A Chinese eVTOL startup named WEFLY annouced that they have closed angel financing of „several tens of millions USD“. The company claims that their team come from veteran OEM with FAA and EASA certification experiences. The company however does not reveal any aircraft design details in the annoucement except for indicating that they are working on a passenger-carrying eVTOL design. The following image which appears to be vertiport with a company logo is the only image disclosed by the company as of today.
Chinese eVTOL Startup Secured Investment
A Chinese eVTOL startup named Windrider annouced that they closed series A round of“several tens of millions RMB“ and has received total investment of „near 100 millions RMB (around 150mn USD)“ since setup.
The company has begun test flying a sub-scale model which, along with the conceptual design graphic, indicate that their eVTOL design has lift+cruise configuration.
Opening of the first DLR research center for unmanned aircraft in Magdeburg-Cochstedt
Reiner Haseloff, the Prime Minister of the German State Sachsen-Anhalt, opened the new DLR research center at the reopened regional Airport Magdeburg-Cochstedt.
H55 and BRM Aero presenting the b23 Energic at AERO 2022
H55 founder André Borschberg and BRM Aero CEO Milan Bristell presenting the full electric Energic in the hall A7 at AERO 2022.
French UL Association invites pilots a glass at the AERO 2022 at their booth B3 107 at the evening of the first show day Wednesday April 27th and invites to their Blois UL Meeting on September 2-4.
e-News at the AERO 2022 Media day
Michael Kügelgen of eMagicAircraft presenting his prototype to the media.
One day before the official opening of the first AERO Friedrichshafen since more than 2 years, several manufacturers featured their new developments on the AERO Media day. Most of the featured items are electric aircraft. The media tour was attended by over 60 Journalist from around the wold.
Matheu Parr of Rolls-Royce Electrical presenting a model of the Vertical Aerospace at E-flight-Expo @ Aero 2022
Electric fixed wing aircraft from Flight Design, Pipistrel ( Now part of Textron Aviation ) , Electra Solar, H55 as featured here.
Gregory Blatt from H55 infront of the BRM Energic
On their booth in the e-flight-expo hall 7, Rolls-Royce Electrical did show not only the H3PS hybrid-electrical research project, but also the drive train for the Vertical Aerospace eVTOL.
Two highlights did stick out: the eMagicOne eVTOL and the H2fly 4 seat fuel Cell aircraft definitely drew most of the journalists‘ attention.
And there are many more electric aircraft and detail solutions to be seen at the exhibits of the 634 AERO Exhibitors.
AERO & e-Flight-Expo Special Edition Now Online for FREE
As AERO–the largest general aviation trade show in Europe, and the first and the largest electric aviation trade show in the world–e-Flight-Expo–are going to take place from 27-30 April in Friedrichshafen, Germany, there are many exciting product releases and market development at the show after a two-year postpone due to the pandemic.
As the co-founder and co-organizer of e-Flight-Expo, we publish Aero and e-Flight-Expo special edition as usual and they are now online for FREE! Even better, they are available in English, German and Chinese lanuages. You can read it here: https://www.flying-pages.com/index.php?id=1462
We will report more show news on the ground and are looking forward to meetign you at our booth No.100 in hall A7–the begining of the „sustainable aviation trail“ or SAT at the show. For more information about AERO and e-flight-expo, please visit the official webpage: https://www.aero-expo.com/about-aero/aero-branches/e-flight-expo
The Norwegian electric aviation startup Elfly is designing an fully electric-powered amphibian flying boat and has received $1.8 million funding from the Research Council of Norway. The hull’s design is currently being tested at SINTEF ’s tow tank in Trondheim. The research that will provide data for the design of the optimal hull is a separate research project supported by Norway’s Regional Research Fund.
According to the CEO of Elfly Eric Lithun, the goal is to be able to offer flexible mobility in Norway, have zero emissions, significantly less noise pollution and develop new sustainable business models. The design goal is to fly 200km at about 250 km/hour. Lithun hopes that with this electric flying boat, the travel time from Bergen to Stavanger will be 40 minutes compared to four to five hours by car. Eventually the electric flying boat will able to fly from Bergen to Trondheim via a stopover in Molde, which will be noticeable from center to center and will beat all other options even with a stopover. Lithun believes that the main reason why seaplanes are not already widespread is because today’s aircraft have internal combustion engines that suck in oxygen and salt water that corrodes the engine which leads to sky-high maintenance costs to operate. By switching to electricity, this problem disappears.
A sub-scale RC model currently being used to test the hull design
The electric flying boat will have room for nine passengers, and Elfly will offer flights on a par with other commercial players. The goal of Elfly is to have 15 to 20 such flying boat in the air by 2030. In addition to passenger travel, the flying boat can also be used for freight transport, ambulance transport and premium flights where you can charter the entire aircraft. Lithun envisages that it can be used for exclusive electric plane safaris.
Pipistrel’s Nuuva V300 cargo drone received 15 orders
On 4 April 2022 Pipistrel and Lobo Leasing Limited, a global vertical lift leasing platform, signed a letter of intent with deposits for the acquisition of 15 Nuuva V300 autonomous VTOL cargo drone develoiped by Pipistrel.
As part of the agreement, Lobo leasing and Pipistrel will collaborate to build and connect a base of operators and investors, and by using Lobo’s existing global platform, deliver customer-driven bespoke leasing solutions to enhance the deployment of the Nuuva V300 aircraft in different types of missions globally.
NUUVA V300 cargo drone
The NUUVA V300 is a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAV for middle mile logistics with a 3 cubic meter capacity, and under favorable flight conditions, the vehicle can carry 460kg up to 400km. It is designed to operate 10x more economically than today’s helicopters, it requires no runways, and it brings enhanced safety and reliability using Pipistrel’s already type-certified electric engines.
Aviation Safety Resources (ASR) announced the acquisition of Pioneer Aerospace, a specialist of whole airframe emergency parachute recovery systems. ASR plans to rebrand Pioneer Aerospace to ASR-Pioneer. Pioneer Aerospace’s product line includes payload delivery deceleration equipment, recvery systems, and kits to support specialized programs ranging from aviation to space projects.
ASR hopes that the new company ASR-Pioneer will capture the growing eVTOL market and new light airplane models. In August 2020 Bye Aerospace, the developer of eFlyer series electric airplanes, signed up ASR for the deveopment of the whole aircraft parachute recovery systems.
A rendering graphic of the eFlyer 2 electric airplane of Bye Aerospace rescued by a whole airframe parachute system
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