across the pond, we’ve got a trio of updates from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Perhaps the most notable is the launch of an Innovative Air Mobility Hub for stakeholders to exchange information on technologies such as air taxis and drones.

The European regulator also published what should become a key document for eVTOL aircraft firms: the first standards (and limitations) on eVTOL noise. Since electric air taxis are expected to fly over people in crowded urban areas at low altitude, keeping noise to a minimum will be crucial. Among other provisions, EASA will require operators to measure noise during takeoff, overflight, approach, and hover.

And finally, there’s been a leadership shakeup at the top of the agency. EASA named Luc Tytgat as acting executive director in September following the departure of Patrick Ky. But this week it picked Florian Guillermet, director of France’s air navigation services provider, as a permanent replacement.

Mark Your Calendars

Each week, I’ll be running through a list of upcoming industry events. Here are a few conferences to keep an eye on:

• 11th Annual eVTOL Symposium—February 6-8 in Silicon Valley, California
• Drone Show Korea 2024—March 6-8 in Busan, South Korea
• World’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Conference—March 17-19 in Jerusalem
• AUVSI Xponential 2024—April 22-25 in San Diego 
• Vertical Flight Society’s Forum 80—May 7-9 in Montreal

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The post You’ve Never Seen Cessnas Like These Before appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Toronto-based manufacturer Horizon Aircraft on Tuesday revealed that it has improved on the design of its flagship five-seater Cavorite X5—so much so that the firm is pivoting to a new model. Horizon will replace the X5 with the Cavorite X7, a larger, seven-seat version for applications in medical evacuation, critical supply delivery, disaster relief, and military missions.

Horizon also believes its new flagship eVTOL will be ideal for regional air taxi services, like those the aforementioned companies are looking to provide in urban and suburban areas. It’s expected to move people or cargo over distances between 50 and 500 sm (43 to 434 nm), a bit farther than planned air taxi routes from Joby and Delta, Archer and United, and others.

The Canadian company chose to modify its design for a few reasons. Positive flight testing results of the firm’s 50 percent-scale prototype, as well as an internal analysis of its aerodynamics, structure, and electronics, revealed the X5 could be expanded to make room for a pilot and six passengers.

And then there’s the customers. Horizon said clients serving the medical evacuation, business aviation, and commercial cargo industries requested a larger aircraft with lower passenger seat mile costs to better align with their needs.

All of that feedback means the X5 will be short-lived: A first prototype was revealed in August 2022, and initial hover testing began in January. However, the X7 will inherit plenty of its predecessor’s components and features.

“The shift to a seven-seat aircraft has been discussed since the beginning of our hybrid eVTOL initial concept,” said Brandon Robinson, CEO of Horizon. “It’s a size that just makes sense commercially. We are very confident our unique fan-in-wing technology can support this new and larger platform, and our testing results have provided us with confidence that we can potentially scale to an even larger aircraft.”

Both Robinson and his father, Brian, Horizon’s co-founder and chief engineer, are experienced fliers who saw an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the eVTOL industry.

“Close to 2013, there was a gentleman with the vision of a completely new type of aircraft that was based on our family plane—an RC‑3 Republic Seabee that he and my grandfather built from scrap,” Robinson said in the eVTOL Insights Q&A. “My father had always been interested in electrification—using smaller, lighter, and more reliable electric components in many of his projects. He had the idea to design his new prototype aircraft around a hybrid-electric power system.”

The seven-seater Cavorite will have an estimated gross weight of 5,500 pounds with a useful load of 1,500 pounds. It has a projected 250 mph (217 knots) top speed and a 500 sm (434 nm) maximum range. Notably, the X7 will be able to take off vertically like a helicopter, or conventionally from the runway—the latter would boost its useful load to 1,800 pounds.

According to Horizon, the X7 will use a “patented” configuration in which redundant electric ducted fans are embedded in the wings. However, the Lilium Jet and Doroni H1 have similar fan-in-wing architectures.

While it’s unclear exactly how the fans will be arranged on the X7, Horizon’s X5 placed 12 in the wings and four in the forward canards to provide vertical lift. Meanwhile, a pusher propeller attached to the rear of the fuselage enabled forward flight. Movable surfaces on the wings covered the fans during cruise, increasing lift across the wings and canards.

The X7’s hybrid-electric power system is designed to recharge its battery packs within 30 minutes between missions. But the aircraft would also be able to recharge its batteries in the air when flying like a traditional plane—on its wings, in a very low-drag configuration—using a range extender motor. Horizon claims the X7 will be able to spend 98 percent of its mission time flying this way, making it potentially safer and easier to certify than more complex designs.

While designed to fly on 100 percent electric power, the eVTOL is also built to run on gas. Still, Horizon promises it will cut hydrocarbon emissions in half. The hybrid-electric design is unlike fully electric models from Joby, Archer, Lilium, and EHang, but it gives the X7 a greater range, speed, and useful load than all of them. Among those firms, only Lilium is designing a seven-seater.

“A machine that will do useful work over [31 miles] will probably have a max range on the order of [62 miles] or more, because it must get to its destination, perhaps facing unforecasted headwinds, maybe diverting around bad weather, and then be able to abort a landing and head to an alternate landing area,” Robinson said in a 2021 Q&A with eVTOL Insights. “This requires a lot of energy—more than many purely electric designs will be able to practically handle.”

In that same interview, Robinson characterized Horizon’s design as a “normal” aircraft with eVTOL capabilities, rather than an eVTOL with some features of a traditional airplane.

For now, Horizon will continue to test its half-scale X5 prototype, which it believes will reduce risk when the time comes to develop full-scale X7 models. Already, the company said the design has garnered “significant interest” within the aviation industry. It also cited the new model as the catalyst for securing a handful of Canadian grants and a Department of Defense research and development contract.

In August, Horizon announced its plans to go public via a business combination with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Pono Capital Three, about two and a half years after it exited stealth.

Since February, the company has been receiving development and type certification support for the X5 from Cert Center Canada (3C), a Transport Canada-approved, independent flight test and certification design approval organization. 3C has provided certification planning, design consulting, training, flight testing, and airworthiness approval services.

Robinson in the 2021 Q&A said production of the X5 would begin in 2024 and focus on low-volume manufacturing in order to refine the design and enable scale in the future at a lower cost. So far, no timeline has been announced for the new X7.

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The post Horizon Aircraft Announces Plans for 7-Seat Hybrid eVTOL appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The company last week announced it secured an undisclosed investment from climate technology fund Statkraft Ventures to support the development and commercialization of its production aircraft, which is expected to require just 150 feet of takeoff and landing space.

Statkraft, a venture capital fund focused on sustainable energy transition, is committed to decarbonizing transportation by investing in emerging technologies that reduce emissions and will bolster Electra’s efforts to launch as soon as 2028.

“Statkraft brings a deep commitment to supporting companies and technologies that reduce emissions and address the threat of climate change,” said John Langford, founder and CEO of Electra. “We are honored to have Statkraft on our team and look forward to learning from their insight and experience.”

Concurrently, Electra said it has now signed and fully executed its partnership with the U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX innovation division. The agreement will award the startup a Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) worth up to $85 million and support development and testing of its full-scale, preproduction prototype, which the Air Force will use to validate requirements and operational use cases.

The STRATFI deepens Electra’s relationship with Agility Prime, a subdivision of AFWERX dedicated to emerging lift technologies. It also builds on the firm’s six active Air Force Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Phase II and III contracts. Those agreements allowed Electra to mature its eSTOL’s hybrid-electric powertrains, blown-lift aerodynamics and acoustics, flight controls, and other features.

In June, Electra unveiled its full-scale, hybrid-electric technology demonstrator, which is expected to begin flying this summer, a year later than originally planned. While the demonstrator features two seats, the company’s full-scale production model will carry up to nine passengers and a pilot, or up to a 2,500-pound payload.

The full-scale design will be built for operations from soccer field-sized spaces. It achieves this through a technology called blown-lift: Eight electric propellers mounted under the leading edge of the aircraft’s fixed wings direct slipstream flows back over the wing into large flaps and ailerons. This directs the flows downward, giving the aircraft enough lift for STOL from runways as short as 150 feet—despite its 9,000-pound weight.

For power, the design’s engine relies on a hybrid-electric powertrain with internal battery-charging capabilities, eliminating the need for ground infrastructure. It is expected to have a 400 nm range and a top cruise speed of 175 knots, creating just 75 dBA of noise when flying at 300 feet—that’s around the volume of a typical vacuum cleaner.

Electra’s aircraft will fly short regional routes in both urban and remote locations, offering a quicker, eco-friendly alternative to road trips. It will occupy the same spaces as vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) air taxi services such as Joby Aviation and Lilium. But the company claims its aircraft will deliver more than twice the payload and 10 times the range of “vertical alternatives,” while operations will cost 70 percent less.

In addition to passenger transport and on-demand urban air mobility services, the startup expects its aircraft to handle cargo logistics, executive transport, humanitarian aid, disaster response, and a variety of other use cases.

To certify it, Electra is working with the FAA’s Center for Emerging Concepts and Innovation (CECI) and its Atlanta Aircraft Certification Office to define specific plans, checklists, and safety considerations. 

But unlike many eVTOL aircraft, Electra’s design has no tilting wings and rotors and no hover or transition phase, charting a simpler path to certification. The goal is to certify it as a multiengine, Level 3, low-speed airplane under FAA Part 23. And to fly it, Electra expects pilots will only need a standard fixed-wing license.

An initial prototype of Electra’s production aircraft is planned to fly in 2025. FAA certification is expected to follow in 2028, two years later than the original target.

“We are excited to partner with Electra as they are leading the change towards more sustainable aviation,” said Alexander Kueppers, managing director at Statkraft. “Their visionary approach and groundbreaking technology to electrify aircraft, reducing operating costs and emissions at the same time, align perfectly with Statkraft Ventures’ mission to support innovative startups that drive the transition to a low-carbon economy.”

The Norwegian venture capital firm’s funding will add to a January 2022 investment by aviation titan Lockheed Martin. Electra has also seen a growing number of preorders, with commitments for over 1,200 deliveries to more than 30 global customers, including existing operators and new entrants.

At launch, Electra has agreements to fly in the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Australia, among other locations. It ranked 25th on the most recent AAM Reality Index from SMG Consulting, which assesses the funding, leadership, technology, certification, and production capabilities of AAM manufacturers.

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That’s the mission of hybrid electric propulsion systems provider Ampaire, which last week announced the acquisition of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft manufacturer Talyn Air in a bid to enter the defense, drone, and VTOL markets.

The companies chose not to disclose the terms of the deal. But Ampaire said it will inherit “substantially all of the assets of Talyn,” which include trade secrets, patents, and, perhaps most importantly, seven defense contracts for which it has sole-source follow-on rights.

 Talyn co-founders Jamie Gull and Evan Mucasey will stay on with Ampaire as advisers.

“[Hybrid electric propulsion is] a small industry of people who have very aligned visions for the future, who are trying to take this novel technology set and apply it in meaningful and exciting ways to do something really good for the world,” Kevin Noertker, co-founder and CEO of Ampaire, told FLYING. “That is a core alignment between the organizations and has been for the last four years as we’ve been building companies side by side.”

Provider of Choice

Launched seven years ago in a suburb of Los Angeles, Ampaire has enjoyed a relationship with Talyn since its founding in 2019, when the eVTOL maker was still in the Y Combinator startup accelerator. During that time, Noertker became friendly with Gull, and the two still talk frequently.

Having now flown 19,000 miles with its hybrid electric systems, Ampaire has no plans to build its own aircraft with Talyn’s technology. Rather, it plans to leverage the patents and contracts it acquired to add its systems to VTOL aircraft, in addition to the Cessna and de Havilland aircraft it already retrofits.

Noertker anticipates a large hybrid electric market developing for VTOL, an industry that already features several decarbonized players. His hope is for Ampaire to become the go-to propulsion systems firm for both conventional and emerging aircraft.

“This is about positioning Ampaire so that we are the provider of choice across all of those,” he said.

That wasn’t always the plan. According to Noertker, Ampaire at first had eyes only for conventional takeoff and landing models. That market, he thought, would drive more customers to the company.

“And frankly, I think that’s the strongest way to decarbonize the breadth of aviation, which is at the core of what we want to do,” he said.

However, as the years passed and VTOL innovation skyrocketed, Noertker now believes a handful of markets are ripe for VTOL operations. Though he anticipates passenger services will remain niche for the next few years, he sees applications for defense and cargo delivery in the near term.

“I definitely think eVTOL is there and will endure as a meaningful segment to the industry, which is partially why we’re so excited about this opportunity here,” Noertker said.

Since VTOL is still a niche market, Ampaire’s near-term focus will continue to be conventional aircraft. But the company plans to begin tapping into the VTOL market by leveraging Talyn’s assets in more ways than one.

Patents Present New Pathways

Ampaire received a heap of intellectual property in the deal, including trade secrets, engineering strategies, and other internal data. But the most intriguing acquisition is that of Talyn’s seven patents.

Noertker wouldn’t get into specifics, but the patents cover two main categories: the staged architecture of Talyn’s eVTOL and in-air recharging.

Unique among eVTOL manufacturers, Talyn’s design is akin to Virgin Galactic’s space tourism service, which uses a lift vehicle to ferry a second vehicle containing passengers to a launch point 45,000 feet off the ground. 

Talyn doesn’t quite reach those heights. But the architecture is similar: A wheeled lift vehicle launches vertically, bringing a second cruise vehicle into the sky with it. In the air, the two separate, and the cruise vehicle flies on its own. Then, while still airborne, it can pair up with another lift vehicle, attach itself autonomously, and hover back to the ground.

According to Noertker, Ampaire already has several customers interested in Talyn’s lift architecture, which could one day be used as a launch platform for other eVTOL aircraft. That is not yet the company’s focus, but the lift vehicle adds another potential layer of infrastructure for electric aviation.

Similarly, Noertker views in-air charging as a “frontier opportunity.” He doesn’t expect that feature to appear in the firm’s commercially available Eco Caravan. Before that happens, Ampaire needs to electrify more aircraft.

But the company may soon begin exploring the ability to install charging systems on board aircraft. Like Talyn’s launch platform, Noertker believes in-air charging could be part of the “next generation of functionality” in aviation, another piece of infrastructure for Ampaire to pursue as the industry decarbonizes.

A Growing Collection of Contracts

Since its founding, much of Talyn’s work has come in the form of defense contracts, and Ampaire will inherit seven of them.

Among others, Talyn contracted with the Naval Air Systems Command, the U.S. Air Force’s 621st Contingency Response Wing, and AFWERX, demonstrating launch, release, and close formation flight with a 12-foot subscale prototype of its two-segment eVTOL.

But per Noertker, one of Ampaire’s first tasks following the deal will be applying its hybrid electric systems to Talyn’s aircraft as part of a program with NASA. 

Another key acquisition will be the Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) contract Talyn had with AFWERX’s Agility Prime, the vertical lift division of the Air Force’s innovation arm. Talyn has already built an airframe for those trials and is adding onboard propulsion systems to initiate ground testing. Ampaire will take over when flight testing begins.

Despite his technology trading hands, Talyn CEO Gull is optimistic about the future of the company’s design. Gull continues to see interesting applications for the eVTOL, particularly in the defense space, and he believes Ampaire will carry the torch.

“Evan [Mucasey] and I started the company four years ago and worked really hard in getting this to where it was, getting U.S. government contracts, getting aircraft up flying at some scale, and building this big airframe,” Gull told FLYING. “We’re both stoked to see this continue on with Ampaire.”

Since Ampaire will continue to prioritize conventional aircraft, it may take awhile for Gull to see his aspirations come to fruition. But the deal clearly signals the company’s ambition to expand into markets such as VTOL, which may spend the next decade in infancy.

“What we’re doing is we’re repowering aviation,” Noertker said. “All of it—both the stuff that exists and the stuff that does not yet exist.”

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