December 3, 2018 - No. 095 In This Issue Barclays backs new aviation technology hub at Cranfield First Test Of Aircraft With An Ion Drive Points To A Radically Different Future For Aviation Wizz Air opens aviation training centre in Hungary. Lion Air crash sheds light on dark side of cockpit automation Making it in Vermont: An electric helicopter that can get to Boston in an hour Aviation, Bridges Could Benefit from Smart Skin That Measures Strain TECHNOLOGY SHAPING THE AIRPORTS OF THE FUTURE Aero Unveils Training School for Manpower Development Etihad Moving Steadily On 3D Printing Of Interior Parts SpaceX Postpones Launch of 1st Falcon 9 Rocket to Fly 3 Times for Booster Checks Barclays backs new aviation technology hub at Cranfield Barclays and Cranfield University have joined forces to establish the first Eagle Lab dedicated to aviation technology, or AvTech, based on the university's campus in Bedfordshire. From December, the co-working and innovation space - one of the first cross-industry collaborations to accelerate the development of AvTech - will open for ambitious entrepreneurs in industry to scale and grow. Residents will benefit from business advice and mentoring from Barclays experts and access to world-class specialists and facilities at Cranfield University. The Eagle Lab is the first step in the university's ambitious aviation, innovation and entrepreneurship project which will create unique specialist enterprise facilities and programmes at Cranfield to support startups and SMEs - particularly those with high-growth potential. Located at the heart of campus, the Lab will be tailored to the aerospace and aviation community, drawing on the University's global research airport. Built on a former RAF base, Cranfield is one of only a few universities in the world to own and run its own airport, providing a unique facility that can further help startups and scale-ups as they develop and test their innovations. The Lab will include over 60 desks laid out over two floors with a combination of private offices, meetings rooms, hot-desking and breakout spaces. The ground floor will be home to a fully-stocked Maker Space, a facility to support rapid prototyping and product development with features like 3D printing and specialised AvTech equipment - all supported by dedicated Eagle Labs staff. The launch of the Cranfield Eagle Lab follows the creation in April this year of a new business unit at Barclays called Barclays UK (BUK) Ventures. BUK Ventures has an independent mandate to deliver new customer experiences at pace and scale - ultimately driving growth for communities, business and Barclays - and is responsible for growing the Eagle Lab network. Jon Corbett, head of SME for Barclays in the South East Midlands and Cambridgeshire said: "New technology is rapidly transforming the aerospace and aviation industry and we want to ensure businesses across the region, large and small, can take advantage of and contribute to this huge opportunity. "Ultimately, we hope this Lab will help to stimulate and accelerate not just the local economy, but the industry as a whole." Professor Tom Stephenson, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Cranfield University, added: "We are delighted that Barclays is opening an Eagle Lab on campus, marking the first step of our ambitious aviation, innovation and entrepreneurship project, an intensive support package for aerospace and aviation entrepreneurs. "The Government has rightly identified the potential of SMEs to develop the industry's technologies of the future and at Cranfield we are determined to do all we can to support businesses in the region help realise their ambitions." https://www.businessweekly.co.uk/news/academia-research/barclays-backs-new-aviation- technology-hub-cranfield Back to Top First Test Of Aircraft With An Ion Drive Points To A Radically Different Future For Aviation Last week, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced that they'd conducted a successful flight test of an aircraft with a sci-fi-sounding propulsion system called an ion drive, an achievement that's earned comparisons to the Wright brothers' breakthrough at Kitty Hawk. Inside a gymnasium at the Boston university, the team propelled a fixed-wing aircraft with wind generated by the flow of ions accelerated by a high-voltage array of electrified wires. The propulsion system has no moving parts. The initial eight-second flight could be the first step on a path to a tantalizing future of radically different-looking aircraft that fly silently-without burning fossil fuels. The physical mechanisms involved in generating an ionic wind have been understood for more than 100 years, but it had been largely dismissed as incapable of producing enough thrust to power an aircraft. Only a small number of researchers have been working on the technology. "Maybe we'll have to have a conference now," quipped the leader of the MIT team, Steven Barrett, in an interview with Forbes. At the smaller end of the equation, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have been working on using ionic propulsion to fly centimeter-scale microrobots. Barrett's proof of concept aircraft, which his team detailed in a paper published in Nature, was propelled by the movement of ions between two electrodes. Thin wires strung horizontally underneath the 15-foot-long wings were charged to a prodigious 20,000 volts, stripping electrons from nitrogen molecules in the air nearby through a process called corona discharge. Those positive nitrogen ions were attracted to thicker electrodes at the back of the plane charged to negative 20,000 volts; along the way, the nitrogen ions bumped into air molecules, pushing them backward and generating wind. It was enough to propel the 5-pound aircraft as far as the confines of the gym would allow, about 180 feet. (See it fly in the video below.) Ion drive: The first flight Generating an ionic wind requires lots of energy, and the size and weight of the equipment necessary was believed to make it impractical for propelling aircraft of any size. However, hobbyists have been playing for years with small triangular "lifters" made of balsa wood and foil, which Barrett credits as one of his inspirations for exploring the technology (along with the spaceships in Star Trek and Star Wars). One of the MIT team's crucial breakthroughs: They built an innovative power converter capable of stepping up the battery's output to 40,000 volts that's much lighter than anything previously produced. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2018/11/30/ion-engine-mit-solid-state- aircraft/#17d0baa0468d Back to Top Wizz Air opens aviation training centre in Hungary European airline Wizz Air has opened its new 3,800m˛ aviation training centre in Budapest, Hungary, which involved an investment of €30m. Developed by real estate company WING, the integrated centre is equipped with two Airbus A320 CAE 7000XR Series full-flight simulators. It will also feature TFC's cabin emergency evacuation trainer and Flame Aviation's V9000 Commander next-generation fire trainer. Wizz Air CEO József Váradi said: "This new facility, which hosts Wizz Air's pilot academy, as well as recurrent training of our current crew, brings a new era in crew training and ensures that Wizz Air is ready to become an airline of 300 aircraft and ten thousand crew members carrying a hundred million passengers per year." The training equipment suite at the facility will be operated and maintained by CAE as part of a ten- year agreement with Wizz Air. The centre can accommodate up to 300 trainees a day across Wizz Air's network and host classroom training, as well as flight and cabin simulation exercises. It also hosts the Wizz Air Pilot Academy that was launched in September in Hungary. CAE president and CEO Marc Parent said: "It is a privilege to be here today and to celebrate the grand opening of the Wizz Air new state-of-the-art training centre in Budapest. "We have a long history with Wizz Air as their training partner and we are excited to expand our relationship with them by providing training centre operation services and two new Airbus A320 full-flight simulators." https://www.aerospace-technology.com/news/wizz-air-aviation-training-centre/ Back to Top Lion Air crash sheds light on dark side of cockpit automation As Boeing was developing its latest version of the 737 airliner, it discovered the design was slightly more prone to a loss of control. So the company added a computer-driven safety feature -- one that is now a focus of the investigation into a fatal crash last month near Indonesia. If preliminary findings are borne out, the Oct. 29 crash of the Lion Air 737 Max 8 may end up being one of a number of cases in which the cockpit automation that's made flying safer also had the unintended consequence of confusing pilots and contributing to tragedy. For decades, planemakers have been adding automated systems to help pilots set engine thrust, navigate with higher precision and even override the humans in the cockpit if they make mistakes. Airline disasters have become increasingly rare as a result, but automation-related crashes have become a growing share of the few that continue to occur, according to government studies and accident reports. "There's no question that automation has been a tremendous boon to safety in commercial aviation," said Steve Wallace, who served as the chief accident investigator for the Federal Aviation Administration. "At the same time, there have been many accidents where automation was cited as a factor." A 2013 report by the FAA found more than 60 percent of 26 accidents over a decade involved pilots making errors after automated systems abruptly shut down or behaved in unexpected ways. For example, pilots on Air France Flight 447 inexplicably made abrupt movements and lost control of their Airbus SE A330 over the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 after they lost their airspeed readings and the plane's automated flight protections disconnected. All 228 people on board died. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board concluded that pilots of an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777-200ER that struck a seawall in San Francisco in 2013 while trying to land, killing three, didn't realize they'd shut off their automatic speed control system in part because it wasn't properly documented. Pilots on Lion Air Flight 610 were battling multiple failures in the minutes after they took off from Jakarta on the early morning flight, according to Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee. The pilots had asked to return to land as they dealt with the issues, but plunged into the Java Sea at high speed before they could get back, according to investigators. All 189 people aboard were killed. Data from the recovered flight recorder shows that the Max's new safety feature, known as Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, was triggered. An errant sensor signaled that the plane was in danger of stalling and prompted the MCAS to compensate by repeatedly sending the plane into a dive. The pilots counteracted it repeatedly by flipping a switch to raise the nose manually, which temporarily disabled MCAS. The cycle repeated itself more than two dozen times before the plane entered it's final dive, according to flight data. This occurred as multiple other systems were malfunctioning or issuing cockpit warnings. Most notably, the cockpit was permeated by the loud thumping sound of a device on the captain's side of the cockpit known as a stick shaker, which is designed to warn the pilots they are in danger of losing lift on their wings. The stick shaker was erroneous too, prompted by the same false readings from the sensor. Boeing didn't respond to a request for comment on its automation, but has previously stressed that a procedure that pilots train for should have overcome the malfunction. "Boeing is taking every measure to fully understand all aspects of this accident, working closely with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board as technical advisers to support the NTSC as the investigation continues," the aircraft maker said in an earlier statement. Airline accidents almost never occur from a single cause and preliminary information from the investigation suggests multiple factors were at work in the fatal Lion Air flight. While maintenance and pilot training may be found to be more significant, the underlying issue with an automation system behaving in unexpected ways puts the accident in a now-common category. Planemakers have been adding more automation to help pilots avoid errors as aviation technology has become increasingly sophisticated. At Airbus, flight computers oversee pilots' control inputs on models built since the late 1980s and won't allow steep dives or turns deemed unsafe. Boeing's philosophy has been to leave more authority in the hands of pilots, but newer designs include some computerized limits and, like Airbus, its aircraft are equipped with sophisticated autopilots and systems to set speed during landings, among other functions. The new feature on the 737 Max family of aircraft was designed to address one of the most common remaining killers in commercial aviation. By nudging the plane nose down in certain situations, the MCAS software lowers the chances of an aerodynamic stall and a loss of control. Loss-of-control accidents killed 1,131 people from 2008 through 2017, by far the biggest category, according to Boeing statistics. This type of automation is credited with helping create the unprecedented safety improvements of recent decades, yet it hasn't been perfect. "A lot of the experts have commented that human beings are not very good at monitoring machines," said Roger Cox, a former NTSB investigator who specialized in pilot actions. "The reverse is better. Machines are pretty good at monitoring human beings." Devices that offer relatively simple warnings of an impending mid-air collision, for example, have proven nearly fool proof. On the other hand, more complex systems that aid pilots but require human oversight have on rare occasions confused crews and led to crashes. It's also important to keep in mind that issues with automation can be exacerbated by pilot actions, Cox said. "Often times, what we call an automation error is really a proficiency error or a lack-of-attention error, and not fundamentally a fault of the automation," he said. Indeed, the pilots in the Lion Air crash didn't follow an emergency procedure that could have deactivated MCAS and allowed them to fly normally, according to investigators. A different pilot crew the night before the accident had effectively shut off MCAS during an identical emergency and landed routinely. At least one reason that these type of accidents occur may have to do with how pilots' manual flying skills atrophy as cockpits become more automated, according to a 2014 study by NASA research psychologist Stephen Casner. While basic tasks like monitoring instruments and manually controlling a plane tend to stay intact in the automated modern cockpit, the study found "more frequent and significant problems" with navigation and recognizing instrument system failures. A different study by Casner and others in 2013 found a similar issue: flying has gotten so safe that pilots don't experience emergencies much during regular operations, if at all. That is good news in the main, but it means that crews also aren't as prepared. The study suggested that airlines devise more realistic and complex training scenarios, and that they give pilots more practice reacting to emergencies that occur while automation is off. "Where novices are derailed, discombobulated or taken by surprise when problems are presented under novel circumstances, experts characteristically perform as if they have 'been there and done that,' " the authors said. https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Lion-Air-crash-sheds-light-on-dark-side-of-13436383.php Back to Top Making it in Vermont: An electric helicopter that can get to Boston in an hour For the first time in nearly 100 years, there's a design revolution underway in air travel. Kyle Clark, an entrepreneur who has created an electric aircraft with a top speed of about 170 miles an hour, would like to lead the charge from his company in Burlington. Clark's company, Beta Technologies, has created a working prototype of a piloted electric aircraft that rises into the air like a helicopter and then flies like a passenger plane. Clark intends to be the first aerospace engineer in the world to produce such a craft for commercial use. Using homemade flight simulators, an array of 3D printers, a machine shop, and a team of nearly 40 staff and contracted engineers, Clark has big plans for his self-funded company, which occupies a hangar and other buildings at the Burlington airport. He intends to stand out for creating an aircraft with a power system that enables it to achieve the longest flight range amongst its peers. "We're going to develop the world's longest-range, best-performing aircraft," he said. Beta's just one player in the crowded and dynamic field known as eVTOL, the shorthand for aircraft such as Beta's that can switch to alternative flight modes. Many eVTOL developers are racing to claim a piece of the potentially huge business from the ride-sharing company Uber, which has stated it intends to deploy large numbers of the craft for short-term trips as soon as they are approved. It's an industry with high barriers to entry, said Mike Hirschberg, director of the Vertical Flight Society in Fairfax, Virginia. Hirschberg said the nonprofit, founded 75 years ago as the American Helicopter Society, has more than 6,000 members worldwide. "A lot of people who are entering this space don't realize what a challenge it will be," he said. "With any kind of aircraft, it generally takes hundreds of millions of dollars to certify it. It's not that challenging to build an aircraft to get it to fly, but to certify it and have it be an economically compelling product that people want to buy and operate ... those are much more difficult goals." Clark said he's much further along than his peer eVTOL-developers, and that his prototype is the largest electric plane by weight ever to fly. The company has to keep its prototype in Plattsburgh, New York, so it can conduct test flights over Lake Champlain; the FAA won't let Beta do test flights over a population center. Right now, Clark is the only authorized test pilot for it, and he's not allowed to carry anyone else in the two-seater. As for his competitors, including NASA, "there are 150 eVTOL companies raising money and claiming to be able to fly things that are technically infeasible to fly," Clark said. He has a wall covered in photographs of scale models. They're not as far along as Beta, he said. "They're just like flies circulating a light bulb; they're all hovering around Uber saying, 'I'm going to be your next air taxi,' these wanna-be manufacturers," he said. But those projects are still on paper. "Unless you build a real airplane, can you consider yourself a real aerospace company?" Clark's company is unique among the eVTOL startups with its goal for long-range flight, said Christian Bailey, a pilot who co-founded a venture fund called Curated Innovation in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beta is building platforms on shipping-type containers that would hold battery packs and even sleeping space for pilots. A network of these charging pads would be required for the electric craft to travel long distances - the way Tesla rolled out charging stations when it started selling its electric cars. "I was kind of stunned to see those shipping container battery packs," said Bailey, who visited Clark's company in November. "They can drop those things across the U.S. and allow one of these craft to cross the whole country without ever needing to go to an existing (base), and certainly nobody else in the space is doing that. "They'll be the first ones to do a cross-country flight," he said. Under construction now in Beta's company's workshop is a craft that will be twice the size of the prototype, able to do twice the distance. It will have a wingspan of under 50 feet and will be able to fly 290 miles before recharging, Clark said. It's due for its first flight in December 2019. Eventually, Clark expects the commercial version to cost approximately $1 million, about the same as a conventional six-seat propeller plane. He plans to create craft used for cargo first, and then passenger craft. Clark, who grew up in Huntington, got an early start in manufacturing. His father ran the University of Vermont's instrumentation and model facility, and Clark said he spent hours there as a child working with lathes, welding and using other machines. Those skills have come in handy in areas like the production of propellers, which are handmade from maple in his shop. "I've never brought on an engineer that isn't also an artist," he said. "In prototyping, it is so important that you have engineers who know how to make stuff." Clark studied applied math and materials science at Harvard. He took some time off from school to play hockey, including a professional stint with the Washington Capitals. Along the way, he had taken flight lessons and joined the Experimental Aviation Association. After graduating, Clark started and sold a number of companies and co-founded the Burlington software company Venture.co. Those enterprises gave him the capital he needed to bootstrap Beta in March 2017. One looming challenge for Clark and his many competitors is to produce an autonomous aircraft. He expects commercial autonomous aircraft to surmount technological and regulatory hurdles and be flying by 2030. "We made a strategic decision to develop aircraft that are optionally piloted," he said. "They have provisions for a human pilot in them, but in the future when the regulatory environment allows, we can take the pilot out." The FAA's regulatory structure is built on the concept of a piloted aircraft, and changing that will take some time. "The operation of an unpiloted aircraft needs to be rigorously tested, and public input is needed before it can be put into operation," an FAA spokesperson said. Turbulence in the industry Even in college, Clark was shaking up long-held beliefs about how pilots should interact with planes. The flight simulator he built then was based on the chassis of a motorcycle. The primary goal then, as now, was to improve the pilot's experience. "People have been controlling airplanes the same way since maybe 1930," he said. "Humans are not catered to when we build airplanes. I have a theory that if you make it easy for the person, it's safest and more enjoyable." Another goal, and the reason for producing electric planes, is to cut pollution. "I'd like to take that 9 percent of carbon emissions that are produced by aircraft and make that zero," he said. "I've got four little kids; I really don't want to destroy this world." Clark's aircraft isn't the first plane to rise or descend as a helicopter, without the need for a runway; there have been military craft such as the Harrier Jump Jet doing that since the 1960s. Bailey said Beta is probably one of four firms in the world that is flying a full-scale prototype. Bailey said he expected eVTOLs to be available commercially within 15 years. "The regulatory environment is why I'm more inclined to invest in Kyle, because his initial launch customer is transporting cargo rather than people," Bailey said. "So I think they're going to have a much cleaner path to commercial operation without FAA problems." But Clark still has steep certification hurdles to pass. For now, he's the only test pilot approved to fly the prototype. His company is bare-bones at the moment, with no HR, marketing, or other staff - only engineers, many part-time, some unpaid. He said his plane is 10 times less expensive to operate than a conventional helicopter. It's not yet clear how the cost of using an aircraft would compare to the cost of using a car. An Uber white paper on eVTOL has direct costs per mile of 50 cents, with flight distances usually shorter than driving distances to the same destination. "We can expect that the price for a 45-mile pool VTOL, which would replace a 60-mile automobile trip, could approach as low as $21 for the 15 minute journey," Uber said. Beta is working with the airport to use some land to build a recharging pad for the craft. Clark said he intends for most of the manufacturing to happen in Vermont. He'll start out by building piloted craft while the technology is developed elsewhere to keep autonomous craft safe from mountains, other aircraft, buildings, birds and other hazards. "That requires a little more technology than presently is in aviation," Clark said. "It is inevitable we will get there." He's also planning to raise money for production. "There are institutional investors who allow for the founding team to maintain independence, and we would probably look to raise money from folks like that," he said. https://vtdigger.org/2018/12/02/made-vermont-electric-helicopter-can-get-boston-hour/ Back to Top Aviation, Bridges Could Benefit from Smart Skin That Measures Strain Although the numbers vary according to the source, it's estimated that the chances of a plane crashing are 1 in 11 million. Of those, around 17 percent are due to some kind of mechanical failure. Sometimes a tiny, undetectable crack can cause significant damage. A team of scientists has turned years of studying nanotubes into research that could help engineers discover and measure strain on aircraft, or other large structures, at the microscopic level. The research team is developing a two-layer nanotube film and protective polymer that is applied to a surface and then lit up with ultraviolet light. During this process, surface strains appear as changes in the near-infrared light wavelengths emitted from the film and captured by a miniaturized handheld reader. The unique ability for single-wall carbon nanotubes to fluoresce was discovered in the lab of Bruce Weisman, professor of chemistry at Rice University, in 2002. As work continued on the research over time, researchers demonstrated that stretching the nanotubes made the fluorescence change colors. Weisman soon began collaborating with Satish Nagarajaiah, a Rice civil and environmental engineer, to focus on using the technology for strain sensing. The two researchers recently published a second paper on their "smart skin." The first, published in 2012, described their process for depositing the microscopic nanotube-sensing film separately from a protective top layer. They have since refined the process by changing the composition and preparation of the two-layer film, which is only a few microns thick, and created a new scanner device. Instead of measuring strain just at one point along a single axis, it automatically measures multiple program points and can reveal strain in any direction and at any location. The latest paper discusses testing results. The researchers tested their smart skin on aluminum bars under tension and created weak spots-either a hold or notch-to demonstrate where strain builds. These spots were measured in an unstressed state and again after applying stress. "We know where the high-stress regions of the structure are, the potential points of failure," said Nagarajaiah. "We can coat those regions with the film and scan them in the healthy state, and then after an event like an earthquake, go back and re-scan to see whether the strain distribution has changed and the structure is at risk." The measured results closely matched strain patterns obtained from advanced computational simulations. The smart skin's readings made it possible to quickly identify distinctive patterns near the high-stress regions. Nagarajaiah noted that they were also able to see clear boundaries between regions of tensile and compressive strain. "We measured points 1mm apart, but we can go 20 times smaller when necessary without sacrificing strain sensitivity," Weisman said. "That's a leap over standard strain sensors, which only provide readings averaged over several millimeters." The researchers believe the technology could be useful for testing turbines in jet engines or structural elements in their development stages. Their next research step is to develop a camera- like device that can capture an entire large surface at one time. https://www.engineering.com/DesignerEdge/DesignerEdgeArticles/ArticleID/18052/Aviation- Bridges-Could-Benefit-from-Smart-Skin-That-Measures-Strain.aspx Back to Top TECHNOLOGY SHAPING THE AIRPORTS OF THE FUTURE The ongoing boom in travel demand within Asia Pacific, together with challenges posed by climate change and growing global instability, as well as the pace of technological change in the lives we all lead, will shape airports that might - apart from the obvious building-with-planes-nearby similarities - be almost unrecognisable to today's traveller. Some of the evolution towards these advanced facilities has already started, with airports within future ocean flooding zones already building runways and terminals at higher elevations. None wish to be the next Osaka Kansai, flooded and knocked out of action by a typhoon in early September. But it seems to be the way that technology is changing the world around us that is already changing airports, and not just in the way that people can now step inside the terminal, scan their phone at a kiosk, look into a passport check camera, and board the aeroplane. As just one example, growth in on-demand app-based ride-hailing like Uber has already had impacts on the way airports design their forecourts, vehicle waiting areas, and transit networks. Autonomous, driverless vehicles seem set to be the next challenge to meet, especially around passenger flows into and out of terminals. But what will the airports of the future look like? Airports, terminals and their precincts will be bigger, more multifaceted and more complex. The airports of the future will be larger, with more runways, and with better and more closely linked terminal facilities, remedying the legacy domestic/international split that has not provided travellers in Australia and New Zealand with optimal connections. And that future isn't that far away: master plans across the region seek to either link together physically separate terminals or to replace them with combined facilities. Some of this replacement comes from swing gates, where domestic and international flights can both be operated, with passengers directed to the appropriate arrivals stream when they land, and boarding passengers arrive from either a domestic or international departures zone. Adelaide Airport has been an Australian pioneer in using swing gates, and has seen much success. The system is now being adopted by many other airports. However, says the airport's managing director Mark Young, Adelaide will begin dedicating space in its terminal to the growing international market: "Gate 18 will become a permanent international gate and will be the focus of the improved retail and boarding facilities. Other international gates will continue to utilise Adelaide Airport's unique swing gate system to allow both international and domestic operations." "International upgrades will include a second, longer baggage belt for arrivals, more space for emigration and immigration processing, expanded security screening, a larger duty-free precinct for arrivals and departures, and expanded dining and retail options," Young says, noting that "the expansion will also see a complete refurbishment of retail areas, resulting in a more than 80 per cent increase in the overall size of the terminal's retail and dining precinct across domestic and international areas." Non-aviation revenue at airports will also continue its rise in importance for those airports with substantial land banks and robust strategic plans. It's not just about figuring out where new terminals, taxiways, aprons and runways will go: it's about having the confidence in forward planning to enable the medium-term release of land so that developers can have the confidence their buildings will be able to fulfil their intended lifespan, beyond the relatively short-lived capital investment of big-box retail park stores, but with the airport retaining space to be able to build in the long term. One leader in the field is Brisbane Airport. "Our current available vacant land bank is just over 500 hectares," explains Brisbane Airport's Floor Felten, general manager for strategic planning and development. "This land is intended for a variety of uses including commercial, industrial, retail and associated aviation development. BAC is constantly investigating opportunities to achieve our goal of developing business hubs. The BNE Auto Mall project is an example of this key strategy." The Auto Mall, a project coming in just underneath a cool $90 million that will sit between the domestic and international terminals, will be "a multi-purpose auto retailing hub that sees flagship dealerships sitting alongside exhibition and conference activities, hotels, event area, driver training schools and regional offices around a multi-purpose test track", the airport says. Meanwhile, at ADL, "Adelaide's Airport Business District has significant opportunities for future development," says Yong. "We have had some recent success with the new, state of the art pathology laboratory for Australian Clinical Laboratories under construction and a new Kennards Self Storage facility just opened. We continue to receive a high level of enquiry on other development opportunities across the Airport Business District particularly for land in Burbridge Business Park and on our planned freight and logistics hub at Airport East." Even before getting to the airport, the trends towards self-service and automation will only increase, with more opportunities for passengers to take care of the formalities while at home, work or en route. AUTOMATION WILL REVOLUTIONISE THE WAY AIRPORTS OPERATE Already, says Adelaide Airport's Young, there is "greater use of automated and self-service technology - many people now want to book their flight, select ancillary services, check-in, book their transport or parking, buy food and retail, check flight times and boarding gates, board their flight, track their luggage and arrange their travel to their pre-booked accommodation all on their mobile device." "The introduction of Smart Travel - kiosk and automated bag drop - has fundamentally changed the check-in experience," Young adds. "In the next five years we can see this going further, with your bags being picked up from home and dropped at your destination by a logistics provider, eliminating the need to drop bags in the terminal. When coupled with mobile check-in, the check-in hall of the future may be a very different place." Indeed, a Japan-style luggage delivery service would be very welcome to many passengers, but the infrastructure required has meant it has so far been limited in rollout. So far, Young explains, "the biggest impact has come from mobile devices. The sheer number of mobile devices has also changed the check-in experience, with travellers checking in and downloading their boarding passes at home, in the hotel or in the taxi or Uber on the way to the airport." Inside the terminal, says Brisbane Airport's Felten, "innovation in technology and digitalisation at airports can be seen throughout the passenger journey from the ever-increasing usage of mobile app and wearable technology - with passengers who want to be able to access information relating to flight information and booking details from their own personal devices to the use of digital and interactive methods of navigating through an airport including virtual and augmented reality." Augmented reality wayfinding seems set to be a real winner, where passengers can use the camera on their mobile device or direction signals from their smartwatch to follow a virtual path through the airport. The possibilities for airports to better serve their passengers, including first-time visitors, customers from multiple language backgrounds, and passengers with reduced vision or mobility impairments are truly exciting. The direct and third-party relationships between airport and passengers are evolving. Yet one of the questions that hasn't truly been answered is how passengers can manage the proliferation of airline and airport apps in order to take advantage of new technology. Right now, a passenger needs to download separate apps for each airline and airport they use on a trip. While any sort of predictions about future technology are very much crystal ball territory, it would seem that integration with mapping apps - Google Maps, Apple Maps, Baidu Maps, Waze, or similar - and travel management apps like TripIt hold some promise. The complexity is that the speed of change in the consumer electronics ecosystem is much faster than that in aviation. It's still hard for passengers to ensure that they navigate themselves to the correct dropoff location for their particular rental car company at many airports, and it feels like there may well be a role for individual airports and trade associations to better understand and work more closely with the numerous international app providers. There is a tension here between not wanting to reinvent the wheel while also ensuring enough control over the data passengers see to ensure accuracy and the delivery of the airport's goals, many of which revolve around encouraging more retail spend. Tension also exists between precisely whose passenger it is. "Growth and advancements in digital technology and social media use has provided a direct link between airports and passengers, when that relationship was historically owned by the airlines," says Brisbane's Felten. The greatest success here has been when airports go to where passengers are rather than trying to get passengers to come to them. Sydney Airport's automated Twitter-based arrivals and departures notification channel, on Twitter: @flySYD, allows passengers to subscribe to notifications for a particular flight, enabling what is essentially a personal FIDS feed with timing, gate and boarding information delivered via an app people already know how to use and whose notifications they already allow. "The world of media consumption is constantly changing," Felten acknowledges. "In the era of big data, we don't go online, we live online. Data gives the current and future passenger planning insight and informed decision-making and therefore it is vital that a future Brisbane Airport is able to respond accordingly. Airports are uniquely placed to tackle the challenges that accompany a digital transformation and this is already evident in today's passenger journey." Understanding how to use the plethora of data available already and that will continue to stream from every passenger, staff member, aircraft and ground vehicle will be crucial to the future success of airports and the ecosystem that surrounds them. DATA AND DIGITALISATION ARE ONLY STARTING TO OVERHAUL THE WAY AIRPORTS ARE RUN One key push recently has been to use the early benefits of the Internet of Things to make more of existing infrastructure and to guide the development of the next generation. "With global air traffic set to double over the next two decades, airport operators, regulators and ANSPs have been exploring ways to cope with this increase in demand through the digitalisation of airports," explains Ben Kiffs, managing director Middle East & Asia Pacific at NATS, the air navigation service provider that evolved from the UK's National Air Traffic Services, and which is looking to expand within Asia Pacific. "One of the most exciting developments taking shape in the past few years is the design and implementation of smart digital towers," says Kiffs. "From London and Hungary to Australia and Singapore, trials have begun all over the world to deploy smart digital tower technologies as a smart, safe and sustainable solution for not just low traffic density airports but also those that are regularly described as having (HIRO) high-intensity runway operations to manage." The benefits: images and data are generated by cameras, sensors, aircraft trackers, transmitters and other sources (like taxiway closure, runway availability, and so on), then stitched together into a live 360° picture of operations - which can then be managed either on-site or, in the future, remotely. "Such systems can track aircraft, as well as provide situational awareness for controllers and other airport stakeholders to airfield incursions and even drones," explains Kiffs. "Whether it is optimising air traffic management, delivering staffing deployment efficiencies, servicing remote airports with few daily movements, or as a contingency arrangement in the event of severe weather conditions like storms and hurricanes, moving away from the constraints of a physical tower is a logical next step for aviation authorities across the world which are grappling with the challenges of managing the exponential surge in air traffic." Smaller airports, especially those in rural and remote areas, are particularly ripe for smart digital tower innovations, with early trials of remote tower operations in northern Europe showing much promise. But even at an airport the size of Singapore Changi, NATS and partner Searidge Technologies are conducting a 22-month trial of smart digital towers. There are infrastructure requirements, however, Kiffs notes. "NATS is also working on a remote digital air traffic control tower demonstrator that uses high-definition cameras powered by super- fast and secure fibre connections. A smart digital tower, equipped with a range of assistive functionalities and features, can actually enhance air traffic management and safety of runway and ground operations, and increase operational efficiencies at airports across the world." MOVING BIOMETRICS BEYOND PASSPORT CHECKS WILL GO MAINSTREAM ALONGSIDE CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY It's 2018, and every model of iPhone released this year uses facial recognition software for unlocking. Despite privacy, accuracy and global functionality of this kind of technology, it seems here to stay and millions of people are now using it, helping to refine facial recognition and to improve the way it works. Indeed, Sydney Airport and Qantas are already trialling 'couch-to-gate' biometrics, with an initial phase testing check-in, bag drop, lounge access and boarding. Future trials may include mobile check-in and automated border processing, although the latter will be subject to governmental approval. "This is the way the world is going," says NATS' Kiffs. "More airports and airlines across the world are now using biometric applications like fingerprint and facial recognition technology to improve security and efficiency. According to SITA, 63 per cent of airports and 43 per cent of airlines plan to invest in biometric ID management solutions in the next three years." "There's no doubt it will create a much better passenger experience, with much shorter check-in and boarding times as well as clearance at customs and immigration, as well as improving identity management which is essential for effective border security." Young of Adelaide Airport concurs. "Biometrics for both departure and arrival is already starting to improve the international travel experience, with quick passport processing now common for most travellers. Biometrics will soon change the domestic travel experience, from dropping your bag, to buying items to boarding your flight, just with your face or fingerprint." Brisbane Airport is already in the game, says Felten. "In March 2017, BNE was the first airport in Australia to trial facial recognition technology SmartPath by SITA. A key benefit of working with SITA is its technology integrates with our existing common-use infrastructure - check-in kiosks and boarding gates - and can be used by any airline that operates on a common-use kiosk. As we progress we hope to integrate with various government systems for immigration and border checks." Those border checks are increasingly automated too, with Australia and New Zealand early entrants into the passport check kiosk game and still ahead of many other industrialised nations. Brisbane Airport, says Felten, "is currently progressing a number of Australian Government security screening strategies aimed at enhancing the security screening process and customer experience. These include technology upgrades which will introduce advanced screening technology allowing passengers to leave larger items like laptops and liquid aerosols and gels (LAGs) in their carry-on bags." "In addition," Felten notes, "passengers will be screened and cleared by body scanners and, providing passengers divest all items on their person, the scanning and clearance rates can be as fast as six seconds. The combination of these measures by late 2020 will ensure the use of the best available screening technology delivering faster, enhanced passenger facilitation and customer experience." INDIVIDUALISED PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND EXPERIENCES WILL BE THE HALLMARK OF A SUCCESSFUL AIRPORT Within the terminal, it will be no surprise that airports want to earn more from their retail spaces. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent to upgrade facilities, with both unique airport offerings, luxury brands and familiar high street products all playing their role in catering to individual passengers' desires. "Terminal retail," says Adelaide Airport's Young, "is about providing a personalised experience for our customers. We're looking for direct engagement with our passenger. We are seeing rapid change in the international visitor demographic, with the Chinese market growing quickly. As part of our terminal expansion and other future activities, we're providing retailers who represent emerging trends in key categories such as technology, fashion, health food options, and diverse cultural options. Duty Free stores are also evolving to become brand showroom spaces as part of the online-offline part of brands' omnichannel strategy." Services, too, are growing. "Adelaide Airport is examining the use of a common-use international lounge as part of our terminal expansion. Pay-to-use lounges will be particularly useful for smaller international airports with multiple carriers, where it's uneconomical for one airline to set up a lounge but multiple airlines can share pay-to-use facilities," Young explains. At Brisbane, Felten notes that "We continue to see an increased demand for lounges in various forms. Passengers are constantly seeking services to make their airport experience more enjoyable. For some passengers this may mean access to a pay per use lounge which we currently have at the BNE International Terminal." In addition, the muffled PA announcements will become a thing of the past, with Adelaide Airport now using automated, synthesised digital voices, says Mark Young. "The synthesised voices have been developed to be consistent and very easy for passengers to understand. They can also broadcast in multiple languages, reducing the confusion for non-English visitors." Adelaide is also seeing success from its volunteer ambassador programme, particularly from the Chinese-speaking volunteers who are stationed within the immigration area within arrivals to assist inbound passengers. http://australianaviation.com.au/2018/12/technology-shaping-the-airports-of-the-future/ Back to Top Aero Unveils Training School for Manpower Development Nigeria's oldest airline, Aero Contractors has launched a training school to end the dearth of skilled manpower in the aviation industry. The training school slated to start in January was launched by the company after obtaining Approved Training Organisation (ATO) licence from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). Aero said the school would kick-off with the training of cabin crew and dispatchers and later other courses would be added to the curriculum, noting that it aims to be aviation training facility for the West and Central Africa. It also aims to partner with the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria and similar international institutions to give Nigeria the best skilled manpower for the industry. The CEO of Aero Contractors, Captain Ado Sanusi, while commenting on the initiative said: "We have just got Aviation Training Organisation license. We have been on this for a long time because we wanted to get it right; we wanted to make sure we have a training organisation that is based on a solid foundation, which can be grown into a centre of excellence. "Now, we are starting with two approvals on our ATO, which are flight dispatcher and cabin crew. We intend to grow that into a bigger school and eventually into a research centre. "We want to build Aero Contractors to be a one-stop shop in aviation. After the training organisation approved by NCAA, we have maintenance organisation that is also approved by NCAA; we have maintenance facility, charter business and scheduled flight service. These are four strategic business units that we would like to grow separately so that they can feed the market. The market is under served in all these aspects that I have mentioned. We intend to build all these strategic business units into full business organizations that can sustain themselves and be profitable." The Head of the ATO, Rex Okunor, said the aim of Aero Contractors of opening the school is to use it to support the industry. "We want to use the training school to support the industry. What we want to do is to partner with all the training centres in Nigeria and run programmes. We have also plans to extend to the West and Central African sub-region. "Aero as a company has been existence since 1959, so we are deeply rooted and to have a training school is unparalleled. And I think that when we start fully, hopefully in January, the industry will see what I would want to call, quality. "In the aviation industry there is really dearth of manpower, especially for pilots and we believe we can partner with international organisations that are involved in this kind of training. We will also partner with the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology. This will help close the gap by training and keep retraining the aviation workforce. With that we think we can contribute our quota to the industry," Okunor said. https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2018/12/03/aero-unveils-training-school-for-manpower- development/ Back to Top Etihad Moving Steadily On 3D Printing Of Interior Parts Etihad Airways Engineering's design organization has designed and certified three 3D-printed cabin interior plastic parts. These have been manufactured at partner facilities so far, but Etihad plans to bring 3D manufacturing in-house in the future. The MRO is now focusing on cabin interior plastic parts because it sees the biggest potential for 3D printing in these parts. Its first ones were made using filament deposit technology, but Etihad is now moving toward selective laser sintering using powder. An Etihad manager says 3D is beneficial in rapid prototyping of parts that Etihad designs itself for customizing cabin interiors. "It is also very useful for making tools and fixtures that can be customized to the needs of the engineers." When printing actual parts, the benefit is a shorter lead time compared with ordering parts from the OEM. But this gain depends on the quantities needed. "3D printers are still relatively slow," the manager says. However, taking into account the time and cost to make a tool for injection molding, 3D printing becomes competitive for small to medium quantities. "The machines also get better and materials evolve, promising better economics in the future," says the Etihad manager. So at present, Etihad uses 3D printing where it makes sense in cost and lead time. But the MRO is working toward the vision of an entire 3D-printed cabin interior. And for that, an aircraft MRO needs strong partners. In late November, Etihad formed a strategic partnership with EOS, which will significantly expand Etihad's 3D capabilities. The initial phase of this collaboration will include qualification of machines, process and materials for aviation regulatory requirements. After initial steps, Etihad will certify additive processes and test and qualify new polymer materials with EOS. Long term, Etihad plans to roll out additive among its customers and within the broader aviation ecosystem. Also in late November, Etihad decided to deploy a BigRep ONE 3D printer. This printer will be used to print jigs, fixtures and non-flying parts on site and on demand. But Bigrep's large-scale 3D printers are also suited to print large cabin parts-possibly with a high level of customization. https://www.mro-network.com/emerging-technology/etihad-moving-steadily-3d-printing-interior- parts Back to Top SpaceX Postpones Launch of 1st Falcon 9 Rocket to Fly 3 Times for Booster Checks SpaceX is now aiming to launch a reusable Falcon 9 booster on its third flight, a first for the company, no earlier than Monday (Dec. 3) to allow time for additional checks. The Falcon 9 rocket, the first of SpaceX's upgraded "Block 5" series, was slated to launch Sunday, but will now lift off from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base Monday at 1:32 p.m. EST (1832 GMT; 10:32 a.m. PST). The mission has been delayed since mid-November over booster checks and bad weather at the launch site. "Standing down from tomorrow's launch attempt of Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express to conduct additional inspections of the second stage," SpaceX representatives said in a Twitter update Sunday. "Working toward a backup launch opportunity on December 3." SpaceX's upcoming launch is a milestone of sorts for the company in a few different ways. First, there's the resuability aspect. So far, SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stages have made at most two flights before being retired. But the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket launching Monday is making its third flight to space after launching the Bangabandhu-1 communications satellitefor the government of Bangladesh in May and the Merah Putih satellitefor PT Telkom Indonesia in August. That May launch marked the first of a Block 5 Falcon 9, an upgraded version of SpaceX's workhorse booster designed for at least 10 flights, if not more, as part of the company's reusability program to drive down the cost of spaceflight. As on its two previous flights, the Falcon 9 first stage is expected to return to Earth. It will land on SpaceX's drone ship "Just Read the Instructions" in the Pacific Ocean. There's also the number of SpaceX launches this year. SpaceX closed out 2017 with 18 launches, a record at the time and a significant step up from its previous record of eight flights. Monday's launch will mark SpaceX's 19th launch of 2018, setting a new record that the company will then break on Tuesday (Dec. 4) when it launches a Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station for NASA from Cape Canaveral, Florida. More SpaceX launches are scheduled for this month, so expect that record to be just over 20 by the end of the year. And finally, there's the payload. The Falcon 9 launch will be dedicated rideshare mission for the company Spaceflight, which is sending up 64 different small satellites on this flight. So there's literally a lot (of satellites) riding on this mission for SpaceX and its customer. You can watch SpaceX launch its milestone Block 5 Falcon 9 mission live on Monday. SpaceX will webcast the launch live here, and you can see it on Space.com here, courtesy of the company. The webcast will begin about 15 minutes before liftoff at 1:17 p.m. EST (1817 GMT; 10:17 a.m. PST). https://www.space.com/42608-spacex-postpones-third-launch-falcon-9-rocket.html Curt Lewis