[October 29, 2020] [No. 081] In This Issue : ProSafeT - SMS, Quality & Audit Management Software : Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology bulks up aircraft fleet for training : Airline Tech Startups Try to Adapt to Brutal Sales Market : The cabin is a low-risk Covid environment, finds Harvard : Canada Launches Major Initiative in Advanced Air Mobility : Why interest in Hydrogen as an aviation fuel has reignited : How Vistara Is Embracing New Technology : Jetaire grows with new aircraft fuel tank safety certifications : How Huawei is Accelerating Digital Transformation to Support Today’s Smart Airports : E-learning and simulators: training airline pilots after Covid-19 : SpaceX is replacing two engines on its Falcon 9 rocket ahead of next crewed mission Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology bulks up aircraft fleet for training Synonymous with aviation instruction in Tulsa, the United States and abroad, the Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology has been around close to a century. Officials there added to that legacy Wednesday at Jones Riverside Airport. Representatives celebrated the delivery to the flight school of the 5,000th Piper Archer aircraft made by the Vero Beach, Florida-based company. The airplane is among 32 new Piper aircrafts being purchased by Spartan to meet the demand for certified pilots in the United States. Founded 83 years ago, Piper in 1975 debuted the Archer, the standard plane used for new pilots and flight schools. “It seems fitting that one of the longest-standing aircraft manufacturers is delivering this milestone aircraft to one of the longest-standing flight training organizations in the world,” said Hans Stancil, general manager of sales for Piper Americas. The addition of the Piper Archers — two of the 32 planes will be Piper Seminoles — will allow Spartan students to be trained with industry-leading technology such as electronic flight bags and the latest Garmin G1000 avionics system, said Beau Schrader, Spartan College’s vice president of flight operations. A total of 763,000 new civil aviation pilots will be needed to maintain the world fleet over the next 20 years, according to the 2020-2039 Boeing Pilot Technician Outlook. “It is a good teaching tool because the Archer is a stable platform,” Schrader said. “It’s forgiving for the students. It takes, for lack of a better word, the abuse that students will give to it. The landings on these, the gear is very strong. “That’s one of the weaknesses we find with training students. The landing gear takes the brunt of the action. It takes skill to land soft. It’s just a rugged airplane overall.” Founded 92 years ago, Spartan College is one of the country’s first technical training schools for pilots and aviation maintenance. Along with three facilities in Tulsa, Spartan College is also located in Los Angeles; Inland Empire, Calif. and Denver. Since 1928, Spartan has trained more than 100,000 pilots and mechanics. “In a hard year, we could use a moment like this,” Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said. “This is a school that I think is founded in the values that have made Tulsa such as special city.” Bynum spoke about Spartan founder William Skelly, calling him a visionary. “He looked around the world and at the best the world had to offer and wanted to bring it right here to Tulsa,” the mayor said. “… The reality is that great things do not stay great unless you have great leadership and are investing in them to keep them forward-thinking “… That’s why I’m so thankful to hear (Spartan CEO) Rob (Polston) talk about they don’t want Spartan to be just a good school. They want Spartan to be the leading flight school in the world.” https://tulsaworld.com/business/local/spartan-college-of-aeronautics-and-technology-bulks-up-aircraft-fleet-for-training/article_230cc118-186a-11eb-b357-470d8ea913fe.html Airline Tech Startups Try to Adapt to Brutal Sales Market Business prospects darkened this year for several venture-backed startups focused on providing technology to airlines to run their operations and strategy better. Skift checked in with a random sampling of startups — Countalytics, Duffel, Elenium, Flyr, LocusLabs, Unicoaero, and Volantio — to take the segment’s pulse as airlines undergo an epic revenue crunch. Some startups have diversified their customer base outside of aviation. Some have used luckily timed funding rounds to fine-tune their products. Other companies have tried to stay relevant by either inventing new products or reviving old ones. “While many people think that this isn’t the ideal time to create a travel startup, the opposite is true,” said Bonny Simi, president of JetBlue Technology Ventures, the investment and innovation arm of U.S. carrier JetBlue. “There are plenty of opportunities to be had with early-stage funding while founders determine product-market fit.” “Travel startups have to be creative about working with airlines right now,” Simi said. “One way to do this is by demonstrating value through proof of concepts. My advice to founders is that they should be mindful of the associated cost due to spend sensitivity across the industry and consider proving their near-term value through low or no-cost trials.” SEEK ALLIES Countalytics has had a good and bad year. On the positive side, Google for Startups picked it this month as a Black Founders Fund recipient. A cash infusion and a related mentorship and networking program have helped the Atlanta-based startup, which uses computer vision and machine learning to help clients save money in inventory costs. The rest of 2020 has been challenging, though. “When the pandemic began, we were starting a pilot with Delta and Gate Gourmet,” said David Hailey, co-founder and CEO. “We were also talking with Lufthansa about a pilot in Frankfurt. As soon as March hit, all that went out the door.” Countalytics, founded in 2018, uses cameras to take pictures of an airline’s inventory, such as its in-flight catering items, and it uses software to count what’s in the images. Before and after photos of a flight can track what’s changed in, say, the number of airline meals, faster and more accurately than people can manually. The company hasn’t given up hopes on the airline sector. “Our messaging to airlines is that, as your catering ramps back up, we can help you save money and succeed,” Hailey said. “We help you hold caterers accountable for quality assurance, and we help you analyze consumption to get smarter about forecasting what’s worth stocking.” The company’s interactions with Google engineers about artificial intelligence and other disciplines may help improve its product and business. But Countalytics is also looking in other industries for prospects. It signed a contract with Duke Hospitality, which runs 10 hotels. It’s about to start a project with a large university in North Carolina. INVENT A NEW PRODUCT Elenium Automation, which is based near Melbourne, offers automation technology like self-bag drop machines for airlines and airports. But with few passengers flying, airlines and airports had little capital to invest, pushing operational efficiencies off their priority list. So the company tried to find other ways to help airlines and airports reduce their costs and prepare to reopen. It developed technologies this year that resulted in a “vital sign detection” kiosk, which can help automate vetting that passengers are healthy enough to fly. “This effort has helped us rebuild the pipeline across other industries and has taken some slack from the drop in demand from the aviation players,” said Ilya Gutlin, chief commercial officer and board member at Elenium. “But to get here, we went from a concept to a shipped product in six weeks, shipped dozens of these kiosks by June, and we crossed the 100 kiosk mark in August. We have recently developed a second-generation version of this kiosk, ready for mass production.” The company is currently certifying the kiosk as a medical device in the U.S., Australia, and Europe. The product’s early success helped the company raise an undisclosed round of funding that about $21 million ($30 million Australian), according to press reports. TIMING IS EVERYTHING Flyr launched in 2013 as a service to forecast the price of airline tickets and create insurance products against last-minute price changes. It pivoted three years ago to a business-to-business model. It now sells a “revenue operating system,” which aims to help airlines understand their pricing. “It turns out the system we’ve now invested about $30 million in is well-suited to Covid-19,” said co-founder and president Alex Mans. “Before the crisis, our customers saw a 3 to 5 percent revenue uplift from using our system,” Mans said. “Now, they see revenue increases in the 8 to 10 percent range. That tells you how bad legacy forecasting systems at dealing with this volatile environment.” The startup, which has about 65 employees, has kept all its contracts with two low-cost carriers, three hybrid carriers, and two large network carriers. Flyr now competes with tools from companies like Pros, Amadeus, and Sabre. “We ingest a lot more data, or signal, if you will,” Mans said. “We integrate an airline’s schedules, inventory, historical pricing, marketing campaigns, events, competitor schedules, competitor pricing, revenue accounting data that prices beyond just the fare to include other factors like ancillaries.” FIND A HIDDEN GEM In February, airline tech startup Volantio focused on helping airlines with full or nearly full flights tempt flexible passengers with compensation in exchange for rebooking on other flights. It also had a product for marketing automation, but that product wasn’t part of its sales deck’s main offer. Today, with airlines often struggling to fill flights, the Atlanta-based startup has put its SmartAlerts product front-and-center. Volantio has shifted the focus to the tool’s ability to help an airline anticipate shifts in demand by studying data. “We had an a-ha moment for our company when looking at the data this tool was generating,” said CEO Azim Barodawala. “We realized there was gold there. We thought the product was for marketing automation, but it’s actually for demand anticipation.” Airlines use Volantio’s tech to enable shoppers to set alerts when they’re browsing on airline websites. Most alerts travelers are setting are for dates that happen to be for about three months ahead. “The alerts give a window into travel in the future,” Barodawala said. “We can demonstrate that alerts have good track records in anticipating trends in transaction data overall. The alerts set by people have greater predictive power than other tools in this year’s volatility.” Volantio, founded in 2013, has disclosed raising about $2.6 million in investment. For its SmartAlerts tool, it leveraged a partnership with one of its investors, Amadeus, by integrating an Amadeus tool called Instant Search. “We have two new carriers that, hopefully, will go live in the next month, and we have one full-service carrier in Asia that’s at a contracting stage,” Barodawala said. DOUBLE DOWN Duffel, a London-based company focusing on smarter ways to distribute airline fares, benefited from having raised $51.5 million across rounds last year. Given that heavy funding, some people might expect investors to pressure the startup to make changes given the current airline crisis. But Duffel has doubled down instead. “There’s always a temptation when business slows down to start doing many other things in product development to hope something picks up speed faster,” said founder and CEO Steve Domin. “But even though it can seem a bit insane to double down on the airlines right now, that’s what we’ve done. There’s no doubt things will recover, and we want to be there with the right solution when that’s the case.” Duffel is creating a marketplace where airlines can distribute their fares to resellers. For example, it has secured Americas-focused partnerships with Air Canada, American Airlines, and United Airlines, supplying their content to agencies like Milla, a Chile-based company that offers booking and management tools to corporate travelers. But building any marketplace takes time. Will it go slower during the crisis? “Signing up about 80 airlines gives you something like 80 percent of passengers boarded worldwide, and we’re a quarter of the way to signing up those airlines,” said CEO and co-founder Steve Domin. “Next year, we’ll be more than half the way there.” PIVOT Unicoaero is a Sunnyvale, California, company that in 2017 debuted a business-to-business service, namely, a central baggage management platform that allows airlines to track and manage their bags from end-to-end. The startup subsequently raised $3.6 million in seed funding. Last year, Unicoaero had 56 airlines, such as Air France, Emirates, and Singapore Airlines, using its platform at more than 80 airports. It averaged at least 500 interactions a day. Unicoaero this year saw its revenue drop about 90 percent. The company responded by speeding up its plan to add a white-label service that manages door-to-door luggage couriers on behalf of airlines, splitting the revenue. “We’ll vet and contract drivers in Moscow, Delhi, Casablanca, etc., who will go to your Airbnb, hotel, or home, scan your boarding pass to retrieve the data on how much any bags you can have for free, check you in, and help you seal the bag before the driver drives it and drops it off at the airport,” said Ziko Atamuloev, founder and CEO. “On a flight’s arrival, our team clears the bag through customs and delivers it onward to the passenger’s end destination.” “We’re about to sign a contract with a major carrier at dozens of locations,” Atamuloev said. DIVERSIFY LocusLabs is a tech brand that helps operators manage and communicate everything about their physical space through a spatial mapping software platform. Airports and airlines were early critical customers for the company, which debuted its tools in 2015. Scores of airports worldwide have used its depth cameras, lasers, and software to create “centimeter-accurate” interior maps. Last November, Acuity Brands acquired LocusLabs. That deal turned out to be well-timed. Acuity’s investment enabled the brand to take a long view with its customers. “The industry conditions have led us to focus on use cases that positively impact operational efficiency, which we expect is a direction that will ultimately lead to even more value for our customers,” Karlee Kennedy, vice president, global sales and strategic accounts at Acuity Brands. “We’ve maintained very high retention, even though our [airline and airport] customers are in a challenging position,” Kennedy said. Yet, like Countalytics, LocusLabs has had to ramp up outreach to customers in other sectors like hospitality and corporate real estate. BE BOTH PRUDENT AND FAITHFUL How long will the sales slump last? “Yogi Berra famously said that “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future,’ and when you are coming out of a once in 100-year event, it is more so,” Gutlin said. “The aviation industry still has a long way to go before a full recovery to 2019 levels. I have seen 2024 or 2025 given as a time frame.” Many startups can’t wait that long. “If it takes four or more years for airlines to recover, 90 percent of startups will die,” Atamuloev said. “We’ve restructured, so we can last. But most companies will be in a bad place.” Acquisitions are also likely. A case in point is how Freebird, a startup that offered services for managing flight-disruption, was acquired by Capital One in August. The bank declined to provide an update on product development. In short, there appear to be many reasons why airlines shouldn’t go dark on working with startups. “During this time, airlines need to be ‘ambidextrous’ – focusing on both solving for the current pandemic’s challenges, but also looking for opportunities to innovate for the future,” Simi said. https://skift.com/2020/10/29/airline-tech-startups-try-to-adapt-to-brutal-sales-market/ The cabin is a low-risk Covid environment, finds Harvard Researchers at Harvard University in the USA have released the first phase of their evaluation of the risks of air travel during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research, conducted by the Aviation Public Health Initiative (APHI), a project of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, concluded that, through a layered approach to risk mitigation, the scientific evidence shows a low risk of SARS-COV-2 transmission on aircraft. The report provides evidence that it is possible to leverage technology and modify passenger behaviour to allow some ‘near normal’ activity on board aircraft, while reducing the risks of disease transmission during the Covid-19 crisis. Analysis from the report shows that the ventilation of cabin air reduces the possibility of exposure to SARS-COV-2 – indeed the Harvard team say the risk is lower than that of other common settings, such as a grocery store or indoor restaurant. This finding effectively counters the seated proximity of travellers during flights, say the Harvard team. While this is an independent report, the study is being sponsored by a consortium of airline operators, aviation industry manufacturers, and airport operators. The project engages a wide scope of key players in the aviation industry, which the Harvard team says enables the research to take a systems approach to problem assessment and solution building. A major factor of this safety finding is the frequent exchange of cabin air and the HEPA filters on aircraft, which remove more than 99% of viral particles from cabin air. In addition to the air filtration systems, synergistic layers applied by many airlines include the universal wearing of facemasks by passengers and crew throughout the journey; distancing protocols and provision of strong ventilation during boarding and deplaning; disinfection of high-touch aircraft surfaces to remove contamination; and, passenger attestations that they do not have Covid-19 related symptoms and will adhere to airline mask policy. “Our team found that, together with their high-performing ventilation systems, the actions that the airlines put in place – including mandatory use of face masks – significantly reduce the risks of viral transmission aboard an airplane,” said Dr Leonard Marcus, co-director of APHI. “With comprehensive adherence to these preventive measures by airlines and passengers, air travel, along with other sectors of society, can responsibly return to some level of normal activity as we await development of an effective vaccine,” he added. The National Preparedness Leadership Initiative is a joint programme of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Center for Public Leadership. The report is billed as a comprehensive assessment of current research on the SARS-CoV-2 virus as it applies to aviation. The APHI team also examined analyses conducted by the aviation industry and government that model disease transmission on board aircraft, combining those investigations with their own modelling. The findings report on current practices and opportunities to further reduce the risks of disease transmission during air travel. The researchers recommend that airlines operate supplementary ground-based ventilation systems in accordance with ICAO and aircraft manufacturers’ guidance to ensure appropriate ventilation is maintained throughout the boarding and deplaning processes. The team further recommends that airlines continue to enforce strict behavioural guidelines pertaining to mask wearing, as well as social distancing during boarding and deplaning. Recommendations for passengers include, first and foremost, wearing masks at all times except for very short periods to eat or drink. Additional recommendations include maintaining social distancing during boarding and deplaning, providing personal health attestations, and maintaining hand hygiene. Dr Marcus cautioned that any individual’s decision to engage in any public activity, including flying, must be balanced by personal health considerations. The second phase of the report will focus on the kerb-to-kerb airport environment, which will examine testing, the indoor air environment of airports, and other measures to reduce the risk of disease transmission. The full report and report highlights can be found HERE. Alison Taylor, chief customer officer for American Airlines said of the report: “We’ve always taken our commitment to care for customers’ safety and well-being seriously and Covid-19 has given us every reason to aggressively scale those efforts through our Clean Commitment. We’re encouraged by the findings that efforts such as those American has employed are exactly what we need to reduce the risk of exposure while flying, and we hope the research will provide additional peace of mind about travel.” https://www.aircraftinteriorsinternational.com/news/industry-news/the-cabin-is-a-low-risk-covid-environment-finds-harvard.html Canada Launches Major Initiative in Advanced Air Mobility The future of flight in Canada took a major step forward today with the launch of the Vancouver-based Canadian Advanced Air Mobility Consortium (CAAM), a multi-stakeholder group that will streamline research, development and commercial operations in the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) sector, globally recognized as the next frontier of commercial aviation. AAM involves the use of zero-emission, electric or hydrogen fuel cells, and vertical takeoff aircraft to provide transportation, emergency and supply chain services for urban and rural communities. Among the many benefits of these aircraft are greater maneuverability, less need for ground infrastructure (airport runways), less aircraft noise, reduced fossil fuel consumption, lower costs, shorter travel times and improved safety. Initiated and created by Canadian Air Mobility and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), there are currently more than twenty partners involved in the national effort. CAAM’s key members include TransLink, Helijet International, British Columbia Institute of Technology, the University of British Columbia, Bell Textron, Iskwew Air, and many of Canada’s leading aerospace stakeholders. “We’ve established an outstanding group of strategic members to support the design, integration, and implementation of Advanced Air Mobility in Canada,” said JR Hammond, founder and CEO, Canadian Air Mobility and executive director, CAAM. “We look forward to demonstrating the economic viability, environmental benefits and social inclusivity factors of this technology and making Canada a world leader in AAM. To that end, we welcome additional members who share our vision that AAM provides the path toward a safer, healthier, and more efficient mode of transportation.” In addition to providing transportation within urban and rural areas, AAM aircraft will play a critical life-saving role in emergency response situations by enabling faster air transportation of medical supplies, blood, donor organs, or patients to and from hospitals. It will also improve the emergency response and assessment of natural disasters such as floods and wildfires. Factors making the Greater Vancouver Area a promising AAM market include: a strong aviation infrastructure base; an existing scheduled helicopter service, with heliports in Vancouver and nearby Victoria and Nanaimo; numerous science and transportation research facilities; the Province of British Columbia and City of Vancouver’s commitment to the decarbonization of transportation; and the Pacific Northwest’s Cascadia corridor (Vancouver-Seattle-Portland), as one of the busiest routes for the movement of goods and people between Canada and the United States. Among CAAM’s objectives are to create an AAM innovation hub to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) grow their technology from a low technology readiness level (TRL) to certification and commercialization, while also expanding the AAM sector’s connections to regulators, manufacturers, aviation operators, infrastructure developers, academia, industry, and governments in Canada and internationally. “The National Research Council of Canada is proud to be a part of the Canadian Advanced Air Mobility (CAAM) consortium since the start,” said Ibrahim Yimer, the NRC’s vice-president of transportation and manufacturing. “We look forward to working with our 20 partners who are lending their expertise in the Advanced Air Mobility industry to decarbonize transportation, and create more efficient ways of moving people, goods and services and support more socially connected and integrated communities.” The future of the new era in aviation means faster medevac services, upwards of 4.2 million AAM travelers over the next 20 years, traveling between downtown Seattle and downtown Vancouver in 1 hour versus 3, expanding connections in remote communities and more importantly, creating new jobs. CAAM hosts a quarterly Digital Open House that provides the public with an opportunity to connect with current stakeholders and learn more about the progress of AAM work in Canada. The next Digital Open House is scheduled for Oct. 30 from 10:00-12:00 PDT. https://www.aviationpros.com/engines-components/aircraft-engines/electric-green-engine-technology/press-release/21160457/canadian-advanced-air-mobility-consortium-caam-canada-launches-major-initiative-in-advanced-air-mobility Why interest in Hydrogen as an aviation fuel has reignited When a six-seater Piper took to the skies at Cranfield Airport in southern England during June it made history as the first ever electric-powered flight of a commercial aircraft in the UK. The flight was significant for another reason. Unlike most prototype electric-powered aircraft recently developed, it was not fitted with lithium batteries but was powered by a hydrogen fuel cell engine developed by the California-based startup ZeroAvia. ZeroAvia isn’t the first to experiment with hydrogen power as an emissions-free alternative to fossil fuels. In 2016 the Slovenian light aircraft maker Pipistrel took part in an EU-funded project that saw a four-seater hydrogen fuel cell-powered passenger aircraft fly for 15 minutes in the skies above Stuttgart. Then during May last year the Massachusetts-based start-up Alaka’i Technologies revealed a full-scale model of a multi-rotor hydrogen-powered craft designed in partnership with car maker BMW. Energy intensity The advantages of using hydrogen as an aviation fuel are well-known. The chemical’s high energy potential – per unit of weight pure hydrogen is actually three times more energy intensive than jet fuel – meant it was first developed as rocket fuel for the US space program during the late 1950s. Yet despite its long history as a rocket propellant, hydrogen has been overlooked by the world of commercial flight. There are two main reasons for this, says ZeroAvia CEO and founder Val Miftakhov. The first is that hydrogen’s low density means that compared to conventional jet fuel it requires a great deal more storage space. The other reason is that “when you burn hydrogen there’s not a huge advantage relative to jet fuel,” says Miftakhov. “The turbines are actually no more efficient with hydrogen, in fact they could be less efficient,” he says. “What’s more, you still have all the disadvantages of burning things – you’re going to create high temperatures which means a lot of stress on your parts, and high maintenance costs.” However, there is growing pressure on the aviation industry to find sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. Miftakhov says this pressure has more to do with the long-term outlook than aviation’s current CO2 output, which is estimated to represent around 2% of global emissions, according to figures from the Air Transport Action Group. “Aviation is not a huge contributor to CO2 emissions worldwide today,” says Miftakhov. “But it is the fastest growing segment of transport and while all the other transportation modes are de-carbonizing, aviation doesn’t really have scalable solutions to move the needle on reducing CO2 emissions.” Battery deficiency The scalability of hydrogen as an aviation fuel is key. While a number of tech startups and leading OEMs are developing battery-powered air taxi concepts, also known as eVTOLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft, there is growing recognition that battery power can’t make the leap to larger craft. “Lithium batteries have a fundamental technical barrier – they have a low energy density,” says Alex Ivanenko, co-founder and CEO of HyPoint, a California-based company developing a hydrogen fuel cell engine for aircraft. Hydrogen’s relatively high energy density and recent advances in fuel cell systems’ technology mean it can now being looked at as a viable future alternative to jet fuel. “Fuel cell technology has become efficient enough and inexpensive enough to make it realistic to use hydrogen electric power,” says Miftakhov. Hydrogen does pose its own set of problems though, says Ivo Boscarol, the founder and general manager of electric aircraft-maker Pipistrel. “There are a lot of challenges,” says Boscarol. “From the safe storage of larger quantities of hydrogen, to fuel cell contamination and obtaining a good enough efficiency. But these are all solvable and I believe that the near future will bring very exciting solutions, which will also be certifiable for the commercial operation of aircraft.” ZeroAvia’s faith in hydrogen is shared by the UK Government, who last September awarded the company a £2.7 million (US$3.5 million) grant through its Aerospace Technology Institute to develop a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain for use in commercial aviation. Since then Miftakhov has shifted the company’s base to Cranfield. “We are currently preparing the aircraft for the next phase of flight testing where we will be testing the hydrogen fuel cell integration and longer distance flights,” says Miftakhov. The goal for the end of 2020 is “to demonstrate up to 300 miles of zero emission flights in a commercial-grade six-seater aircraft,” he says. The aim is to successfully demonstrate their technology on a 10- to 20-seat regional jet within the next three years. Storage complexity For this first phase of development ZeroAvia is developing a fuel cell system that runs on compressed hydrogen gas rather than the liquid hydrogen that is used in rocket propulsion. The reasons for this are twofold, says Miftakhov. The first is that liquid hydrogen is expensive because the gas has to be super cooled and maintained in that state. Secondly, the liquefied version requires more complex systems than the gaseous state for both storage on the ground and on the aircraft. According to Miftakhov, this extra complexity is likely to slow down certification “You have more modes of failure you have to mitigate against,” he says. When it comes to developing its powertrain for larger commercial aircraft, the company intends to switch to liquid hydrogen. The pressure vessels required to store gaseous hydrogen are bulky, says Miftakhov, meaning that the fuel containment system is much heavier relative to the amount of fuel it contains. On ZeroAvia’s modified six-seater Piper, for example, fuel makes up just 11% of the total weight of the fuel system, says Miftakhov. While this ratio can work for smaller planes, the fuel requirements of larger jets would result in a fuel containment system too heavy to get off the ground. In liquid hydrogen fuel systems by contrast, fuel makes up to 80% of the total weight of the fuel system. Since ZeroAvia doesn’t anticipate transferring their technology to bigger size jets until at least six years from now, the hope is that by then “the cost of liquid hydrogen will have come down sufficiently and it will become economical relative to jet fuel.” Temperature challenges Like ZeroAvia, HyPoint are also pinning their hopes on hydrogen as the future fuel of aviation. HyPoint’s fuel cell system contains a high temperature polymeric electrolyte membrane (HTPEM). This membrane allows the system to function at much higher temperatures than conventional fuel cell engines and helps to reduce its size, says Sergey Shubenkov, HyPoint’s co-founder and head of R&D. “The real problem for fuel cell systems is that while they need to operate at relatively low temperatures, they also produce a lot of heat,” says Shubenkov. “This means they need to have big, complex cooling systems that are much bigger than the fuel cell system itself.” Since HyPoint’s system can operate at twice the temperature of similar conventional fuel cell systems “this means we can reject the heat much more easily,” says Shubenkov. The company’s other innovation is to use air-cooling rather than liquid-cooling. “The combination of air cooling, high temperature and specialist design has allowed us to develop a system that is many times lighter than those of our competitors,” adds Shubenkov. HyPoint’s technology has attracted the interest of the Israel-based company Urban Aeronautics, which has agreed a deal with the company to develop a hydrogen engine for its proposed CityHawk. air taxi. The vehicle is currently powered by jet fuel, but the company wants to switch to a fuel cell system powered by hydrogen gas. Replacing the CityHawk’s combustion engine with a fuel cell engine shouldn’t bring up any insurmountable technical barrier, says Urban Aeronautics CEO Rafi Yoeli: “The fuel cell engine and the combustion engine are the same in that fuel and oxygen go in, and energy goes out. Except that for fuel cells it’s electrical energy. This means that instead of mechanical power transmission to the rotors we need electric motors on the rotors. “There would also be design changes required to accommodate the larger tanks needed to store the hydrogen gas. It’s a major modification on the aircraft but not in terms of the power required.” In the end Urban Aeronautics think the switch will be worth the effort. “Fuel cells, unlike batteries haven’t reached any plateau in terms of their growth potential of power to weight,” says Yoeli. “And because hydrogen is 100% sustainable we think this is the way to go.” https://www.aerospacetestinginternational.com/features/a-resurgence-in-interest-in-hydrogen-as-a-fuel-has-kickstarted-several-development-programs.html How Vistara Is Embracing New Technology Last month, Vistara proudly rolled out WiFi on its Boeing 787 Dreamliners. This move made it the first Indian carrier to offer this service. The initial WiFi-enabled flight took place on the airline’s new Delhi to London route. This move is just part of several technological initiatives that the Indian carrier is putting in place. Helpful introductions Simple Flying recently spoke with a Vistara spokesperson about how the airline is embracing technology. Altogether, the company undoubtedly sees the value in adopting new systems as it adapts to the industry. When it comes to onboard communications, the company’s new Boeing 787-9s and Airbus A321neos are already equipped with satellite connectivity by Panasonic, which enables passengers to access the internet through onboard WiFi, 3G mobile data through GSM, and GPRS for SMS and MMS services. Notably, the airline is currently offering complimentary inflight WiFi on international flights operated by its Dreamliners. Moreover, subject to regulatory approval, it plans to soon introduce the service on its Airbus A321neo aircraft as well. Furthermore, all Vistara aircraft come with Vistara World, the airline’s wireless entertainment service. The company says that this product offers passengers a rich multimedia library with a wide range of engaging content that includes movies, TV shows, and audio compilations of various genres as well as games. It also contains a high-quality map experience with a 3D flight path map and flight tracker. The need for change The spokesperson highlights that since its inception, Vistara has been at the forefront of embracing new technologies to offer a seamless and hassle-free travel experience for its customers. It says that it’s already on its digital transformation journey, which has been fast-tracked due to the global health crisis. Vistara has been extremely conscious about the safety of its customers and has introduced several tech-enabled processes to minimize physical contact. It understands that this is the need of the hour. Hence, several significant investments are being made in this direction. In the current scenario, minimizing human contact and introducing touchless solutions is the key to ensuring safety throughout the passenger’s journey and is a deciding factor for customers to choose an airline. Initiatives taken by Vistara include the implementation of touchless process. Kiosk screens, scan & fly services, self-tagging, self-baggage drop, self-boarding, e-gates, biometrics/face recognition, e-boarding passes, and bag tags are all part of this contactless passenger journey. Since all the processes are all touchless solutions, the carrier says that this factor will go a long way in the post-pandemic world to build passenger confidence in air travel. “As a young airline, any concept that promises to enhance customer experience finds the right place in Vistara in the form of experimentation, prototype, or a full-fledged solution,” the spokesperson told Simple Flying. These procedures have helped Vistara manage the crisis. They have combined well with other initiatives across the carrier’s operations. “To deal with the situation, we have been pursuing several measures to reduce non-customer facing operating expenditures and making every effort to conserve cash wherever possible, while exploring avenues for additional revenue,” the spokesperson added. “We participated in the government’s Vande Bharat Mission and also ramped up our cargo operations. Vistara became the first carrier to introduce an additional ancillary service which allows passengers to book an extra seat for themselves to ensure that the next seat is empty – to encourage travelers to fly with greater confidence. Vistara Upgrade is another such initiative launched recently facilitate our customers and augment our revenue.” Looking forward Vistara’s focus in the long term remains on densifying its domestic network and strengthening its presence in the international market while forging strong partnerships with many like-minded global airlines. The firm believes this approach will benefit its customers and offer them a seamless experience. Altogether, amid the pandemic, the airline expects a significant increase in demand for direct flights as customers try to avoid connecting flights due to concerns of exposure to COVID-19 in transit. Vistara states that it is very well placed and operationally ready to offer direct connectivity to long-haul destinations, especially with more 787-9s aircraft joining its fleet. It will also continue to focus on digitalization and improvising processes to make travel seamless for its customers. Plenty of potential Above all, Vistara is still a relatively new airline in India. The operator only commenced operations in 2015, giving it only half a decade of experience. However, it has already broken ground with its services, and this includes the adoption of modern technology. This only seems like the beginning for Vistara. There are many opportunities when it comes to modern tech. Perhaps we may see further adoptions in fields such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the airline industry continues to evolve. From onboard communications to biometric measures, technology will play a massive part in the airline’s operations over the next decade. This embracing could be what sets it apart from its counterparts in the next generation of commercial aviation. Vistara is evidently intent on expanding, especially internationally, with London flights already increasing in frequency this year. These technology initiatives will naturally help the airline on its journey across the continents. https://simpleflying.com/how-vistara-is-embracing-new-technology/ Jetaire grows with new aircraft fuel tank safety certifications ATLANTA - As the aviation industry scrambles to boost internal efficiencies to offset the economic impact of COVID-19, Jetaire Group's team of aircraft fuel tank compliance experts and aerospace engineers have respond to the needs of aircraft owners all over the world. Jetaire Group, known for their patented aircraft fuel tank ignition mitigation system called INVICTA, has been providing their unique, lightweight, and zero failure reticulated foam technology to global aviation companies seeking new safety solutions. Superior to failure-prone Nitrogen Inerting System, Jetaire Group holds the FAA Supplement Type Certificates for the installation of INVICTA technology for the Boeing family of 737, 757, and 767 aircraft and the Airbus A320 series. As part of their ongoing expansion, they recently gained their European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification, Agencia Federal de Aviación Civil (AFAC) certification for their INVICTA system for the B737 from the Mexican Aviation Airworthiness Authority, and also received certification from the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC) for the B737 (300-800) series aircraft. This set of certifications expand Jetaire Group's footprint into some of the most active aerospace markets in the world. https://www.intelligent-aerospace.com/commercial/article/14186321/jetaire-group-aircraft-fuel-tank How Huawei is Accelerating Digital Transformation to Support Today’s Smart Airports In this interview, DeeDee Doke, head of content production at Airlines magazine interviewed Wang Guoyu, vice president of the Global Transportation Business Unit, Huawei Enterprise Business Group, about some of the developments underway at Huawei, aiming to create a seamless passenger experience for all. DeeDee Doke: Do rail, aviation, and other transportation modes collaborate on solutions to provide seamless travel experience for passengers? Are the industries still operating in silos? Wang Guoyu: In fact, what you asked is just the current situation. And in my opinion, transportation operators, all of them realize the situation and almost all of them want to change the situation, break the different silos, and build the platforms. As you know, transportation moves passengers and freights in physical world, combining railway, subway, roadway, aviation and so on. Telecommunication moves data in digital world, through different data centers, applications and systems. Transportation digitalization will provide seamless journey for passengers. This year, COVID-19 has brought significant impact. For example, it made online transactions and working from home into a new normal, which means digital transformation is becoming an essential need for many industries. The main challenge of transportation remains the conflict between increasing mobility demand and poor transportation efficiency. For instance, in many airports, punctuality is only 75%. In large cities, during peak hours, vehicle speed can be less than 10KM/h. To improve transportation efficiency, MaaS (Mobility as a Service) for passengers and Multimodal Transport for logistics is more and more popular. It integrates passengers flow, freight flow, business flow seamlessly across multiple transportation modes. MaaS, or Mobility as a Service is the focus of public transportation. MaaS is combining railway, subway, roadway and aviation to meet passengers’ travel needs, lowering the cost and improving efficiency. Technologies such as 5G, IoT, cloud, big data and AI will definitely play a key role in MaaS. Huawei offers a comprehensive transportation solution, which leverages ICT technologies to digitize all transportation elements, including passengers, freights, vehicles, and business flows. This solution consolidates multi-source data into the unified data lake, so we can develop algorithm and data model, build an indicator system for scenario-based solutions. DeeDee Doke: It takes a long time to achieve digital transformation. What should we pay attention to during the process? Wang Guoyu: I think there are 3 points need to be considered. First of all, for digital transformation, we need to begin with the overall architecture and design from top down. We have developed an innovative solution architecture consisting of three horizontal layers and three vertical business flows. At the first layer is the infrastructure connection layer. 5G, IoT and machine vision can fully connect all objects, such as people, vehicles, and all the things, and streamline all airport service and systems. 5G can deliver enhanced performance, including higher bandwidth, lower latency, and more dense coverage, to support passenger online services and smart inspection robots. The second layer is the platform. It is based on cloud, providing unified storage resource, computing resource and network resource. All these three resources are the basic digital resources. We use this unified platform to provide big data technology to facilitate data value, to mine the data value and to share the data service. And the third layer is the application layer. In this layer, we can gather ecosystem partners with extensive industry experience, and more AI-based applications. For passenger flow, cargo flow and flight flow, we need to identify key scenarios along these business flows, to develop scenario-based solutions. Secondly, life cycle management is very important to digital transformation. It starts with consultation and planning, then proceeds with system development and integration, and we need continuous operation and maintenance to help customer keep its industry position. Last but not least, one tree doesn’t make a forest. One company also cannot achieve so much alone. Vendors, partners and customers need to work hand in hand to build an open ecosystem to realize this vision. Huawei’s strength is within digital technologies, but partners and customers have the industry know-how knowledge. The combination of the two can create chemistry, and this collaboration of chemistry could potentially be the secret to success. DeeDee Doke: How can we apply AI, IoT, and big data during airport digital transformation? Wang Guoyu: The development of big data, IoT and AI will have significant impacts on the aviation digital transformation. For example, Shenzhen Airport takes the lead in implementing intelligent stand allocation. Originally, it takes about four hours to manually allocate stands to over 1,000 flights every day and every night. The intelligent stand allocation system uses AI algorithms. We consolidate more than 60 operation rules to reduce the allocation time, and the result we can reach from 4 hours to one minute. So, we can improve bridge-to-aircraft docking rate and bridge turnover rate. After deploying this system, more than 2 million passengers can board and disembark through contact stands instead of shuttle bus every year. Shenzhen Airport also launched a flight support process system based on big data, which deploys IoT and machine vision to collect data on key ground support nodes, as accurate as 95%. This system monitors the whole flight support process, detects and handles exceptions in real time, and improves the airport's punctuality rate. The smart airfield ground light solution is another reference. We use IoT and AI technology to control the ground lights instead of manually. We plan the taxi path and detect aircraft conflicts. So, we can reduce aircraft taxiing time, increase the efficiency of runways and taxiways. Normally it takes at least 20 minutes from landing to docking. If three minutes can be saved for each flight, the taxiing efficiency can be improved by at least 15%. Shenzhen airport handles more than 1,000 flights every day, and this solution helps to save 3,000 minutes every day. https://www.aviationpros.com/airports/press-release/21160435/huawei-how-huawei-is-accelerating-digital-transformation-to-support-todays-smart-airports E-learning and simulators: training airline pilots after Covid-19 Social distancing measures have dealt a hard blow to the aviation industry, not only in terms of passenger numbers but also when it comes to the training of future pilots. Airlines have less time and resources to train their cadets in house and are likely to rely more on external training centres, such as the Alpha Aviation Group. Born out of the necessity to provide continuity for its students during the pandemic, Alpha Aviation’s e-learning programme has the potential to take off in a post-Covid future. In the Q&A below, the company’s executive director Bhanu Choudrie explains why. Ilaria Grasso Macola (IGM): When did Alpha Aviation start to develop its e-learning programme? Bhanu Choudhrie (BC): When the Covid-19 pandemic started to spread in March, we realised that a lot of restrictions were coming into place. And, as the airline industry started to notice difficulties in flying – including the cancelling of flights and travel restrictions – we were very quick to adapt. And we were very quick to see that e-learning was going to be a long-term solution for us in the training sector. So, we started to adapt [to this] very early on, both as a training centre and as a company. IGM: What was the rationale behind the project? BC: The objective was to provide continuity for our students. At any given point we have between 600 and 700 cadets across the UAE and the Philippines, with the bulk of them located in the Philippines. It’s a massive blow to cadets, as they have paid for programmes which span from 20 to 30 months, that they have to stop or have a cold start on their training syllabus, not knowing when they’ll be back. That was a major factor for us because, in March, no one knew when the training was going to resume. So we wanted to provide our students with the continuity of the programme and learning [so that] they could come back to the campuses and resume their normal classes. IGM: How does the programme work? BC: The programme is very similar to how universities and schools have continued to teach during the pandemic. Our instructors work remotely as well as our students, who are either back in their home country if they are international or at home in the Philippines if they are from the country. All of them are connected through online platforms, where the instructor is able to teach students. Cadets are also required to do homework as well as testing, which takes place remotely. We are used to these methods because for the last two and a half years we have worked with the Philippines Aviation Authority to carry out testing for regulators. It’s not something new for us: we had to pick up what we have actually been doing with regulators for the last two and a half years. IGM: What are the benefits for pilots? BC: The first benefit is that we provide continuity in the coursework so that students, who have paid expensive fees, don’t lose months of training. The second element is that we are able to expand our base of students. Now we can offer e-learning for parts of the syllabus and not be restricted by facilities and plan to include additional classes, which will start with the e-learning programme and then come onto campus when the previous class has left. Through e-learning, we can actually increase our student capacity. IGM: You are investing in simulator facilities across the UAE and the Philippines. Can you tell us a bit more about them? BC: The simulator is a very important aspect of flying. In the Philippines, we have the first Airbus A330/A340 simulator. We have focused on the demands of the local area and region and we work with airlines to understand what the future requirements and demands of training will be. Because of Covid-19, we are going to see changes in the way the airline sector will train pilots. Before, pilots were sent to other continents to do their training, but now I don’t think it will happen anymore. So companies are going to focus more regionally and will rely on local training providers because they meet the demand from local airlines. IGM: Are there any safety risks for pilots that train using your e-learning programmes? Will there be more pilots with less experience? BC: The aviation industry is so highly regulated by local aviation authorities that the e-learning aspect is only focused on the classroom element, not on flying hours. Flying will continue to be done either through schools or through simulators. IGM: Covid-19 hit the whole aviation industry hard. In what ways e-learning programmes will help it recover? BC: E-learning is going to help a lot of training institutions like Alpha Aviation to continue the training, even when there are restrictions on social distancing and the number of students allowed on campus. If there is a Covid-19 case in a facility, even though the building has to be shut down, learning can continue remotely. It also presents a big advantage when travelling is restricted between countries, as it can continue as long as you have basic internet and computers. E-learning becomes a huge pro for students, as we are actually seeing large numbers of students wishing to sign up because of e-learning. These programmes have become possible also thanks to regulators, which were very good and quick to adapt to this new reality. If the regulators had objected, we would have had a problem. IGM: Do you see e-learning programmes becoming the norm in the future? BC: I think it will have to. Just like in the education sector, we are seeing how e-learning is going to become a part of the regular syllabus. Before, everyone wanted students to be on campus and in classrooms, and e-learning was sort of a second or third aspect of that. Now e-learning is becoming much more important for some people, in the sense that it’s the main income generator and the main element they’re going to focus on. For the aviation industry, e-learning will play a very important factor. In fact, it could be even at the top of the list of priorities. https://www.airport-technology.com/features/elearning-and-simulators-training-airline-pilots-after-covid-19/ SpaceX is replacing two engines on its Falcon 9 rocket ahead of next crewed mission SpaceX is replacing two engines on its Falcon 9 rocket that will soon carry four astronauts to the International Space Station. The change is being made after SpaceX found a substance in the engines that could have caused them to start earlier than planned. SpaceX found the substance after one of the company’s launches halted just before liftoff in October. One of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, tasked with launching a new GPS satellite for the Space Force, shut itself down just two seconds before takeoff. “It was a good abort,” Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of build and flight reliability for SpaceX, said during a press conference. “It did exactly what we programmed it to do.” Today, SpaceX revealed the rocket had automatically stopped its own launch after two of its nine main Merlin engines tried to start too early. Starting up too early could have caused something called a hard start, where the engine’s various propellants and liquids are combined in the wrong order. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 shut itself down before that happened, but such a hard start could have damaged the hardware. “It’s not necessarily bad, but in most cases, you know, it rattles the engine,” Koenigsmann said. “And it may cause, you know, a little bit of damage on the engine. In extreme cases, it may cause more damage to the engine.” After the abort, SpaceX inspected the engines and found a reddish lacquer substance blocking a relief valve in each model. The lacquer, analogous to nail polish, is used to treat surfaces, likely leftover from when the engines were being built. Koenigsmann noted that it came from one of SpaceX’s vendors that works on the engine, though he didn’t name the company. “It could be that person is now more generous with cleaning fluid or anything,” Koenigsmann said. “It’s a little bit hard to figure this out.” SpaceX says it’s working with the vendor to implement corrective actions and that the company will be inspecting all of the hardware more closely in the short term. After the abort, SpaceX also examined the engines in its fleet that will be used for upcoming launches. They looked for any exhibiting this early startup behavior and singled out five various engines on three different rockets. Two were on the Falcon 9 rocket that will launch three NASA astronauts and one Japanese astronaut in November, a mission called Crew-1. After this testing, SpaceX opened up all of the engines and found the same lacquer inside. SpaceX also noted that the lacquer was found mostly on newer engines that had been built recently, not the engines that have already flown to space and back. Now, the company is in the process of swapping out the engines ahead of Crew-1, which is tentatively set for November 14th at 7:49PM ET. “Two, three days is roughly what you need to take it out,” Koenigsmann said regarding the engine swap. “And then another two, three days to put it back in again.” Ultimately, SpaceX won’t fly Crew-1 until a few days after the company launches a joint European and American satellite called Sentinel-6, which is designed to map the world’s oceans. SpaceX found an affected engine on the Falcon 9 rocket for that flight and had to swap it out, too. NASA wants to see how that launch goes first before it makes the final decision about flying its astronauts on SpaceX’s Falcon 9. The Sentinel-6 launch is currently slated for November 10th out of California. Meanwhile, the four astronauts assigned to Crew-1 have started their quarantine process, staying mostly at home with their families before heading into a stricter quarantine two weeks ahead of flight. NASA has also been keeping them informed about the engine swap and all the details leading up to launch. “They’ve been in a lot of the telecoms and listening to what’s going on with the vehicles,” Steve Stich, the program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said during the press conference. “We have a little bit more work to do on this engine and offline... but I think we see a pretty good path to get to flight and we’ll fly when we’re ready.” Correction: An earlier version of this story claimed that Sentinel-6 was launching from Cape Canaveral, but it is launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base. We regret the error. https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/28/21539060/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-merlin-engines-crew-1-nasa-swap Curt Lewis