Tecnam has partnered with Rolls-Royce to develop a nine-passenger eCTOL aircraft called the P-Volt, the Italian aircraft company announced on Oct. 23. The two companies are already collaborating on a hybrid-electric version of its four-seat Tecnam P2010 Traveller.
The article, “GoFly Teams Prepare to Fly Again,” in the Nov/Dec 2020 issue of Vertiflite, highlighted the 21 teams that came to the GoFly Final Fly Off on Feb. 29 and their status during the COVID-19 pandemic. As expected, GoFly announced its approach to continue the competition on Nov. 12: “Given the global pandemic, GoFly has adjusted its format to reflect this new normal. While the Grand Prize remains $1,000,000, we will now provide for an individual team demonstration rather than a large event gathering.
In December, Miami, Florida-based Varon Vehicles hosted a virtual summit called “Skyscraper 2020: The requirements for Urban Air Mobility for Latin America.” Varon Vehicles is supporting the AAM ecosystem to bring together global stakeholders to work on the unique requirements for Latin America, targeted towards implementation of its disruptive infrastructure networks, beginning in Columbia.
Airbus Helicopters moved its four-seat CityAirbus eVTOL demonstrator at the end of August from its plant in Donauwörth 35 miles (55 km) east to its development test center at Ingolstadt-Manching Airfield, both north of Munich in Southern Germany.
On Nov. 30, Bedfordshire, UK-based Samad Aerospace announced the successful electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) first flight of its half-scale e-Starling prototype. The aircraft flew at 90 mph (145 km/h) for five minutes, setting the groundwork for eVTOL tests flights in 2021.
Sydney, Australia-based AMSL Aero was founded in June 2017 by Andrew Moore (AM) and Siobhan Lyndon (SL). The group has flown 1/5-scale models and has now unveiled its full-scale eVTOL tilt-propeller demonstrator.
In October, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced the first Unmanned Civil Aviation Experimental Zones (UCAEZs) to promote China’s global leadership in developing an unmanned civil aviation industry. The list of UCAEZs covers as many as 13 cities, including Hezhou (shown), Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Zigong, Anyang, Nanjing, Tianjin, Yulin, Shenyang, Dongying, Anqing and Ganzhou.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government co-hosted an event with the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) on Nov. 11 to highlight AAM in Korea. Guangzhou, China-based EHang brought six examples of its two-seat EH216 autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) and conducted unmanned flights of the 1,435-lb (650-kg) eVTOL, according to Yonhap News Agency. In addition, Korean industrial giants Hyundai and Hanwha displayed one-third-scale models of their vectored-thrust eVTOL designs.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Civil Aviation Authority Singapore (CAAS) announced on Dec. 4 that they had updated their bilateral agreement to facilitate CAAS validation of EASA aircraft type certifications. This amendment allows the two regulators to “collaborate on facilitating aviation innovations, such as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
Bruchsal, Germany-based Volocopter GmbH has continued pushing forward with its two-seat, 18-propeller multicopter eVTOL since the “roll-out” of its first production model, the VC 2-1 VoloCity on Sept. 30. On Oct. 28, the company announced a cooperative effort with Lufthansa Industry Solutions to build Volocopter’s proprietary intelligent and integrated “Urban Air Mobility [UAM] Software Platform,” called VoloIQ (shown), which will run on Microsoft Azure.
