e-flight-journal

Airtec has changed the location again in 2023 it will have its

exhibits at the Messe Augsburg

with an interesting – e-aviation conference

For more info – stay tunes.

Today on 13 October 2023 the Chinese regulator CAAC issued the type certificate to EHang EH216-S two-seat eVTOL in Beiijng, China. This is the first type certififcate issued to an eVTOL in the world, as well as the first type certificate issued to a pilotless passenger-carrying aircraft in the world.

The issurance ceremony was held in Beijing today

The director of the airworthness certification department of CAAC, Ms.Yang Zhenmei (left) passed the type certificate to the founder and CEO of EHang, Mr.Hu Huazhi (right)

According to the information released at the ceremony, EH216-S has a maximum design speed of 130km/h, maximum cruising speed of 90km/h, maximum takeoff weight of 620kg and service ceiling of 120m (AGL).

EHang applied for the certification to CAAC in 2020 and CAAC officially accepted the application in Feburary 2021 so it took about two and half years for EHang to obtain this type certificate. According to various sources, this certificate comes with some operational limits and EHang still needs go through some process before commercial operation. Thus many things still remain to be seen and it might be too early to say this is the success of EHang. Instead, this certificate might be just the beginning. Nevertheless the title of the world’s first certified pilotless eVTOL should be a good reason for EHang to celebrate at this moment.

Airbus, Autoflight, Lilium and Volocopter

Bavarian Minister Florian Herman opened the ÀAM forum in the Hangar of the Technical University and Hochschule Munich at the Oberpfaffenhofen Airfield. Key players like Rolls Royce, Volocopter, AutoFight, Lilium, Elektra Solar presented their progress in their projects as well as new startups like Vaeridion and Odonata.

H2FLY, the Stuttgart, Germany-based developer of hydrogen-electric powertrain systems for aircraft, announced on 7 September that it has successfully completed the world’s first piloted flight of an electric aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen.

The H2FLY team has completed four flights powered by liquid hydrogen as part of its flight test campaign, including one flight that lasted for over three hours. The flights were completed with H2FLY’s piloted HY4 demonstrator aircraft, fitted with a hydrogen-electric fuel cell propulsion system and cryogenically stored liquid hydrogen that powered the aircraft.

Results of the test flights indicate that using liquid hydrogen in place of gaseous hydrogen will double the maximum range of the HY4 aircraft from 750 km to 1,500 km, marking a critical step towards the delivery of emissions-free, medium- and long-haul commercial flights.

It is worth mentioning that H2FLY was acquired by the leading eVTOL company Joby in 2021.

The successful campaign marks a significant milestone for H2FLY, reflecting the extensive insights from the company’s research efforts. Moreover, it is the culmination of Project HEAVEN, a European-government-supported consortium assembled to demonstrate the feasibility of using liquid, cryogenic hydrogen in aircraft. The consortium is led by H2FLY and includes the partners Air Liquide, Pipistrel Vertical Solutions, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), EKPO Fuel Cell Technologies, and Fundación Ayesa.

Beside project HEAVEN, the work has been funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMVD), and The University of Ulm.

For more information please refer to: https://www.h2fly.de

How do you get out of the litigation with a competent competitor? Perhaps by turning it into a partner and, even better, a shareholder could be a winning situation. This is the result of the year-long legal battle between Archer and Wisk now wholly-owned by Boeing.

On 10 August 2023 Wisk Aero (“Wisk”) and Archer Aviation (“Archer”) , along with The Boeing Company (“Boeing”) which is the mother company of Wisk, announced that they have reached a settlement to resolve the federal and state court litigation between the parties on undisclosed terms. Simultaneously, the parties have entered into a collaboration that looks forward to the growth and development of the advanced air mobility industry. Archer has agreed to make Wisk its exclusive provider of autonomy technology for future variants of Archer’s aircraft. As part of the parties’ collaboration, Boeing is making an investment in Archer that will support the integration of Wisk’s autonomous technology in future variants of Archer’s aircraft.

With this solution Archer successfully closed the oversubscribed PIPE as part Of $215M investment round led By Stellantis; ARK & United Airline. United Airlines’ investment in the PIPE is its third time investing in Archer as it originally invested $25M in 2021 in connection with entering into its aircraft purchase agreement with Archer for up to $1.5B worth of aircraft and just last year made a $10M pre-delivery payment for the first 100 of those aircraft

In addition to ARK Investment Management LLC (“ARK”) and United Airlines, the oversubscribed PIPE financing includes participation from an impressive roster of existing and new investors, including The Boeing Company (“Boeing”) and Ken Moelis, through a related investment vehicle

The PIPE investment combined with the $70M that Stellantis accelerated as part of its investment in this round under the January 2023 strategic funding agreement will bring Archer’s aggregate funding to over $1.1B to date.

On 9 August 2023 the British eVTOL startup Vertical Aerospace filed a K-6 form to the Securities and Exchang Commission (SEC) revealing an accident involved with its VX4 eVTOL prototype.

According to the filing, VX4 had an accident on Wednesday August 9, 2023 during flight testing at its Flight Test Centre at Cotswold Airport, UK. The aircraft was remotely piloted and there were no injuries.
 
Vertical Aerospace stated in the filing that the flight test programme is designed to establish the limits of the aircraft’s performance, and the incident occurred during an uncrewed test of the aircraft’s maneuverability during a motor failure test scenario, which is a key requirement to progress to crewed operations. They are working closely with the relevant authorities.

VX4 prototype of Vertical Aerospace

Ther American eVTOL startup Archer announced that it has significantly expanded its partnership with the DoD by signing new contracts with the U.S. Air Force with a total value of up to $142 million including the delivery of up to six of Archer’s Midnight aircraft to the Air Force, the sharing of additional flight test data and certification related test reports, pilot training, and the development of maintenance and repair operations.

According to Archer, this is the largest contract of the U.S. Air Force’s „Agility Prime“ program as of today. Archer has been partnering with the DoD since 2021 on a series of projects through the U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX program with the goal of helping the AFWERX Agility Prime program assess the transformational potential of the vertical flight market and eVTOL technologies for DoD purposes. Now, with Archer recently completing the manufacturing of its first Midnight aircraft, the DoD recognizes that with its vertical takeoff and landing capabilities, target payload of approximately 1,000lbs, proprietary electric powertrain system, and low noise profile, Archer’s aircraft represents a potential paradigm shift in military aviation and operations. These aircraft hold the promise of enhancing rapid response, agility, and operational effectiveness across a wide range of mission profiles, from personnel transport and logistics support to rescue operations and more. Archer’s Midnight aircraft are expected to provide a safer and quieter alternative to helicopters while being more cost-effective for the U.S. military to transport, operate and maintain in the field.