Boeing and Kitty Hawk Launch eVTOL Joint Venture Wisk

Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft start-up Kitty Hawk formalized its partnership with Boeing late on Monday, announcing the formation of a joint venture called Wisk. The new company is primarily focused on bringing Kitty Hawk’s Cora eVTOL to market, although the partners have yet to confirm a timeline for the program.

The formation of the Wisk joint venture comes just over five months after Boeing and Kitty Hawk announced they would work together on eVTOL developments. No details have been released about the breakdown of equity ownership in Wisk or whether Boeing will be providing further funding for the company.

However, the composition of Wisk’s board suggests that Boeing is the senior partner in a company launched in March 2010 by Google founder Larry Page and v-p Sebastian Thrun. Gary Gysin, president and CEO of Boeing autonomous marine vehicle subsidiary Liquid Robotics, has been appointed president and CEO of Wisk. His fellow directors include Steve Nordlund (Boeing NeXt v-p and general manager), Logan Jones (Boeing Horizon X v-p), David Estrada (chief legal and policy officer of autonomous delivery vehicle developer Nuro), and Thrun (who has been CEO of Kitty Hawk).

Flight testing of Cora—a two-seat, all-electric autonomous aircraft with a range of up to around 60 miles—has been under way in New Zealand since early 2017.

SkyNRG Encourages Business Aviation To ‘Board Now’

Dutch aviation fuel provider SkyNRG has launched a program to help cover the costs of its planned sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant to be built in Delfzijl in the Netherlands. Known as Board Now, it will ensure a market for its SAF while offering companies the opportunity to lower their business aviation travel CO₂ emissions through committing to five years of SAF off-take purchases from the company’s DSL-01 plant. Expected to be operational in 2022, it will be Europe’s first dedicated SAF production facility, and while the bulk of its fuel production will be claimed by partner airline KLM, SkyNRG expects to have the facility’s remaining capacity reserved through Board Now by the end of 2020.

Organizations that join the program, such as launch partners PwC Netherlands and Skyscanner, commit to off-take and pay the premium of a self-determined volume of SAF out of the DSL-01 facility.

“PwC is doing everything in its power to reduce its own business air travel emissions substantially,” said PwC Netherlands board member Renate de Lange, who added that use of SAF can deliver a CO₂ reduction of at least 85 percent compared to conventional jet fuel. “With our commitment to SkyNRG, we strengthen our strategy for sustainable business travel and we believe that this is a very important step toward sustainable flying.”

Australia ADS-B Mandates Loom

Two temporary exemptions allowing more time for some aircraft operators in Australia to equip with ADS-B avionics expire next year. This means anyone relying on currently approved exemptions to continue to fly without ADS-B capability will need to reapply. The Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) emphasized that these exemptions “will not be extended, so any aircraft not fitted with ADS-B [or a new exemption] will have to fly by visual flight rules only.”

The ADS-B transmitting equipment mandates have been progressively implemented in Australia since 2007. The final mandate, requiring all aircraft operating under IFR to be equipped with 1090-MHz extended squitter ADS-B, took effect on Feb. 2, 2017.

The first exemption, for Australian-registered aircraft, expires on Jan. 1, 2020, and the second exemption, for foreign-registered aircraft, expires on June 6, 2020. The latter expiration date coincides with Europe’s ADS-B deadline.

CASA said any aircraft in breach of the mandates “that are not operating under an exemption may incur a fine for noncompliance.” An application for an ADS-B exemption will incur a regulatory fee and will “only be granted in extenuating circumstances and where an acceptable safety case is provided.”

Operators who receive new exemptions are subject to several limitations, including non-ADS-B-equipped aircraft must have been manufactured before Feb. 6, 2014 and covered aircraft must be operated below 10,000 feet msl.

IHSF Launches Sixth Annual Safety Survey

The International Helicopter Safety Foundation (IHSF) has begun its sixth annual global survey of civil helicopter operators. The IHSF will use the results to understand where safety initiatives are being implemented—both geographically and by industry segment.

Last year's analysis of 1,000 helicopter accidents pointed to eight leading areas to improve safety: structured maintenance programs that fully comply with manufacturer recommended practices; structured programs for initial and recurrent training; safety management systems; flight data monitoring; wire strike kits; manual and health and usage monitoring systems; and using night vision systems when warranted, the organization said.

Data from last year’s survey showed that best safety practices were most widely implemented by offshore, air ambulance, and law enforcement operators, and least implemented by electronic newsgathering and private operators, IHSF added.

FAA Publishes Draft AC for Onboard Sleeping Areas

Having flight-crew sleeping quarters and rest areas in airplanes on flights scheduled for more than 10 hours during any consecutive 24 hours is a requirement for Part 135 operations. To provide guidance on FAA-acceptable means of compliance for sleeping areas, the agency has published draft Advisory Circular 120-FMRF.

This AC recognizes that the nonstop endurance and range of certain large airliners and business jets have increased considerably since Sept. 30, 1994, the last date a similar AC was published.

The draft AC explains that a rest area is designed for “obtaining sleep, stowing personal articles, and changing clothes in privacy for off-duty flightcrew.” The sleeping quarters may be an integral part of a rest facility or a separate space. In either case, the sleeping quarters “should be in a location where intrusive noise, odors, and vibration have minimum effect on sleep.” A noise level during cruise flight in the range of 70 to 75 dBA is considered a “reasonable design objective.”

Further, the draft AC recommends a minimum of 35 cu ft of space per individual for sleeping, 65 cu ft of free space for changing of clothes; and 78 by 30 inches for each sleeping surface. Comments on draft AC 120-FMRF are due December 23.

Ryan Unveils Upgraded VR Helo Sim

Australia’s Ryan Aerospace launched its Helimod Mark III Plus helicopter simulator on Monday at the Interservice Industry Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) in Orlando, Florida. The new device is similar to the Helimod Mark III VR (virtual reality) model already in use with customers, including the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and Australian Navy, but adds full active control loading in the cyclic, collective, and pedal controls. Like the standard Helimod Mark III, the cyclic and collective controls are interchangeable between aircraft type.

Company managing director Chris Ryan said the new model “provides an even greater level of realism and configurability but in a cost-effective way” and gives customers and users “more control over how the helicopter controls feel and react, offering greater realism but at a much more appealing price-point. The control loading system is of high quality and comes with all of the software and hardware that allows you to tweak a variety of parameters until such time the desired 'control feel' is achieved.”

A number of partners contributed to the Mark III Plus, including SASimulations, which integrated Apache and Black Hawk flight models, and Bohmia Interactive, for the VBS Blue image generator. Varjo provided the head-mounted display that delivers 60 pixels per degree—the equivalent of 20/20 vision. Electric D-Box actuators were integrated into the device to provide motion and vibration cues.

AMAC Sees Influx of Completions, Mx Projects

AMAC Aerospace has seen a recent influx of maintenance and completions projects on aircraft ranging from Airbus and Boeing narrowbody aircraft to Bombardier Globals, the Basel, Switzerland-based MRO provider and completions center announced today. In all, the company has secured work on four privately-owned Boeing 737s, three Airbus A319s, and a Bombardier Global 5000 and 6000.

The first of four Boeing 737s will arrive in the next few weeks for a pre-purchase inspection. It will be joined by a 737 needing a base maintenance check and another scheduled for A1 and B1 due maintenance. A fourth 737 is slated to arrive in February for a C3 check. On that airplane, AMAC also will carry out a landing gear overhaul, installation of ADS-B Out and future air navigation system (FANS), and a partial cabin refurbishment.

For the three A319s, one will receive six- and 18-month due maintenance, arriving before year-end. A second one arriving just after the new year will receive Ka-band satcom connectivity, while a third A319 will undergo 1A, 2A, and 1C checks, as well as receive ADS-B Out and FANS.

A Global 5000 that received major maintenance in October has returned to its facility for a cabin refurbishment, while a Global 6000 is slated for cabin interior work, AMAC said.

Jet Aviation’s Paddock To Become Next Chair of GAMA

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) named its 2020 executive leadership with Jet Aviation Group president David Paddock stepping in as chairman. Currently GAMA’s vice chair, Paddock will succeed this year’s chairman, Gulfstream Aerospace president Mark Burns. Meanwhile, Burns will remain on the Executive Committee as the immediate past chair.

Nicolas Chabbert, Daher’s senior v-p for aircraft, is the incoming vice chairman. He previously has chaired the association's Safety and Accident Investigation committee.

Additionally, GAMA has created a European Leaders Steering committee, naming Luxaviation chief technical officer David Van Den Langenbergh to head the new panel. Comprising senior executives from GAMA’s European members, the committee will be tasked with providing strategic guidance for GAMA’s collaboration with European institutions and stakeholders. It further will focus on initiatives to foster the general aviation sector in Europe, in addition to working to enhance aviation safety.

Tomorrow’s Aviation Challenges

AIN is developing a 14-part series of articles and infographics that speak to “Tomorrow’s Aviation Challenges.” Drawing on the knowledge base of experts at Honeywell Aerospace, AIN will explore a variety of topics over the coming weeks, including safety in the world of autonomous flight, harnessing the power of big data, beyond the 2020 ADS-B mandate, and reducing pilot fatigue to increase productivity and safety.

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