The manufacturer has begun ground testing a new, more advanced full-scale prototype of its flagship VX4 air taxi after an initial prototype was damaged during an uncrewed flight test last year.

A failed pylon affected the way the aircraft’s flight control system communicated with its motors, causing it to tumble from about 30 feet in the air onto the runway at Cotswold Airport (EGBP) in the U.K.

Vertical’s latest prototype air taxi is more powerful, capable of reaching 150 mph—the intended cruise speed for its flagship model—courtesy of an improved power-to-weight ratio. It features new propellers, which were developed prior to last year’s crash, and proprietary battery technology manufactured at a dedicated facility in Bristol.

Sixty percent of the aircraft’s technology and components come from suppliers including Honeywell, Leonardo, GKN Aerospace, Hanwha, and Molicel, compared to 10 percent on the first prototype. The company is also developing an identical prototype.

The new aircraft and its systems have been tested and commissioned, and Vertical has already completed initial ground testing, including propeller balancing and spinning tests that measure the weight distribution of each blade. The next step will be powered propulsion system testing of the air taxi’s powertrain and battery packs, during which the engines will be run while the vehicle is anchored. 

After that, Vertical will need to secure a permit to fly from the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which will allow it to move to the “wheels up” phase: crewed testing of tethered aircraft and low-speed untethered flights. It will also need to perform thrustborne, wingborne, and transition flights, demonstrating that the aircraft can maneuver and gain lift as expected.

The manufacturer’s type certification safety target is the same as that for commercial airliners. Its flagship model will enable a pilot to fly as many as four passengers up to 100 sm (87 nm) while producing zero operating emissions and just 50 dBA of noise during cruise, which the company says allows it to fit seamlessly within an urban soundscape. The firm claims it will be capable of flying from Miami to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in only 11 minutes.

Despite suffering a crash, Vertical continues to receive support from the U.K. government, which in February awarded it $10 million to develop its next-generation propellers. The allocation brings the manufacturer’s total U.K. government grant funding received to $47 million

Vertical founder Stephen Fitzpatrick also committed $50 million to the company, which he predicted would keep it liquid through mid-2025. The money will be used to support the aircraft testing and certification process, which the manufacturer hopes to complete by the end of 2026.

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The DfT on Monday released the Future of Flight action plan: a joint blueprint created by industry and government stakeholders that aims to get eVTOL air taxis, crime-fighting drones, and emergency service UAS flying routinely by 2028.

The document seeks to ensure the proper regulations and infrastructure are in place to open the country’s skies to quiet, sustainable aircraft, providing guidance for the next five years.

“Aviation stands on the cusp of its next, potentially biggest, revolution since the invention of the jet engine,” said Sophie O’Sullivan, head of future safety and innovation for the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). “Drones, eVTOL, and other different vehicles have the potential to change transportation options forever.”

Drones are already being deployed by U.K. groups such as the West Midlands Police and Medical Logistics U.K. In just a few short years, they’ve demonstrated the ability to identify suspicious subjects and reduce travel time between hospitals by up to 70 percent. Meanwhile, air taxi models under development are expected to begin flying passengers in the coming years.

A study conducted by the DfT estimates that drone technology alone could boost the U.K. economy by 45 billion pounds—or about $57 billion—by the end of the decade.

“Drones help professional teams capture data from the sky in a safer, cheaper, smarter, and greener way, and, in the future, they will help transport cargo and people,” said Anne-Lise Scaillierez, CEO of the Association of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems UK (ARPAS-UK), a drone trade association.

The DfT plan predicts the first piloted flying taxi will take to the skies in 2026, with regular service following by 2028 and the first autonomous eVTOL demos by 2030. Regular drone deliveries are anticipated by 2027.

Anthony Browne—the U.K.’s aviation and technology minister, who on Monday is due to visit Bristol-based eVTOL air taxi manufacturer Vertical Aerospace—said the plan will make the country a leader of an approaching “dramatic shift in transportation.”

“Cutting-edge battery technology will revolutionize transport as we know it—this plan will make sure we have the infrastructure and regulation in place to make it a reality,” said Browne.

The CAA, which has already begun the authorization process for Vertical’s VX4 air taxi, will provide regulatory support for the Future of Flight plan and ensure new aircraft comply with the safety standards for traditional models. The agency figures to be a crucial stakeholder in the industry’s near-term development.

“The UK has a long heritage in aerospace, and the publication of this plan sets out how we will lead the next revolution of flight,” said  Stephen Fitzpatrick, founder and CEO of Vertical. “With government and business working together, we can unleash the huge economic, environmental, and social benefits of zero emissions flight globally.”

Among other things, the action plan calls for rules that would permit beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone flights, allowing the sector to grow without interfering with other aircraft. It also encourages engagement with communities and local authorities and the creation of standards to improve drone security. Drone operators would have access to new digital platforms, which could minimize the red tape associated with getting them in the air quickly.

The plan further sets out how smaller aerodromes could serve as vertiports for eVTOL aircraft, including the development vertiport certification standards. Crucially, it calls for stakeholders to study how existing infrastructure could be used to establish vertiports quickly but safely.

In the coming months, the DfT and its partners will conduct a series of trials to explore BVLOS drone flights and demonstrate electric aircraft, with the aim of minimizing accidents. The trials may include finding and repairing faults on railways, assisting emergency services, or using air taxis to create new connections across the U.K.

The action plan was released before the fifth meeting of the Future of Flight Industry Group: a joint force created in February 2023 to help government and industry leaders address key challenges. Members include air taxi manufacturers Vertical and Joby Aviation, operator Bristow Group, vertiport developer Skyports, and the U.K. National Air Traffic Service (NATS).

“The U.K. is home to one of the world’s most important aerospace industries and is in an ideal position to be a pioneer in the next era of aviation,” said Duncan Walker, CEO of Skyports and chairman of the Future of Flight Industry Group. “The government and industry have a joint commitment to support the development, industrialization and introduction of new aviation technologies. Continued collaboration will ensure that we capitalize on the significant domestic and international market opportunities presented.”

Parallels can be drawn between the Future of Flight plan and the FAA’s Innovate28: a blueprint also targeting widespread drone and air taxi operations by 2028.

Like the U.K. plan, Innovate28 proposes a “crawl-walk-run” approach to air taxi operations in the U.S., focusing on a near-term rollout in stages over the next five years. It also proposes heavy reliance on existing infrastructure to decrease complexity.

As in the U.K., U.S. air taxi services are likely to be niche early on, with flights limited mostly to narrow corridors. Drones, which are already used widely, are expected to expand with the implementation of rules for BVLOS flights, among other provisions.

Ultimately, Innovate28’s goal is for eVTOL air taxis to fly at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, by which time operations are expected to have scaled in major cities.

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The manufacturer last week said it received a $10 million grant from the U.K. government through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) program, its fourth grant award through that initiative. The award brings Vertical’s total U.K. government grant funding to $47 million and follows founder and CEO Stephen Fitzpatrick’s personal commitment to provide another $50 million.

The company will use the money to develop next-generation propellers for the VX4, its flagship, four-passenger eVTOL air taxi. The propellers will be featured on Aircraft Two, a full-scale prototype in production that will build on its Aircraft One model.

Aircraft One is the company’s inaugural prototype that suffered a crash during uncrewed testing at Cotswold Airport (EGBP) in August. The accident damaged the model’s right wing and landing gear, and rendered it unusable for further flight testing.

“This exciting sustainable propeller project is a fantastic example of our commitment to our world-leading aviation sector, supporting high-skilled, high-paid jobs across the U.K. while developing technologies of the future,” said Nusrat Ghani, U.K. minister of state for industry and economic security. “When government and industry collaborate like this, we help our aerospace sector soar to new heights, leading the charge towards net-zero air travel by 2050.”

Vertical will head a consortium of U.K. technology organizations and research institutions, including the University of Glasgow, University of Bristol, Cranfield University, and Helitune, a helicopter monitoring specialist.

Of the more than $25 million being poured into the propeller project, Vertical said it received more than $10 million, or about half of the company’s eligible development costs. Another $4.5 million will be awarded to other consortium members.

According to Vertical, the new propellers will be lower in weight, inertia, and noise than its existing propellers and will be “delivered to a higher safety standard than any model currently on the market.”

“The project will see advancements in rotor technologies vital to the success of eVTOL aircraft developed here in the U.K., growing knowledge, skills and capability in the process,” said Mark Scully, head of propulsion and advanced systems technology for ATI. “Through this investment the ATI Programme is enabling the development of ultra-efficient and cross-cutting technologies.”

The award follows Fitzpatrick’s commitment to support Vertical with $50 million out of his own pocket. The company last week confirmed it has entered into an investment agreement with its founder and CEO, putting the promise to paper.

By its own estimate, Vertical risked running out of cash by September amid the fallout from its August crash and delays to its certification timeline, which over the years has been pushed from 2024 to 2026. The company reportedly missed a target to raise funding by December. Its previous raise of $205 million closed more than two years ago.

However, Vertical said Fitzpatrick’s contribution will extend its cash runway into mid-2025, with more funding potentially lined up pending the completed flight test campaign of Aircraft Two. Last month, it said the full-scale prototype was nearing completion at partner GKN Aerospace’s Global Technology Center in the U.K.

Aircraft Two is expected to be Vertical’s certification aircraft that it will use in for-credit type certification testing with the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). In addition to the next-generation propellers, the updated design adds a revamped powertrain, refined flight control system, and battery packs designed to meet thermal runaway safety requirements. It will feature components made by certification partners Honeywell, GKN, Hanwha, Solvay, and Leonardo.

Vertical intends for Aircraft Two to complete a flight campaign and several public demonstrations this year. These are expected to include an appearance at the Farnborough International Airshow at Farnborough Airport (EGLF) in July, as well as flights to and from London Heathrow Airport (EGLL).

In March, Vertical received CAA design organization approval (DOA), a required step in the regulator’s type certification process. Only a handful of air taxi firms, including Germany’s Volocopter and Lilium, have obtained DOA from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

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Boston-based Merlin Labs—the maker of a platform-agnostic, takeoff-to-touchdown autonomy system for fixed-wing aircraft—on Wednesday announced it obtained Part 135 certification from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of New Zealand for future air freight operations in the country. The regulator’s Part 135 covers air operations for helicopters and small airplanes.

Certification of the Merlin’s flagship Merlin Pilot system follows U.S. military airworthiness approvals for fellow automated flight systems providers Xwing and Reliable Robotics, handed out by the U.S. Air Force.

“Achieving an organizational Part 135 certification gives us the opportunity to work with a forward-thinking regulator as well as leverage New Zealand as a sandbox for our current and future products,” said Matt George, founder and CEO of Merlin. “This milestone enables us to continue progressing our technical maturity, ultimately validating the safety and operational effectiveness of the Merlin Pilot for [CAA] Part 23 certification and beyond.”

Merlin’s Part 135 certificate will allow it to perform critical data collection flights on certain regional freight routes following CAA product certification of Merlin Pilot. The company achieved a state of involvement (SOI) 1 milestone for the system in May, putting it on “a viable path to certification and commercial operation,” it said.

According to Merlin, data collected on those freight routes will be essential for “future development decisions that will be implemented globally.” The findings will also support Merlin Pilot certification with both the CAA and FAA, it said.

The company’s Part 135 certification will further allow it to leverage its dedicated test facility in Kerikeri, New Zealand, opened in May, for current and future products once they’re certified.

Merlin said it has made notable progress on its organizational and product certification since its Project Specific Certification Plan (PSCP) was approved by the CAA—in partnership with the FAA—in 2021. At the time, it claimed to be the first company to reach an agreement with a regulator on an approach to certification for autonomous aircraft tech.

Since then, Merlin was contracted by the FAA to perform what it said was the first air cargo network trials flown by a non-human pilot, which it completed successfully in Alaska in July.

The company also has a relationship with the U.S. Air Force. Last week, the two agreed to conduct in-flight demonstrations of Merlin Pilot aboard a KC-135 Stratotanker, which is used by the military for aerial refueling. Those trials will begin next year. The exercise is a follow-up to a 2022 Air Force contract to test the system on a single-pilot Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules, which is normally commanded by two pilots.

Through innovation arm AFWERX, the Air Force is also collaborating with autonomous flight systems providers Xwing and Reliable Robotics. Both firms were approved to fly in unrestricted airspace in the past 30 days as the military and FAA begin to ramp up their pursuit of autonomy.

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Answer: After the May 1996 crash of ValuJet Flight 592 in the Florida Everglades, the FAA was criticized for the possible part it played in the disaster, allowing for cost-cutting to impact safety. Some legal scholars observed that the functions of protecting passenger safety while promoting industry (including all other civil aviation) interests weren’t compatible. So, then-Secretary of Transportation Frederico Pena called for Congress to reexamine the FAA’s “dual mandate.” Thus, in October 1996, Congress amended the Federal Aviation Act, removing the language “promoting” aviation and adding more provisions emphasizing safety.

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That’s the outlook for Bristol, U.K.-based electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft manufacturer Vertical Aerospace, which at the beginning of May told shareholders that it’s pushing back certification of its VX4 air taxi with Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) from 2025 to 2026. It’s the second time the firm has delayed certification since April 2022, when it changed its target from 2024 to 2025.

In a shareholder letter accompanying Vertical’s financial statement for the first quarter of 2023, CEO Stephen Fitzpatrick explained that the company’s revised guidance stems from a lack of agreement with authorities on compliance methods for new technology—a challenge he expects his competitors to face as well.

“For instance,” Fitzpatrick said, “as we begin to consider our means of compliance with the CAA, we will work through factors out of our control, such as the testing it requires for this technology. We believe the industry as a whole will experience some timeline corrections, and we are already seeing signs of peers acknowledging this.”

Fitzpatrick may be referring to rival Joby Aviation, which recently delayed its commercial launch because of regulatory hurdles, or Lilium, which has scrapped its plans to launch a regional air taxi service in 2024 and last year pushed back its certification target to 2025. Other companies, meanwhile, have held firm, like Archer Aviation has with its late 2024 deadline.

So, how does Vertical stack up to these manufacturers? 

According to its first-quarter 2023 financial statement, the firm has about $130 million in cash and cash equivalents on hand. That’s compared to around $50 million for Joby, which also has short-term investments of $928 million, based on the most recent company data. Lilium has about $180 million while Archer sits close to $300 million—both have short-term investments of around $150 million.

Vertical also has a short-term investment of about $141 million from the U.K.’s Aerospace Technology Institute to support its development of hydrogen and battery propulsion systems with Rolls-Royce. But crunching the numbers, Vertical is the most cash-strapped of the eVTOL “Big Four.”

However, Vertical has a few things working in its favor. Among eVTOL makers, it trails only Eve Air Mobility in total orders with 975 as of December 2022, buoyed by an order of 250 aircraft from American Airlines.

The company also says it’s well positioned for a fundraise later this year, which should bolster its cash flow. And in March, it became the first eVTOL manufacturer to earn a design organization approval—a key step required for type certification—from the CAA. So, despite Fitzpatrick’s recent admission that Vertical “didn’t know about certification” when he founded the firm in 2017, it appears to be top of mind now.

Still, Vertical and the rest of the industry face a steep path ahead.

The CAA, having adopted European Aviation Safety Agency standards for VTOL certification, has classified air taxis as a “special condition” under existing rules rather than developing a new certification specification. That means it won’t need to develop an entirely new standard for VTOL aircraft, which could speed up the certification process.

All of this bodes well for Vertical’s prospects in Britain. But it will need to tackle U.S. certification as well.

Mirroring its approach to drones, the FAA has taken a conservative approach to eVTOL certification centered around safe integration. The agency did release an updated blueprint of its vision for air taxis in the national airspace and is planning to unveil an implementation plan this month, but certification standards remain in flux.

In lieu of standards that would apply to all eVTOL designs and operations, the FAA has issued proposed airworthiness criteria for Joby and Archer. Rivals such as Vertical and Lilium still await the requirements they must meet in order to fly in the U.S., but it’s worth noting that the FAA and CAA are working together to develop a new regulatory framework.

Vertical and others are also targeting certification in Japan. So far, the British company has sizable orders from Japan Airlines and trading and investment firm Marubeni, with plans to launch commercially in Japan in the mid-2020s. And recently, it successfully applied to place the VX4 into the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau’s type certification process.

Joby, Boeing-backed Wisk Aero, and other U.S. eVTOL manufacturers are also eyeing services in the country.

Despite all of this activity, though, the first eVTOL certification appears to be at least a few more years away. It remains to be seen whether the industry is undergoing “timeline corrections,” as Fitzpatrick said. But given the lack of clear regulations and the delays from Vertical, Joby, and Lilium, it’s not unreasonable to expect others to push back certification as well.

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The approval includes the 2-axis configuration as well as the 3-axis. The EASA certification follows existing approvals for the system from the UK CAA and Brazil’s ANAC, as well as an FAA supplemental type certificate (STC).

Moog-owned (NYSE: MOG.A) Genesys made the announcement in a news release Tuesday, confirming that customers can now place orders through Bell Textron, or with approved Genesys dealers for retrofitting. 

“The autopilot kit is useful for pilots because it improves safety and lightens the pilot’s workload,” said a statement from Genesys managing director for Europe, Duncan Van De Velde. “Any Bell 505 in the field in Europe can now be retrofitted with the Genesys system and we look forward to meeting the needs of our customers.”

• READ MORE: Genesys Adds 4th Axis Hover and Hold to Autopilot Series 

The versatile Bell 505 includes capacity for up to four passengers, a top cruise speed of 125 knots, a range of 306 nm, according to its manufacturer. It can be configured for HEMS missions, for corporate transport, or as a training aircraft. The Textron-owned (NYSE: TXT) company announced its 400th 505 delivery last month. 

Genesys Aerosystems has received full EASA certification approval for the HeliSAS Autopilot and Stability Augmentation System on the Bell 505 platform. The EASA approval covers both the 2-axis and 3-axis configurations.https://t.co/4QOPdtPrOP pic.twitter.com/ph25VWjiYs

— Genesys Aerosystems (@GenesysAero) September 12, 2022

System Features

The Genesys Aerosystems HeliSAS system includes:

• Automatic resumption of near-level flight attitude at all speeds
• Stability commitment during all phases of flight from start to shutdown
• Autopilot pitch control
• Altitude hold
• IAS hold
• VS hold
• GS autopilot roll control
• HDG hold
• NAV, LOC, VOR
• Optional yaw control
• Overspeed and underspeed protection

HeliSAS’s stability increase system is designed to be always active, according to the manufacturer. It will “return the helicopter to a neutral attitude simply by loosening the applied forces or simply letting go of the cyclic in the event that the pilot becomes incapacitated, spatially disoriented or loses visual references.”

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• Power off
• Ailerons neutral
• Rudder in the opposite direction of rotation
• Elevator to neutral

Spin recovery is not universal—in the Cirrus for example, the recovery is activation of the ballistic parachute—and in certain high-performance aerobatic airplanes, such as the Pitts Special, spin recovery is accomplished using the Beggs/Mueller technique.

The Beggs/Mueller technique was developed by Gene Beggs and Eric Mueller specifically developed for those high-performance aerobatic airplanes. The initial steps in the Beggs/Mueller approach consist of: 

• Engine power to idle
• Letting go of the control stick
• Pushing the rudder the opposite direction of the spin

When the rotation ceases, the pilot needs to pull out of a dive. The elevator is the primary control surface for this.

This method does not work with all aircraft. The late William K. Kershner, aviation author and legendary flight instructor who specialized in aerobatics and spin training, noted that the Cessna 150 Aerobat, when in a fully developed spin to the left, did not respond to the Beggs/Mueller method for recovery. You cannot recover from a dive with the elevator only. 

Sadly this information did not reach a flight instructor and learner in Australia, who on June 23, 2021, were flying a Cessna A150 Aerobat with the intent of practicing two methods of spin recovery. The airplane crashed, killing both occupants. The accident was investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). According to the report, “While experienced in other aerobatic aircraft, the instructor likely had no experience conducting spinning and/or spin instruction in the accident aircraft type or similar variants. ATSB has issued a Safety Advisory Notice alerting aerobatic pilots and instructors of the limitations of the Meuller/Beggs spin recovery method for some aircraft types.”

‘The Spin Doctor’

The lack of instructional knowledge when it comes to spins is common, notes Rich Stowell, an experienced aerobatics instructor pilot who has literally made a name for himself as “the Spin Doctor” for logging more than 35,000 spins in 250 spin-approved aircraft. As an author, speaker, and active instructor, Stowell is often called upon to educate pilots about spins. Part of the issue, he notes, is the way spin training for CFIs is done in the U.S. The minimal training required for the endorsement consists of a total of four spins—two to the left and two to the right—and the recovery from them.

“Unfortunately, the CFI spin endorsement ends up being a participation trophy in the majority of cases,” Stowell says.”Studies have found the depth and breadth of spin knowledge and experience among our corps of instructors to be marginal to poor,” he says, adding that is owing in part to the fact that spin training is no longer taught at the private pilot level. “Until 1949, spins were part of private pilot training. They were just another maneuver.”

The Purpose of Spins

In the early days of general aviation, the 1920s and 1930s, spins were a maneuver required of private pilots. In an intentional spin, the power is reduced to idle, a power off stall is entered, and the pilot adds rudder input in the direction they wish to rotate. In a spin, one wing of the aircraft is stalled and the rotation takes place around the wing that is less stalled. The aircraft rotates in a confined space. This maneuver was used to descend through holes in the clouds—both Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart reference it in their written accounts of their flights.

According to Stowell, in the late 1940s as general aviation was enjoying a post-war boom, the  Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), the precursor of the FAA, determined that stalls, which are the precursor to spins, were the troublesome issue.

“In 1949, spins were removed from the private pilot requirements,” Stowell says.”There is a common misconception that stalls were removed from the private pilot requirements because spins are dangerous and people were spinning the aircraft and crashing and dying—this is not true,” he says. “The CAA chose to remove spins from the requirements for everyone except for flight instructors. Instead they said stalls were the problem—because an airplane cannot be spun unless it is stalled. Around the same time, aircraft manufacturers started designing training aircraft that were more spin resistant. The emphasis from the CAA became avoiding spins by avoiding stalls.”

“The apprehension over stalls and spins evolved into a mythology that stalls and spins are dangerous,” says Stowell, “and as such, generations of instructors were taught to fear them and this fear was passed on to their learners—this continued into 1991, when the FAA came out with an advisory circular 61-67C Stall Awareness.”

The result, says Stowell, was that generations of flight instructors were trained to avoid stalls, and without a stall, spin cannot happen so in effect, they were taught to avoid and by extension, fear spins.

“We have a generational loss in spin expertise,” Stowell says. “Flight students who have never done spins become instructors who have never done spins, and they teach more students—it is like making a copy of a Xerox copy—eventually, you end up with a piece of white paper. We have a loss of institutional knowledge and experience because a lot of these instructors go right from being students into instructing, and they have not had much time to be pilots. What these instructors fear is transferred to their students.”

Can Your Aircraft Be Intentionally and Legally Spun?

Some aircraft are not meant to be spun for the very reason they cannot be recovered, says Stowell. Look for the placards in the cockpit that state something to the effect of “THIS AIRCRAFT NOT CERTIFIED FOR SPINS,” and then cross reference the placard with the section in the POH on spins. In some aircraft, such as the Cessna 100 series, intentional spins can be done using specific techniques such as slow deceleration, and in some cases when operating the aircraft in the utility category, with a limited weight-and-balance range.

These aircraft, by design, are spin resistant, Stowell says.”The Cessna 172 is a good example. It can enter a spin, and with the power to idle, by one and a half turns it’s out of the spin.”

Many flight schools do not allow their aircraft to be intentionally spun, as it puts a lot of wear on mechanical gyros, if installed. Sometimes the flight school’s insurance carrier will be the force behind the banning of spins. For this reason, it can be a challenge for first-time CFI applicants to find an aircraft for spin training. Often the spin trainer is a Cessna 150 or 172 that is flown in the utility category. 

I Have No Fear of Barf

My spin training was completed in a Cessna 150 Aerobat. I was apprehensive, as another instructor applicant had made a big production out of how queasy and wrecked she’d been after her spin training—she spent the next three days on the couch, she said.

I was mostly worried about barfing on my CFI. I have no fear of barf. I played field hockey in high school with coaches who had been on the U.S. Olympic team—barfing was part of practice. But I didn’t want to do it in an airplane, so I put one of those barf bags—the ones that come in the blue paper envelopes and have that weird cartoon of an elf on it (you know the one I am talking about: it looks all anxious as it runs with an empty sack, and then all happy when it has a bag of puke)—down the front of my polo shirt just in case.

My instructor, a professional CFI with thousands of hours, was eating a burrito out of the vending machine while I preflighted the aircraft. He instructed me to “pack light” for this flight and remove anything we didn’t need for the mission. I went in with the booster cushion (yes, I am that short), headset, kneeboard, ID, and pilot and medical certificates. I took special care to remove the aircraft towbar, the extra bottle of oil the aircraft usually carried, as well as the control lock and the fuel strainer from the aircraft as these could become projectiles during the spin. I secured the paper sectional to my kneeboard and double checked the security of the Velcro strap. 

We took off from the airpark and headed over to the practice area where the Class Bravo airspace above us began at 6,000 feet. The Cessna 150 had the Sparrowhawk engine conversion, which was supposed to give it extra horsepower, and we certainly needed it as we shuttled back and forth to gain altitude on that August morning. 

It took us about a half an hour to reach the altitude of 5,900 feet. We did the clearing turns, identified an emergency runway, then announced our intentions on the practice area frequency. I had bats in my stomach. My CFI would demonstrate the first one.

It had to be done, but I was nervous. I took a big breath, made sure my feet were flat on the floor and folded my arms on my chest as I said, “Do it!”

The CFI kept the nose of the aircraft on Mount Rainier to the southwest as he pulled the throttle to idle. He carefully lifted the nose, talking the whole time, commenting on the loss of airspeed, the need for my right rudder as he increased the angle of attack. Then came the stall warning horn. As the stall happened, he applied full right rudder and kept the yoke in his chest. The windscreen filled with dirt as we rotated to the right. 

“One turn! Two turns!” he said in a dramatic voice, just this side of The Count–aka Count von Count from TV’s “Sesame Street.” He kept the yoke back in his chest. The airspeed was at the very bottom of the white arc—we were as slow as the airspeed indicator could register. “And recover!” he said, releasing the back pressure and applying the opposite rudder. When the rotation stopped, he carefully lifted the nose to the horizon. 

“That was it?” I asked incredulously. “I’ve had sneezes that were more dramatic? That’s all there is to it?” I was positively indignant at the scope of the SPINS ARE SCARY conspiracy.

“That’s all there is to it,” he said with a shrug. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

Now it was my turn. I configured the aircraft and executed the maneuver. I did my FAA-required spins—two to the right, then two to the left—then we climbed back up to altitude and did a few more each, just for fun.

We were in the air for about an hour and a half. Because we had taken off in the utility category, we were light on fuel and had to return to the airport. He called my attention to the fact that the attitude indicator was completely sideways and the heading indicator was drifting in a circle like a drunken monkey as we headed back.

“That’s the real challenge of spin training,” he remarked. “Even the airplane gets dizzy!”

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In the April 2021 event, the airplane lost power during a flight test, causing a forced landing just outside Cranfield Airport (EGTC), in Bedfordshire, England. Neither member of the two-person flight crew was injured in the accident.

The event serves as a reminder that—although there have been many successes—the electric aviation industry still faces significant challenges in its journey toward making electric flight viable and reliable as an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels.

According to the accident report, released July 7 by the U.K.’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), the airplane was reconfigured so its motors could be powered by either a high-voltage lithium battery or a hydrogen fuel cell. A key part of the powertrain includes devices called inverters that transform direct current (DC) electricity from the energy sources to the motors. In the moments before the accident, “electrical power was lost to both motors as the power source was changed, and the inverters locked out, at a position in the circuit where the aircraft could not safely glide to the runway,” the AAIB report said.

The inverters locked out, the report said, because during the change from battery to hydrogen fuel cell while in flight—a normal process in the electric aircraft’s operation—the propellers windmilled, which turned the motors. The motors acted as generators, producing energy that was fed back to the inverters, which triggered an overvoltage protection protocol that caused the inverters to lock out.

According to the report, the pilot in command identified the power loss from the aircraft response, rather than the instrument display. Nine seconds after the power loss at an altitude of 880 feet above the airfield, the crew said the inverters had been lost.

The pilot issued a mayday call and began a left turn to line up for landing on Runway 21, but “almost immediately he recognized that he did not have sufficient height to complete the maneuver,” the report said. The pilot then lowered the gear and selected full flaps for a forced landing at about 87 knots ground speed on a level grass field. The Piper hit a hedge and plowed through it, breaking off the left wing.

It stopped when its nosewheel and left main wheel rolled into a ditch, the report said. The flight crew exited the airplane unhurt through the “upper half of the cabin door.”

What Went Wrong

The accident report criticized the “location of the system status display and the absence of aural warnings.” As a result, “critical information regarding the motor operation was not readily available to the pilot. The only indication of a loss of power was a change in color of the small symbols M1 and M2 on the cluttered system status display, which was obscured when the pilot’s hand was on the power lever.”

ZeroAvia also did not carry out sufficient ground testing “to determine the effect of the back voltage from a windmilling propeller on the inverter protection system,” the report said.

Shortly after the accident, ZeroAvia began its own internal investigation into the accident. “Many of the issues identified in the report were similarly noted in our internal investigation and have subsequently been addressed robustly,” ZeroAvia said in its July 7 statement. “We have embedded key learnings into both our organizational culture and structure, as well as our future technical designs.” The company said it has created a safety and security review board, as well as added “extensively qualified members in several critical positions, including within our design, airworthiness, and flight test teams.” The company also said it has established a “safety management system based on a ‘just’ aviation culture, including occurrence reporting, investigation, and corrective actions functions.”

ZeroAvia said future projects would incorporate lessons learned in terms of handling back voltage due to windmilling.

Other Factors

According to the report, other factors that contributed to the accident included:

• “The emergency procedure to clear an inverter lock out after the protection system operated was ineffective.
• An investigation had not been carried out into a previous loss of power resulting from an inverter lock out, which occurred three flights prior to the accident flight.
• The risk assessment had not been reviewed following the loss of propulsion on two previous flights.
• Ad hoc changes were made to the flight test plan, including the position where the electrical power source was switched, without the knowledge of the competent person.”

The airplane “met all the requirements to be flown under” the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority regulations for electric airplanes (CAP1220), and “a comprehensive dossier was produced by the competent person. However, this was a complex project, and the competent person was unable to completely fulfill his responsibilities as detailed in CAP1220.” The report said the “competent person’s involvement was restricted in a number of areas due to issues within the organizational relationships, the fast tempo of the project, other work commitments, and restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

ZeroAvia

It’s important to note that ZeroAvia is one of the world’s leading developers of electric airplanes. Since 2017, the California-based company has been experimenting with existing small airplane platforms by converting them from traditional fossil-fuel burning powerplants to electric.

• READ MORE: ZeroAvia to Retrofit DeHavilland Q400 for Electric Flight

In 2020, the company flew what it called the world’s first hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered flight of a commercial-grade aircraft.

In 2021, ZeroAvia partnered with Alaska Air Group to develop a 76-seat electric airliner from a de Havilland Q400 and last May, it announced plans with Mitsubishi’s MHI RJ Aviation Group to electrify its CRJ series of regional jets.

• READ MORE: ZeroAvia to Electrify CRJ Series

Recommendations

The AAIB report recommended that the CAA develop additional guidance “on the design and positioning of controls and displays used in the operation of the aircraft.”

It also recommended clarifying “the scope of projects considered suitable to be carried out under CAP1220.”

In addition, the report called on CAA to ensure that the “individual nominated as a competent person under CAP1220, Operation of Aircraft Under E Conditions, has the knowledge, skills, experience, and capacity to manage and oversee the experimental test program.”

The post Lessons Learned From an Electric Airplane Accident appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The London-based company announced the news Thursday, as it works toward launching a full test flight campaign later this year for its VX4 electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi. 

Aiming to enter service in 2025, Vertical Aerospace also revealed it has hired former EASA certification director Trevor Woods to help lead the regulatory process.

’Significant Momentum’

Vertical’s “considerable in-house engineering expertise matched with its unrivaled industrial partnerships…lend significant momentum to its certification efforts,” Woods said in a statement. 

The partnerships include GKN, Honeywell, Leonardo, Rolls-Royce, and Honeywell. 

Vertical also announced it received required CAA competency approval for three key managers that will open the door to winning design organization approval (DOA)—the equivalent to the FAA’s organization designation authorization (ODA). 

In fact, the company said it intends to seek FAA type certification as well, that would allow VX4 to enter service in the U.S.

“Vertical’s DOA, when granted, will cover the full scope required to hold a type certificate for a commercial passenger carrying winged eVTOL,” the company said in a statement. “Vertical believes this will be of the widest scope an eVTOL manufacturer will have received to date.” 

The eVTOL developer says it has submitted a certification basis proposal, based on EASA’S established SC-VTOL certification basis. Vertical says it expects to get CAA agreement on the proposal later this year. 

Leading eVTOL developers in the U.S.—including Uber-backed Joby Aviation (NYSE: JOBY) and United Airlines-backed Archer Aviation (NYSE: ACHR) are further ahead of Vertical in their type certification timelines, and are both flight testing demonstrator aircraft. 

About the Aircraft

Vertical is one of hundreds of advanced air mobility startups developing eVTOLs designed to fly passengers and cargo for short distances over traffic gridlocked cities. 

Founded in 2016, the company began flights of its first full-scale battery powered eVTOL test article in 2019. 

The more advanced air taxi prototype demonstrator for VX4 is now in “later build stages” the company says. “We look forward to reaching a number of meaningful milestones in our activity over the coming months, including the launch of our flight test campaign,” said Paul Harper, Vertical’s head of certification, in a statement.

VX4 is a fixed-wing, V-tailed, tilt-rotor, retract aircraft designed to carry four passengers and a pilot with zero carbon emissions at speeds of about 200 mph (174 kts) with a range of more than 100 sm. 

‘Largest Pre-Order Book’

It’s worth noting that Vertical boasts the “largest pre-order book by value in the eVTOL market,” totaling $5.4 billion. 

Including American Airlines, which signed a provisional pre-order in 2021, Vertical says it has received pre-orders for 1,350 aircraft from customers such as Virgin Atlantic, Bristow, Marubeni, Iberojet, and Avolon—the “world’s second largest aircraft lessor.” 

In addition to the U.K. and U.S., the company says eventually VX4 will be flying in Turkey, Japan, Brazil, Greenland, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean, if all goes as planned.  

The post American Airlines-backed Air Taxi Inches Closer to Type Certification appeared first on FLYING Magazine.