Industry
EUROPEAN ROTORS 2020
EUROPEAN ROTORS 2020, launched this year by the European Helicopter Association (EHA) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), will be held in Cologne, Germany, November 10-12, 2020. The conference is the sole European event designed for the entire rotorcraft industry (OEMs, suppliers, and operators). It covers vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft—everything from…
Live Free or Fly?
New Hampshire Greenlights UAM Roadable Aircraft
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu recently signed into law NH House Bill 1517. This legislation would permit “roadable aircraft” (AKA flying cars or eVTOLs — electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft) to drive on roads in the Granite State. A former NH legislator, Representative Keith Ammon, suggested Steven Smith, who represents Sullivan County, District 11,…
eVTOLs and Flying Cars Not Quite Cleared for Takeoff
But an UAM Traffic Management (UTM) System Is Taking Shape
“Ground control to Major Tom. Ground control to Major Tom.” (David Bowie flashback.) According to its latest reporting, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is managing roughly 16.1 million flights annually, averaging about 44,000 flights daily. That’s about 5,400 flights at any given moment. The advent of urban air mobility (AKA advanced air mobility) is…
Airfare. AirFair? How Much Will an eVTOL Ride Cost?
In the movies, the bad guy would run out of a building and hop in a taxi. Seconds later, the good guys would hail the next cab in line and say, “Follow that car!” After a harrowing chase, the bad guy gets out and runs, the good guys throw a pile of bills at the…
Volocopter Appoints New CTO
Volocopter has announced Arnaud Coville as its new Chief Technical Officer following Jan-Hendrik Boelens’ decision to leave the company. Coville, who has extensive experience as an engineer in new aircraft development, originally came onboard as Head of VoloCity Development in May 2020. VoloCity is the German company’s fourth-generation eVTOL design. “Electrically powered air taxis will…
Full Charge: The eVTOL Revolution Will Need Batteries
Professor Martin Winter says powerful, but small, lightweight, batteries are essential to eVTOL success. “Battery development is triggered by the stakeholders,” says battery technology expert Professor Martin Winter. Winter is founder and scientific director of the MEET Battery Research Center at Münster University (about 340 miles west of Berlin). But, so far, most of…