January 21, 2021 - No. 06 In This Issue : European aviation agency: 737 Max to be cleared next week : Electric aviation startup MagniX opens new headquarters and production facility in Everett : Orkney to trail hydrogen in sustainable aviation programme : Greenergy opts for Haldor Topsoe’s HydroFlex technology to produce low-carbon fuels from waste tires : SCHOOL BOARD APPROVES AVIATION & DRONE CURRICULUM : FLITE consortium building Europe’s first Alcohol-to-Jet plant; Lanzatech technology : New Logistics Center at Munich Airport Goes into Operation : Aircraft concept uses selective catalytic reduction of NOx emissions : Curtiss-Wright, Honeywell Achieve EASA Certification on Connected Cockpit Voice Recorder : ACI and Amadeus Announce Enhanced Long-Term Partnership : SpaceX acquires former oil rigs to serve as floating Starship spaceports European aviation agency: 737 Max to be cleared next week BERLIN (AP) — The Boeing 737 Max will be approved to resume flights in Europe next week, following nearly two years of reviews after the aircraft was involved in two deadly crashes that saw the planes grounded worldwide, the head of the European aviation safety agency said Tuesday. Patrick Ky, executive director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, or EASA, told reporters the planes will be permitted to fly so long as they meet conditions specified by the agency and that pilots are up to date on their training. “It will be cleared to fly again from next week,” he said at an online event hosted by Germany’s Aviation Press Club. The planes were grounded in March 2019 following the crashes of a Lion Air flight near Jakarta on Oct. 29, 2018, and an Ethiopian Airlines flight on March 10, 2019, killing a total of 346 people. Investigators determined that the cause of the crashes was a faulty computer system that pushed the plane’s nose downward in flight and couldn’t be overridden by pilots. Changes mandated by EASA, based in Cologne, Germany, include a recertification of the plane’s flight-control system, called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, which was not a part of previous 737 models. When EASA published its proposed air worthiness directive for the Max in November, Ky said the agency’s review of the aircraft “began with the MCAS but went far beyond.” He said the agency reviewed the entire flight control system and broadened its assessment to include all aspects of design that could influence how the flight controls operated, which resulted in other changes required. It also investigated human factors, which led to new pilot training requirements to ensure they are familiar with all aspects of the aircraft’s flight control system and “will react appropriately to typical failure scenarios.” The proposed air worthiness directive was open for public comments for a month, which have now been analyzed and incorporated into the final air worthiness directive where needed, Ky said. “We expect to publish it next week, which means that the Max will be cleared to fly again in Europe from our perspective,” he said. Airlines will still need to ensure their pilots have received the training needed to fly the plane, and that the maintenance and changes necessary have been carried out after the long grounding. Some EU states will have to lift their own individual grounding notices as well. The 737 Max returned to the skies in the United States last month, after the Federal Aviation Administration approved changes that Boeing made to the automated flight control system. It has also been allowed by Brazil to resume flights, and Transport Canada said earlier this week that it had been cleared to start flying again Wednesday. https://apnews.com/article/business-europe-c59d80218b62ab85d70a3078c28e2e13 Electric aviation startup MagniX opens new headquarters and production facility in Everett Local aviation startup MagniX, which is developing electric motors to replace the gas turbine engines on commuter airplanes carrying up to 40 passengers, announced Tuesday it is consolidating its operations at a new facility in Everett. Formerly headquartered in Redmond, with engineering centers there and in Australia, MagniX has moved its entire workforce — currently about 50 people — to the new facility on Seaway Boulevard, just north of Boeing’s Everett jet assembly plant. The new 40,000-square-foot Everett building will house MagniX headquarters as well as engineering, production, testing and delivery of its motors. MagniX CEO Roei Ganzarski, a former Boeing executive, said in an interview that the consolidation was long planned but was accelerated by the pandemic-driven downturn affecting potential customers. To cut operating and staffing costs, MagniX shuttered its engineering center in Australia and laid off most of the 30 employees. Ten of those Australian staff have relocated to Everett. Ganzarski said the company has hired 11 people in the last couple of months and expects to grow to “at least 60” in the coming months. That will bring the company back up to where it was last year, though now all in Everett instead of equally divided between Washington state and Australia. Zero emission flight Electric-powered flight technology is not considered viable for Boeing-size airplanes. MagniX instead focuses on developing the propulsion system for all-electric, zero-emission flights on small commuter aircraft that fly routes shorter than 1,000 miles. Ganzarski cites compelling economics, claiming that electric aviation should cost about $300 per flight hour versus $1,500 per flight hour on current gas-powered planes of that size. The MagniX electric motor technology was initially developed and the company founded in Australia in 2009. Only one of that original team of scientists remains at MagniX, David Sercombe, who is the chief engineer for propulsion. The company set up a U.S. headquarters and engineering site in Redmond in 2018, choosing the Pacific Northwest for its aerospace talent and expertise. Initially, MagniX plans to retrofit existing small airplanes, taking off the turbine engines and replacing them with its cylindrical electric motors. The system depends on battery makers supplying suitably light and powerful batteries to provide electricity for the motors. Vancouver, B.C.-based Harbour Air is working with MagniX to get its fleet of de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver seaplanes certified for commercial flights. And after MagniX did a test flight on a Cessna Caravan last May, Sydney Seaplanes, based in Sydney, Australia, announced in December it will work to certify and convert its fleet of those aircraft to electric power. Ganzarski said MagniX expects to have its motors certified for aviation use by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by the first half of next year. He said the five-passenger de Havilland Beaver could be certified to carry passengers by late 2022 and the nine- to 11-passenger Cessna Caravan in 2023. Sister company sets up in Arlington However, MagniX sees an eventual bigger market for its motors in all-new electric aircraft and is working with several startups developing such designs. One is sister company Eviation, of which Ganzarski is now chairman. Both MagniX and Eviation are funded by the Singapore-based Clermont investment group owned by New Zealand-born billionaire Richard Chandler. Eviation has designed, though it hasn’t yet flown, an all-electric plane called Alice that can carry nine passengers and has a range of 440 miles. Late last year, it agreed to lease three hangars at Arlington Municipal Airport, about 20 miles north of Everett, where it plans to assemble its first planes this year and conduct ground and flight tests and, eventually, deliveries. Ganzarski said Eviation now has about 30 employees and is continuing to grow. In January a year ago, a lithium ion battery pack used for a ground test caught fire and destroyed the fuselage of the prototype Alice. Ganzarski said such setbacks are to be expected when developing new technology. “It’s part of the process,” he said. “They learned real hard lessons.” He said Alice should have its first flight this year and Eviation will build two more test planes for a two-year flight test and certification program. It should be ready to deliver in 2023, he said. Only one Eviation customer has been publicly identified: Cape Air, a commuter operator in the Northeast U.S. serving routes such as Boston to Martha’s Vineyard and New York to Nantucket. Ganzarski said MagniX is also working to supply electric motors to U.K.-based Faradair, which is developing a tri-wing Bio Electric Hybrid Aircraft designed to carry about 18 passengers. And MagniX will also supply its motors to Universal Hydrogen of Los Angeles, Calif., a startup led by Airbus alumni that aims to convert the de Havilland Canada DHC-8-300, commonly known as the Dash 8, into an all-electric version carrying about 40 passengers. The idea is that MagniX motors will replace the turbines on the Dash 8 wings while hydrogen fuel cells instead of batteries will replace the jet fuel system to provide the electricity. All of these startups are in development, still years from taking in revenue from tickets sold to passengers. Even the retrofitted electric versions of the Beaver and the Caravan are still some way off. Yet even as the pandemic has reduced air travel worldwide, Clermont is continuing to pour investment into MagniX and Eviation in the expectation that small airplanes will prove an ideal application for electric power and that such short-hop aircraft will be among the first to recover once the pandemic eases. Ganzarski said Clermont is “private and closely held” and won’t disclose the extent of its investment. “Aerospace is not a cheap proposition,” he said. “It requires financial patience.” https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/electric-aviation-startup-magnix-opens-new-headquarters-and-production-facility-in-everett/ Orkney to trail hydrogen in sustainable aviation programme Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) has embarked on a £3.7m project to develop a sustainable aviation programme, through which it will explore hydrogen, electric or sustainable aviation fuels to replace conventional fossil fuels. Part funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, the SATE (Sustainable Aviation Test Environment) project will create the UK’s first operationally based, low-carbon aviation test centre at HIAL’s Kirkwall Airport in the Orkney Islands. Running for 18-months, the project brings together a consortium of aviation industry specialists, including Ampaire, ZeroAvia, Loganair, Windracers and Flarebright who will each trial a host of new transport option. The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), Denchi Group, Orkney-based Cloudnet, Air Service Training, University of the Highlands and Islands, The Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HITRANS), Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), and Orkney Islands Council complete the partnership. Under the project terms, consortium members will look at how to implement zero carbon airport infrastructure using green energy sources, as well as digital networking and the development of resilient communications. The socio-economic impact of new technologies and services in the region, and the skills and training needed to support them, will be assessed. Commenting on the venture, HIAL Managing Director Inglis Lyon, said, “Project SATE will place the Highlands and Islands at the vanguard of the adoption of next-generation aircraft and spearhead the aviation industry’s response to climate change.” “The project will identify the necessary supply chain and people skills to support the development and testing of the new technologies, with the aim of developing a Highlands and Islands sustainable aviation sector, stimulating inward investment and local supply chain opportunities.” “It will also measure local community appetite for the new aircraft technology, especially on lifeline regional routes, and the potential impact on the regional economy from the adoption of these new technologies.” Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity Michael Matheson, added, “This is a very exciting project and it’s fantastic to see Highland and Islands Airports Ltd take the lead to create the UK’s first low-carbon aviation test environment. “This test centre has the potential to put Scotland at the forefront of the transition to low carbon aviation and is an important step towards delivering our commitment to decarbonise scheduled passenger flights within Scotland by 2040. “ https://www.h2-view.com/story/orkney-to-trail-hydrogen-in-sustainable-aviation-programme/ Greenergy opts for Haldor Topsoe’s HydroFlex technology to produce low-carbon fuels from waste tires Greenergy will invest in Front End Engineering Design (FEED) of a project to produce low-carbon transportation fuels from waste tires. In the first phase, the planned facility will process up to 300 tons of shredded tires each day to produce low-carbon, low-sulfur drop-in fuels that can be blended into diesel and gasoline. A second hydrotreating unit will have the capacity to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Topsoe’s proven HydroFlex technology has been chosen for hydroprocessing in both units. An estimated 1.5 billion tires are discarded each year worldwide, creating significant waste. This project will be the first of its kind to use waste tires as feedstock for low-carbon, low-sulfur fuel production. The tires will be pyrolyzed to produce pyrolysis oil that can be catalytically converted into fuel using Topsoe’s HydroFlex technology. The process also recovers carbon black that can be reused in the circular economy for the production of new tires and other industrial rubber products. The facility will also have the optionality to include an independent plant that could produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). This plant will also use the HydroFlex technology. “We have been exploring innovative ways to produce liquid fuels from different waste products to continue to create new forms of development fuels and deliver further carbon savings in the years ahead. This milestone for the project is a key part of our strategy to expand our industry-leading renewables business. Our customers will continue to benefit from our integrated approach to manufacturing and blending of renewable fuels,” says Christian Flach, CEO of Greenergy. The plant is earmarked to be located at Thames Enterprise Park, subject to planning approval and with a view to commence commercial production in 2025. https://www.greencarcongress.com/2021/01/20210119-greenergy.html SCHOOL BOARD APPROVES AVIATION & DRONE CURRICULUM JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Jamestown Public School Board moved to approve new curriculum that includes aviation and drone technology in the future. Jamestown Public School Superintendent Dr. Rob Lech says the opportunity in Career and Technical Education (CTE) has been in the works for some time. Dr. Lech says commitment from other organizations will be vital in the next steps, but there’s been opportunities for aviation I and II, drone and drone technology, and lifeguard certification and water safety. He added that the biggest hurdle was cost of equipment for a course such as drones and drone technology. Dr. Lech says it could be a good partnership for the district and partner. As drone technology continues to evolve, it’s believed the curriculum would benefit students and provide them opportunity to explore with the plan to expand to next levels. Dr. Lech says there may even be opportunity for community as well. Surveys have shown a high level of interest in these courses. https://www.newsdakota.com/2021/01/19/school-board-approves-aviation-drone-curriculum/ FLITE consortium building Europe’s first Alcohol-to-Jet plant; Lanzatech technology The FLITE (Fuel via Low Carbon Integrated Technology from Ethanol) consortium, led by SkyNRG and with LanzaTech as the technology provider, will build the first-of-its-kind LanzaJet Alcohol to Jet (AtJ) facility. The facility will convert waste-based ethanol to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at a scale of more than 30,000 tons/yr. LanzaJet’s proven ATJ process is a continuous catalytic process that converts ethanol to Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene (SPK) or Synthetic Paraffinic Diesel (SPD) through four primary process steps that have each been proven at commercial scale: Dehydration, Oligomerization, Hydrogenation and Fractionation. The ethanol is first dehydrated to ethylene in the Dehydration section. The ethylene is then oligomerized into longer carbon chain olefins in the Oligomerization section, where the process operating conditions can be tuned to produce a high yield of either jet or diesel. The Hydrogenation section saturates any olefins to paraffins and iso-paraffins. Finally, the product is fractionated in the Fractionation section to isolate the SPK jet blend-stock as a stable, wide boiling, paraffinic kerosene that has superior properties to conventional jet fuel including improved energy density, freeze point and thermal stability. The remaining fraction is SPD with superior properties to conventional diesel. The project received €20 million in grant funding from the EU H2020 program and is a major milestone on the path to a net-zero emission for the aviation industry. Sustainable aviation fuel is needed to reduce emissions from the aviation sector in the coming decades. Ambitious targets are proposed as part of the European Green Deal ‘Sustainable and smart mobility’ policy and the new legislative initiative ‘EU ReFuelEU Aviation’. To meet these targets in the years to come, feedstock and technology options for SAF production need to be diversified. This pre-commercial AtJ production plant will pave the way to implementing SAF production across Europe and around the globe, producing commercially relevant quantities of SAF to support future aviation’s climate targets, SkyNRG said. The FLITE project kick-off was held on 8 December 2020. The consortium consists of leaders from their respective industries. SkyNRG, a global market leader for SAF solutions, is acting as the project coordinator and managing downstream supply chain development; carbon recycling company, LanzaTech, will be responsible for plant design, construction and operations using the LanzaJet AtJ technology; Fraunhofer, Europe’s largest applied research organization, will oversee and distribute communications about the project; energy and sustainability strategy consultancy E4tech, will conduct the life cycle assessment; and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), will support the project through guidance on RSB certification of the facility. The FLITE AtJ facility will be fully operational in 2024, producing SAF using waste-based ethanol sourced from multiple European producers. In addition, it will produce SAF which will result in a significant carbon emission reduction relative to fossil kerosene and will also reduce emissions of particulates matter and sulfur. The SAF will be certified through the standards of RSB. https://www.greencarcongress.com/2021/01/20210120-flite.html New Logistics Center at Munich Airport Goes into Operation A new generation of storage technology goes live at Munich Airport: Around a year and a half after construction began, the new high-tech logistics center at the airport went into operation today. From now on, the warehousing capacities of the airport’s retail subsidiary Eurotrade, the catering subsidiary Allresto and Flughafen München GmbH (FMG) will be combined under one roof in the building in the northwestern part of the airport site. The total area of the logistics center including external storage areas is around 24,000 m2, meaning that the complex also has sufficient capacity to offer warehousing space to companies outside of the FMG Group. The building itself is 113 meters long and 76 meters wide and covers an area of around 15,000 m2. It includes facilities such as a 300 m2 deep freeze store designed for temperatures as low as -20°C. In addition, the building features a 100 m2 “fresh goods” cold warehouse cooled to a temperature of 4°C and a high-bay warehouse with space for more than 5,600 pallets. The logistics center also boasts a fully automated small parts store with around 32,000 containers, part of which is temperature-controlled to enable the storage and transportation of temperature-sensitive goods. The product range of Eurotrade alone comprises more than 70,000 items that are delivered to around 50 shops at the airport. As a result, Eurotrade is the “main user” of the new warehouse. Goods that are intended for the airport’s secure area can be transported there directly following the prescribed check in the building. The new logistics center is operated in an energy-efficient and climate-friendly way thanks to innovative LED lighting technology and a photovoltaic system. The fact that trucks will no longer have to travel between the airport and the warehouses that were previously used in Freising and Schwaig also helps to improve the CO2 balance. “We are delighted that we have completed the new logistics center on schedule despite the current difficult circumstances. This means that the airport will be ideally equipped to ensure that the entire flow of goods will be efficient and sustainable in future,” said airport CEO Jost Lammers on the occasion of the building’s commissioning. https://www.aviationpros.com/airports/press-release/21206282/munich-airport-new-logistics-center-at-munich-airport-goes-into-operation Aircraft concept uses selective catalytic reduction of NOx emissions Researchers from MIT have developed a concept for aircraft propulsion that would incorporate the same kind of selective catalytic reduction technology diesel trucks and cars use and could eliminate 95% of aviation’s NOx emissions, reducing the number of associated early deaths it causes by 92%. At cruising altitude, aircraft emit a steady stream of nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, where the chemicals can linger to produce ozone and fine particulates. Nitrogen oxides, or NOx, are a major source of air pollution and have been associated with asthma, respiratory disease, and cardiovascular disorders. Research has shown that the generation of these chemicals due to global aviation results in 16,000 premature deaths each year. The MIT concept is inspired by emissions-control systems used in ground transportation vehicles. Many heavy-duty diesel trucks today house postcombustion emissions-control systems to reduce the NOx generated by engines. The researchers now propose a similar design for aviation, with an electric twist. In the new hybrid-electric, or “turbo-electric,” design, an aircraft’s source of power is a conventional gas turbine, but it can be integrated within the plane’s cargo hold. Rather than directly powering propellers or fans, the gas turbine drives a generator, also in the hold, to produce electricity, which then electrically powers the aircraft’s wing-mounted, electrically driven propellers or fans. The emissions produced by the gas turbine would be fed into an emissions-control system, broadly similar to those in diesel vehicles, which would clean the exhaust before ejecting it into the atmosphere. Steven Barrett, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT said, “This would still be a tremendous engineering challenge, but there aren’t fundamental physics limitations. “If you want to get to a net-zero aviation sector, this is a potential way of solving the air pollution part of it, which is significant, and in a way that’s technologically quite viable.” The details of the design, including analyses of its potential fuel cost and health impacts, are published today in the journal Energy and Environmental Science. A semi-electrified plan The seeds for the team’s hybrid-electric plane grew out of Barrett and his team’s work in investigating the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal. In 2015, environmental regulators discovered that the car manufacturer had been intentionally manipulating diesel engines to activate onboard emissions-control systems only during lab testing, such that they appeared to meet NOx emissions standards but in fact emitted up to 40 times more NOx in real-world driving conditions. As he looked into the health impacts of the emissions cheat, Barrett also became familiar with diesel vehicles’ emissions-control systems in general. Around the same time, he was also looking into the possibility of engineering large, all-electric aircraft. “The research that’s been done in the last few years shows you could probably electrify smaller aircraft, but for big aircraft, it won’t happen anytime soon without pretty major breakthroughs in battery technology,” Barrett said. “So I thought, maybe we can take the electric propulsion part from electric aircraft, and the gas turbines that have been around for a long time and are super reliable and very efficient, and combine that with the emissions-control technology that’s used in automotive and ground power, to at least enable semielectrified planes.” Flying with zero impact Before airplane electrification had been seriously considered, it might have been possible to implement a concept such as this, for example as an add-on to the back of jet engines. But this design, Barrett said, would have “killed any stream of thrust” that a jet engine would produce, effectively grounding the design. Barrett’s concept gets around this limitation by separating the thrust-producing propellers or fans from the power-generating gas turbine. The propellers or fans would instead be directly powered by an electric generator, which in turn would be powered by the gas turbine. The exhaust from the gas turbine would be fed into an emissions-control system, which could be folded up, accordion-style, in the plane’s cargo hold — completely isolated from the thrust-producing propellers. He envisions the bulk of the hybrid-electric system — gas turbine, electric generator, and emissions control system — would fit within the belly of a plane, where there can be ample space in many commercial aircraft. In their new paper, the researchers calculate that if such a hybrid-electric system were implemented on a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320-like aircraft, the extra weight would require about 0.6% more fuel to fly the plane. “This would be many, many times more feasible than what has been proposed for all-electric aircraft,” Barrett said. “This design would add some hundreds of kilograms to a plane, as opposed to adding many tons of batteries, which would be over a magnitude of extra weight.” The researchers also calculated the emissions that would be produced by a large aircraft, with and without an emissions control system, and found that the hybrid-electric design would eliminate 95% of NOx emissions If this system were rolled out across all aircraft around the world, they further estimate that 92% of pollution-related deaths due to aviation would be avoided. They arrived at this estimate by using a global model to map the flow of aviation emissions through the atmosphere, and calculated how much various populations around the world would be exposed to these emissions. They then converted these exposures to mortalities, or estimates of the number of people who would die as a result of exposure to aviation emissions. The team is now working on designs for a “zero-impact” airplane that flies without emitting NOx and other chemicals like climate-altering carbon dioxide. “We need to get to essentially zero net-climate impacts and zero deaths from air pollution,” Barrett says. “This current design would effectively eliminate aviation’s air pollution problem. We’re now working on the climate impact part of it.” https://www.aerospacetestinginternational.com/news/electric-hybrid/us-researchers-propose-selective-catalytic-reduction-of-nox-emissions-in-aircraft.html Curtiss-Wright, Honeywell Achieve EASA Certification on Connected Cockpit Voice Recorder Curtiss-Wright Corp. and Honeywell Aerospace received a technical standard order (TSO) certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for their jointly developed cockpit voice recorder (CVR), the Honeywell Connected Recorder-25 (HCR-25). HCR-25 is the result of a 2019 agreement between Curtiss Wright and Honeywell Aerospace to develop a line of cockpit voice and flight data recorders capable of real-time data streaming and cloud upload functionality. The recorder meets EASA's 2021 regulations requiring an extension of the minimum transmission times for Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVRs), Underwater Locating Devices (ULDs), and aircraft localization. The regulation requires aircraft with a Maximum Certified Take-Off Mass (MCTOM) of more than 27,000 kg (60,000 lbs.) to feature a minimum recording duration of 25 hours. Honeywell describes the data recorder as a "Black Box in the Sky," where "owners, operators, and manufacturers can access the data during the flight, resulting in the potential for better maintenance predictability and operational insight through data analytics." “The importance of reliable cockpit voice and flight data recorders cannot be overstated. That’s why we are working alongside Curtiss-Wright to design and develop the next generation of recorders that leverages our full hardware and software expertise to meet the 25-hour requirement, and identify the right information and make it available to accident investigation agencies when it’s most needed,” Amanda King, vice president and general manager, Aerospace Connected Secure Solutions, Honeywell Connected Enterprise, said in a Jan. 19 press release. Going beyond meeting EASA’s 25-hour CVR recording requirement, both companies also want operators to be able to access the data stored on the new FDR. Both the data and voice recorders can also serve as replacements to Honeywell’s existing HFR-5 series voice and data recorders. HCR-25 weights 4.3 kg (9.5 lbs.) and includes a 90-day-underwater locator beacon. “With the new regulatory requirement, we saw an opportunity to evolve our recorder technology to not only meet the conditions of governing agencies but also make this product more powerful and better connected, providing aircraft operators with another source of data collection that can be used to improve aircraft maintenance and performance," King said. Airlines that require "Class 6" CVRs are the target market for Honeywell and Curtiss Wright with the new EASA certification. According to Curtiss Wright, the CVR is based on their Fortress FDR technology that features data link and image recording capabilities. The HCR-25 also has an expansion slot, internal data collection card, and remote USB interface so that data from the recorder can be downloaded directly to a laptop or other device. As part of the development of the new recorders, Honeywell plans to offer the HCR-25 in several variants, including as a standalone CVR, as a standalone FDR, or as a combined voice and flight data recorder. “Both companies are pioneers and innovators of crash-protected recorders, providing flight recorders to the industry for over 60 years,” Lynn M. Bamford, President and CEO of Curtiss-Wright Corp., said in the Honeywell release. “Working together, we will take flight recorder connectivity and performance to new heights, with extended operation and greater survivability.” https://www.aviationtoday.com/2021/01/19/curtiss-wright-honeywell-achieve-easa-certification-connected-cockpit-voice-recorder/ ACI and Amadeus Announce Enhanced Long-Term Partnership Airports Council International (ACI) World and Amadeus on Jan. 19, announced a new enhanced long-term strategic partnership to deliver ACI’s world-renowned Airport Service Quality (ASQ) awards and the Customer Experience Accreditation program. This renewed partnership comes at a time when it has never been more important for airports to listen to the voice of their customers as they prioritize the changing needs of passengers. This is fitting as Amadeus supports airports with their operations to improve the travel experience for passengers all over the world. The annual ASQ Awards recognize and reward the best airports in the world and, this year, they also provide an opportunity to celebrate the commitment of airports to listening to passengers and adapting processes and procedures to meet changing expectations of customer experience in response to COVID-19. ACI’s Customer Experience Accreditation program allows airport management to achieve the highest level of customer experience at their airport. “ ACI’s Airport Service Quality program is a vital tool for airports as they adapt their processes to ensure health and safety measures and the customer experience continue to meet the changing needs of passengers and lead a recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” ACI World Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira said. “Our renewed and enhanced partnership with Amadeus will allow us to recognize and celebrate those airports that best listen to their customers and respond in a way that meets their changing expectations in improving the passenger experience and provide a hygienic and safe airport environment. Partnerships like this one with Amadeus who support airports with their operations to improve the travel experience for passengers all over the world, bring the industry together and are important to move aviation forward during the recovery process and beyond.” Bruno Spada, EVP Airport IT, Amadeus said, “Airports across the world are adapting the passenger experience to provide a safer, smoother and more streamlined airport journey, from check-in to boarding. New technologies like biometric digital identity and contactless self-service will be integral to helping our industry to rebuild air travel so that it’s better for passengers and stakeholders alike. That’s why we have committed to expanding our partnership with ACI. The Airport Service Quality Awards shine an important light on industry best practice with the Customer Experience Accreditation program offering a structured path for management teams seeking to hone the knowledge and skills that will be so vital as travel recovers. Amadeus is proud to be working with ACI on these important initiatives.” To reflect the changing needs and expectations of passengers, ACI has introduced a new award – called the Hygiene Award – which will be based on the score of three new safety and hygiene questions that were added to the tablet version of the ASQ Departure Survey last year. Additionally, ACI has amended some categories and temporarily removed some awards adapting the program to the new reality, matching the needs of our members. ACI has introduced a new form of recognition – separate from the ASQ Awards – called the Voice of the Customer, which recognizes airports demonstrating significant efforts in gathering passenger feedback to help them better understand their customers during the pandemic. https://www.aviationpros.com/airports/airport-technology/press-release/21206281/airports-council-international-aciworld-aci-and-amadeus-announce-enhanced-longterm-partnership SpaceX acquires former oil rigs to serve as floating Starship spaceports SpaceX has acquired two former oil drilling rigs to serve as these floating spaceports. Named Phobos and Deimos, after the two moons of Mars, they are currently undergoing modifications to support Starship launch operations. SpaceX has long been hinting at future floating launch and landing sites for their Starship launch system. The super heavy lift launch vehicle will have a large blast danger area and pose noise concerns if launched frequently near populated areas. Therefore, sea launch platforms will play a key role in the launch cadence SpaceX plans to reach with Starship, including on-orbit refueling flights for deep space missions and transportation from one place to another on Earth. Job postings by SpaceX have indicated that work on offshore launch platforms has begun in Brownsville, Texas, near their Starship manufacturing and launch facilities in Boca Chica. Positions included crane operators, electricians, and offshore operations engineers, and several of the job listings specified that the position was part of the company’s Starship program. Job descriptions for these positions included responsibilities like “designing and building an operational offshore rocket launch facility” and required the “ability to work on an offshore platform in Brownsville, Texas.” The Port of Brownsville is home to a handful of oil drilling rigs, as drilling operations are regularly conducted in the Gulf of Mexico. One rig in port was photographed by NASASpaceflight before and after a sign with the name Deimos was added in recent months. Photographs of the same rig showed that it was previously named ENSCO 8500, owned and operated by offshore drilling company Ensco Rowan PLC. Ensco Rowan merged and became Valaris PLC in 2019. The rig, then named Valaris 8500, was sold with another rig named Valaris 8501 to an undisclosed buyer in August 2020 when Valaris filed for bankruptcy. The two rigs sold for $3.5 million each, and as it turns out, the undisclosed buyer was SpaceX. Both rigs have been officially renamed Deimos (formerly ENSCO/Valaris 8500) and Phobos (formerly ENSCO/Valaris 8501), and are now owned by Lone Star Mineral Development LLC. Lone Star was incorporated in June 2020, just before the two rigs were purchased, and a principal of the company is Bret Johnsen, who is also the CFO and President of the Strategic Acquisitions Group at SpaceX. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had tweeted that “SpaceX is building floating, superheavy-class spaceports for Mars, moon, & hypersonic travel around Earth” the same month that Lone Star was incorporated. It appears that Lone Star Mineral Development LLC is a subsidiary of SpaceX. SpaceX’s job posting for crane operating positions in Brownsville mentioned Seatrax S90 cranes by name as one of the types an operator would be using. This same type of crane is the primary model used on the ENSCO 8500 and 8501 series rigs. The Phobos rig was seen via satellite imagery in the Port of Galveston on January 13, 2020. Galveston is near Houston, Texas, to the northeast of Brownsville and Boca Chica. The idea for offshore launch and landing facilities was first presented officially by SpaceX in 2017, when Elon Musk revealed Starship’s “Earth to Earth” transportation plan. Launching cargo and passengers on suborbital flights around Earth requires operating loud launch vehicles from locations accessible from major cities. Thus, the spaceports would be placed far enough offshore to mitigate noise from Starship’s Raptor engines as well as the sonic booms created by landing stages, both the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy booster. Offshore launch facilities can also help alleviate congestion and noise levels from SpaceX’s land based Starship facilities at Boca Chica, Texas and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The primary driver of Starship’s Development is enabling missions to the moon and Mars, and those flights will require on-orbit refueling using a tanker variant of Starship in Low Earth Orbit. Delivering crew and/or cargo to the moon will require at least one refueling, and missions to Mars may require multiple refueling flights. SpaceX also plans to eventually send multiple Starships to Mars during a single interplanetary transfer window. These flights will be in addition to perhaps hundreds of Starship missions to Earth orbit before carrying any people. All of these factors result in a rapid Starship launch cadence which would be difficult to serve using only the two land based launch and landing sites. Phobos and Deimos will provide two more facilities for this purpose. The two rigs will require extensive modification to support fueling, payload integration, launch, and landing operations. As this work continues, SpaceX teams at Boca Chica are continuing to test prototype Starship vehicles and construct the first Super Heavy boosters. Based on the extensive work still needed to prepare the rigs, Phobos and Deimos will likely enter service after the initial orbital flights of the Starship launch system. The first orbital Starship launch from Boca Chica could occur in late 2021, pending successful Starship and Super Heavy testing throughout the year. https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/01/spacex-rigs-starship-spaceports/ Curt Lewis