The Future Is Electric and Vertical

Emerging electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft “will not only revolutionize vertical flight, but society as a whole," Mike Hirschberg, executive director of the Vertical Flight Society, predicted yesterday during an eVTOL session at Heli-Expo. He cited a confluence of regulatory, technological, and industrial developments that he thinks makes this the right time for eVTOLs, including the trend toward performance-based regulations, advances in electric motors, batteries, computer models and simulations, and increased investment in technology.

At present, Hirschberg said there are no less than 155 different eVTOLs under development. And, he noted, the timetable set by Uber Elevate is not unreasonable—eVTOL prototype aircraft flying by next year with commercial service beginning as early as 2023. 

Citing data from the investment bank Goldman Sachs, NASA, and Uber, Bell v-p of Innovation Scott Drennan said the global rideshare market will grow from $36 billion in 2016 to $285 billion in 2030, with the potential for 750 million urban aerial passenger trips across 15 major cities by 2030. Further, this data suggests the global market could support 900 to 1,500 air taxis as early as 2025 and that it would support 9,000 to 12,000 by 2035.

And Airbus v-p of urban air mobility Zach Lovering predicted the demand for eVTOLs would soar as ground congestion throughout the globe continued to worsen.

HAI Head: ADS-B Clock Ticking for Helo Operators

With the deadline for the FAA’s ADS-B equipage mandate just nine months away, HAI president and CEO Matt Zuccaro is concerned about the rotorcraft industry’s adoption rate for the technology. He noted a recent report issued by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) that analyzed the equipage rates among the aviation segments and found the rotorcraft segment trailing. According to GAMA, just 30 percent of the U.S. helicopter fleet was equipped with ADS-B as of last month.

“I don’t see the rate of equipage that we would have liked,” Zuccaro told AIN this week at Heli-Expo. “There’s a couple of things that I think people have misconceptions on.” He explained that the FAA has made it clear that there will be no extension to its mandate deadline of Jan. 1, 2020. “So for all those out there, hoping they will extend it, you had better go to Plan B.”

A key issue for those who have delayed their installations is whether there will be enough equipment ready and technicians to install it in time to meet the deadline, said Zuccaro. He also noted that, in most cases, advances in products have dramatically reduced the cost of equipage since the mandate was announced, making the installation much more affordable.

Air Methods’ New Sim Represents Safety Progression

FlightSafety International and air ambulance operator Air Methods will add a level-D qualified Airbus EC145 flight simulator at the former's learning center in Denver, building off their long-term flight simulation agreement reached in 2014. The new simulator, expected to enter service early next year, will join more full-flight devices at the FlightSafety center that represent other models operated by Air Methods, including the Airbus AS350 B3, EC130T2, EC135, and Bell 407GX.

The new simulators, along with Air Methods' recent hiring of v-p of safety Joe Resnik, represents an advancement of the company’s focus on safety. “It’s a progression of the foundation we’ve worked to build,” Air Methods chief pilot Raj Helweg told AIN. “Our basic premise, from the operational side, is everybody needs to go home at night.” 

The addition of flight simulation at Air Methods has been a significant addition to its safety culture, he said, but it required FlightSafety to create simulators from scratch because none existed. “The AS350 is a great example,” he said. “They flew the aircraft in a number of different envelopes to reverse engineer the simulator from an aircraft we provided for them.” Since the initiation of the simulation training, about 85 percent of Air Methods’ rotorcraft pilots have trained on the simulators.

French Pilots Plan Circumnavigation in Guimbal Helo

French tech entrepreneur Corentin Larose plans to circumnavigate the world in 80 days, flying a two-seat Guimbal Cabri G2 beginning around June 19, he said Tuesday at Heli-Expo. Larose, who will be joined by copilot Samy Du-Dalt, said the route between the 28th and 71st parallels will take them across 16 countries and begin and end in Paris. 

If successful, the Skytrek tour would be the first circumnavigation by French helicopter pilots, and the first such flight by a two-seat, and French-made, helicopter, Larose said. “This is more of a world tour,” he said. “We are here to discover people, places, and things like that.” The estimated 70-leg journey will have stops that include an overnight stay in Canada’s Akpatok Island—whose inhabitants are mostly bears and wolves—and the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, he said. 

Their aircraft will be outfitted with an auxiliary fuel tank in the baggage hold, and Larose and Du-Dalt will be equipped with survival gear. Cost of the circumnavigation is estimated at $282,745, Larose said, sources of which are from him, a crowdfunding campaign, and in-kind donations from more than 13 partners and sponsors.

Cobham, Inmarsat Team on Helo Satcom

Cobham Aerospace Communications, in partnership with Inmarsat, launched an SB-Helo X-Stream helicopter satcom for Cobham Aviator SP systems, promising improved communication and reduced packet loss of up to 40 percent. The new satcom is designed to tackle issues with the transmission of data such as video imagery that stem from rotor interference.

Inmarsat and Cobham have conducted extensive testing on a protocol in network Quality of Service (QoS) selection that enhances Inmarsat’s L-band Swiftbroadband X-Stream service. The protocol allows data from rotary-wing aircraft to be transmitted to the Inmarsat satellite network via dedicated modulation schemes, the companies said, adding that the resiliency of the transmission will provide “an improvement in throughput of around 37 percent.”

A free software update will enable helicopters in remote locations to transmit a significantly improved video or data stream, they noted, saying this is particularly important for missions such as search and rescue, medical evacuation, and military forces.

Willem Kasselman, the v-p of sales, marketing and support at Cobham Aerospace Communications, called the launch a breakthrough, “solving a long-standing problem in helicopter satcom communications. The partnership between Cobham Aerospace Communications and Inmarsat is an important one for us and we look forward to building on this announcement and expanding and improving other related services over the coming months.”

Kopter to Assemble SH09 Helicopter in Louisiana, USA

Startup helicopter manufacturer Kopter is close to finalizing the design of its all-composite, large cabin, single-engine SH09, and is already preparing for production at its headquarters in Mollis, Switzerland, as well as a newly announced facility in the United States.