Reading time: 5 minutes
While fortunately many companies are investing in building fully electric aircraft, there are still unanswered questions about their operational capabilities.
Manufacturers publish numbers about the projected range in a straight line. However, when an aircraft has a range of – for example – 700 kilometers, doesn't mean that there can be 700 kilometers between departure and arrival.
Fuel requirements are one of the main reasons for limiting the practical range. Even when there is no fuel on board.
Reading time: 4 minutes
The word “autonomous” is increasingly making it's way into aviation vocabulary. Often in relation to drones or (e)VTOL aircraft with the capability to fly without a pilot on board. Thereby lowering the costs of operating these aircraft.
While lowering the operational costs is a popular argument for autonomous flying, it is not the one this article will discuss. When it comes to operational flexibility and the accessibility of airports in relation to Regional Air Mobility (RAM), autonomous technologies have other benefits as well.
Reading time: 4 minutes
There is one development in sustainable aviation that keeps drawing my attention: electric seaplanes.
It’s probably because I have always learned not to keep anything electric close to the bathtub that this combination keeps surprising me. Fortunately, there is an increasing number of entrepreneurs that has been able to look past this childish experience and has started to develop fully electric seaplanes.
Reading time: 5 minutes
The first ever certified electrical aircraft, the Pipistrel Velis Electro, has been flying commercially for over a year now. And I am lucky enough to say that I have been it for over a year as well.
Obviously, some things are different on that aircraft. Before you get in you'll probably see a charging connected to the nose. And after opening the hatch that would normally give you access to the oil dip stick, you'll see a hose with purple battery coolant. Once inside there are less buttons and the engine start checklist is much shorter than usual. Which also applies to the run up. You'll get from ramp to runway in no time.
These differences during the normal procedures make flying the aircraft easier and safer. A real improvement. However, the most interesting differences can be found in the emergency procedures section of the Pilot Operating Handbook (POH). This article will discuss the differences in emergency procedures between the electrical Velis and regular piston aircraft.
Reading time: 4 minutes
When looking at the news and social media we can all see that aviation is changing. Fortunately. Manufacturers show fancy designs of what aircraft will look like in the future. With wings blended into the rest of the airframe and many small engines. Which are mostly electrical. Many with multiple vertical stabilizers instead of the singular that we are used to. Also airports will look different. They will be equipped with futuristic looking vertiports to facilitate the autonomously flying Urban Aerial Vehicles.
To facilitate all these visual changes, things that you cannot see need to change as well. For example the flight rules that all flying objects must follow. During the first century of flight Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) where created to safely facilitate the increase in air traffic and the operational possibilities of flying.
Now, on the brink of the second century of aviation, the existing rules of the air are not sufficient to facilitate future developments. To make new concepts like Regional Air Mobility (RAM) and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) work, we need a new concept for Air Traffic Management (ATM). Fortunately, the invisible world is about to change too.
Reading time: 4 minutes
Many exciting developments in aviation are based on the concept of Regional Air Mobility (RAM). A potential market that creators of both battery electric and hydrogen electric aircraft are trying to conquer.
So, what is this new type of aviation?
Reading time: 5 minutes
For a brief moment it looked like the oil crisis of the 1970s paved the way for electric aviation to emerge. In October 1973, the first ever electric aircraft took off in Austria. Managing to stay in the air for fourteen minutes.
But that was about it...
This page is about the future of aviation and the technologies and operating models that will shape this future. Developments often start by implementing these technologies on the smallest aircraft. The electrification of aviation began two years ago with the two-seater Pipistrel Velis Electro. And the electric aircraft we will see in the coming decade will have a passenger capacity closer to the Pipistrel than to a 737.
The same goes for that other pillar of progress: digitization. The first fully autonomous flights are carried out by Cessna Caravans, and the next biggest challenge in Air Traffic Management will be integrating small unmanned vehicles into the airspace.
These developments show that something bigger is happening in aviation.