September 27, 2021 - No. 75 In This Issue : Bell eVTOL Aircraft Heading to Smithsonian : TotalEnergies and Safran Create a Strategic Partnership to Accelerate the Decarbonization of the Aviation Industry : MH370 TRACKING TO START USING NEW TECHNOLOGY THAT IS PROVEN TO WORK : What is the Airspace Technology Demonstration 2? : ATR Will ‘Piggy-bank’ on Airbus for Hydrogen-fuel Technology : When Airbus’ Aircraft Will Be 100% Compatible With Sustainable Aviation Fuels : Northrop Grumman introduces stealthy unmanned jet fighter as loyal wingman for manned combat jet aircraft : Airbus Says Single Pilot Flight Crews Are The Long Term Future : Flewber Takes First Flight After Mobile App Launch : Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport launches hydrogen infrastructure for 2023 : Do space tourists really understand the risk they're taking? Bell eVTOL Aircraft Heading to Smithsonian Bell Textron’s electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft hasn’t taken flight, but it’s already headed for the Smithsonian. The aerospace company announced last week its Nexus Air Taxi concept vehicle will be part of a special exhibit of futuristic technology at the new Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building in Washington, D.C., beginning in November. “The Bell team is paving the way for future electric-powered vehicles and greener technology to flourish,” said Bell CEO Mitch Snyder in a statement. “We have a rich history of partnership with the Smithsonian Institute, with our various legacy aviation and aerospace products on display throughout the years.” The Smithsonian describes its new “FUTURES” display as “part exhibition, part festival” with nearly 32,000 square feet of inventions, speculative designs, and “artifacts of the future,” according to the museum website. The exhibit is expected to include digital displays for visitors to learn more about eVTOL technology and how it could be used in real-word scenarios. The Bell aircraft, which debuted at the 2019 CES, is a ducted-fan concept vehicle designed to fly passengers on short hops over dense urban traffic. Its development is part of a wave of Wall Street interest in the eVTOL market, which is expected to be worth $1 trillion by 2040. The Smithsonian exhibit also will include the company’s iconic Bell Rocket Belt jet pack made famous in the 1960s James Bond film “Thunderball.” Visitors of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum may remember that it also holds Bell’s historic X-1 plane—the first supersonic aircraft—and the first FAA certified helicopter, the Bell 47B. The free “FUTURES” exhibit is expected to last through July 2022. https://www.flyingmag.com/story/news/bell-evtol-smithsonian/ TotalEnergies and Safran Create a Strategic Partnership to Accelerate the Decarbonization of the Aviation Industry PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News: TotalEnergies (Paris:TTE) (LSE:TTE) (NYSE:TTE) and Safran have signed a strategic partnership agreement to jointly develop technical and commercial solutions for the decarbonization of the aviation industry. In line with the ambition of both companies to reach net zero CO2 emissions by 2050, this major partnership aims to accelerate the reduction of the CO2 emissions of the aviation industry. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plays a key role in this approach. The collaboration will leverage Safran and TotalEnergies’ respective areas of excellence and expertise for the development and deployment of sustainable aviation fuels and develop an informed understanding of the overall value chain and use cases, while integrating the objectives of sustainable development altogether. In the short term, the partnership aims to make current engines compatible with fuel containing up to 100% SAF. Longer term, it will then work to optimize engine/fuel energy efficiency and environmental performance. This collaboration may extend to other fields, such as adapting fuel systems to SAF or developing new-generation battery systems for electric motors. The agreement focuses on three key areas: Research, technology and innovation, with the development of technological bricks validated through ground tests of propulsion systems and demonstrator flight tests of engines. Supply of sustainable aviation fuels produced in France by TotalEnergies to decarbonize Safran’s airplane and helicopter engine tests in France. Dialogue and promotion, through initiatives to raise awareness among public and private players in France, Europe and worldwide. Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies, declared: “We are pleased to join forces with Safran to help meet the challenge of decarbonizing the aviation industry together. This strategic alliance will contribute to the emergence of a French value chain for sustainable aviation fuel and electric aircraft. TotalEnergies is resolutely committed to reducing its own carbon emissions and to supporting its customers in their reduction efforts by offering innovative, tailored solutions. We believe that cooperation among all aviation industry players is needed to achieve the objectives of the energy transition to reach carbon neutrality.” Olivier Andriès, Chief Executive Officer of Safran, said: “I welcome this agreement, which is fully in line with Safran’s strategic priority to decarbonize aviation. Our ambition is to develop breakthrough technologies for ultra-efficient engines that are 20% more fuel-efficient than the current LEAP engine and 100% compatible with sustainable fuels. This cooperation with TotalEnergies demonstrates our commitment to limiting our environmental footprint, contributing to carbon neutrality in the aviation industry, and preserving a mode of transportation that delivers essential economic, social and cultural benefits.” Sustainable aviation fuels are an immediately available solution for significantly reducing CO2 emissions from air transportation, as they can be used in blends of up to 50% as of today without modifying existing supply chain infrastructure, aircraft or engines. Safran is a key player in projects that will allow the use of 100% SAF in existing aircraft. French legislation calls for aircraft to use at least 1% SAF by 2022 for all flights originating in France, while the European Commission calls for a ramp up to 2% by 2025 and 5% by 2030 as part of the European Green Deal. *** TotalEnergies and Aviation TotalEnergies is one of the leading aviation fuel suppliers in France, the rest of Europe and Africa, providing refueling services to nearly 280 airlines in more than 300 airports worldwide. The Company proposes a full range of products (SAF, Jet A-1, Avgas) and services tailored to each type of customer: business or leisure flights, aviation industry, airports, airlines, etc. TotalEnergies is involved in numerous initiatives to produce and market sustainable aviation fuel in partnership with aviation industry partners. A dedicated Renewable Fuels Business Unit was created in 2021, and a new milestone was reached in May 2021 with the successful first flight of a long-haul aircraft powered by sustainable aviation fuel produced by TotalEnergies in France. By developing and supporting the emergence of a sustainable aviation fuel value chain, TotalEnergies confirms the leadership role played by France and the rest of Europe in driving innovation in the energy and environmental transition. About TotalEnergies TotalEnergies is a broad energy company that produces and markets energies on a global scale: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables and electricity. Our 105,000 employees are committed to energy that is ever more affordable, clean, reliable and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in more than 130 countries, TotalEnergies puts sustainable development in all its dimensions at the heart of its projects and operations to contribute to the well-being of people. About Safran Safran is an international high-technology group, operating in the aviation (propulsion, equipment and interiors), defense and space markets. Its core purpose is to contribute to a safer, more sustainable world, where air transport is more environmentally friendly, comfortable and accessible. Safran has a global presence, with 76,000 employees and sales of 16.5 billion euros in 2020 and holds, alone or in partnership, world or regional leadership positions in its core markets. Safran undertakes research and development programs aligned with the environmental priorities of its technological innovation roadmap. Safran is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange, and is part of the CAC 40 and Euro Stoxx 50 indices. For more information: https://www.safran-group.com/ Follow @Safran on Twitter https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210926005088/en/TotalEnergies-and-Safran-Create-a-Strategic-Partnership-to-Accelerate-the-Decarbonization-of-the-Aviation-Industry MH370 TRACKING TO START USING NEW TECHNOLOGY THAT IS PROVEN TO WORK The greatest mystery in aviation is much closer to being solved after the latest trials of breakthrough tracking technology by aerospace engineer Richard Godrey. Mr. Godfrey has pioneered a suite of software tracking and analysis technologies and has just completed yet another trial of WSPRnet and will now turn to track MH370 to its final resting place. All the debris drift analysis and Inmarsat satellite tracking work completed by various Australian and global teams have the resting place of MH370 about 1,900km west-south-west of Perth, Western Australia, but it is hoped WSPRnet will provide a more precise location. In fact, the latest drift analysis was completed by Mr. Godfrey earlier this year and points to an area – 1,960 km – due west of Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia is in a location that has been partially searched before but is in very difficult terrain with the sea bed up to 5,000m deep with high mountains, deep ravines, and even volcanoes. Using the tools Mr. Godfrey has been able to detect and track aircraft anywhere in the globe and at any time currently or historically going back as far as 2009. The WSPRnet system has been undergoing a number of trials that have been set up by ex-Qantas Captain Mike Glynn as well as flights provided by the New Zealand Air Force, The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, and Australia Maritime Search Authority and adjudicated by AirlineRatings.com. All have been successful. The latest trial involved an RNZAF Orion P-3C aircraft on March 28 2014 as part of the AMSA SAR after the disappearance of MH370. Mr. Godfrey said that “in total 90 data points over a period of 3 hours flying time were analyzed. Despite the fact that the Orion aircraft is much smaller than MH370 and despite the fact that the flight time was in the earlier part of the day where the WSPRnet transmissions are fewer, the aircraft could be successfully detected and tracked to and from the search area near the 7thArc. “Whenever the aircraft made a tight turn or a sharp descent or climb, the number of WSPRnetanomalies increased. At one point it was even possible to detect the aircraft at an altitude of around 600 feet.” Mr. Godfrey says the trials have been an excellent proving ground for the holy grail of being able to give a more precise impact point for MH370 which disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 souls on board. He will use the system to track MH370 from departure via the point of diversion to beyond the limited range of the civilian and military radar systems and into the Indian Ocean. This data he says coupled with the Inmarsat satellite data will give a more accurate picture of the flight path followed by MH370. “I expect this analysis to take 2 months and be finished by end of November 2021,” Mr. Godfrey told AirlineRatings.com. He adds that the information will be passed on to US-based Ocean Infinity, which has publically indicated that MH370 is unfinished business. Ocean Infinity searched for MH370 in January 2018. However, any new search would likely not be till late 2022 early 2023. https://www.airlineratings.com/news/mh370-tacking-to-start-using-new-technology-that-is-proven-to-work/ What is the Airspace Technology Demonstration 2? After more than a year of pandemic-related travel restrictions, many people excitedly boarded planes to take them on long-awaited vacations. Plenty then sighed and settled in for a long wait: their takeoff was delayed, and they’d be sitting on the tarmac a while. Commercial air travel relies on intricate operations at the airport, and, with so many variables in play, inefficiencies can easily crop up. That’s something NASA’s Airspace Technology Demonstration 2, or ATD-2, project aimed to change. One of a trio of projects tackling challenges faced in air traffic management, ATD-2 developed technologies that predict airport traffic conditions and determine the best time for departing flights to push back from the gate. This both reduces delays and shifts wait time to the gate, instead of on the taxiway with engines running. The ultimate goal is to get travelers from gate to runway to the sky with minimal delay. And the benefits – for schedules, passengers, airlines, and the environment – are already adding up. Optimizing the Flow of Flights Most of us take for granted everything that goes into running a functional airport. But a great deal of information on arrivals, departures, surface traffic, delays, sudden changes in weather, and more must be tracked, communicated, and adjusted for by different groups of people. The current system handles all this using a simple physical queue: when a plane is ready for departure, it gets in line and waits to use the runway. But, when unexpected problems arise, this queue can quickly back up, affecting both departures and arrivals. To protect against those consequences, air traffic managers may add more buffer time to flight schedules – an additional inefficiency. By making the movements of aircraft from surface to sky more predictable, NASA researchers aimed to help reduce that buffer, and optimize the flow of flights through airports. The ATD-2 tools help get planes queued up in the best way to take their designated spot in the air traffic overhead. More Communication, More Efficient Flights At the heart of ATD-2’s approach is integrating numerous inputs of data from the Federal Aviation Administration and airlines and transforming that data so it’s easily shared across the various systems at work. The system is at work during parts of a flight controlled by the FAA and those where the airlines are in charge, on the ground. A key realization underlying ATD-2 is that traffic congestion on the airport surface can’t be solved in isolation. You also have to account for the traffic operating in the surrounding airspace. Instead of having separate systems for arrivals, departures, and surface traffic, ATD-2 created one system to manage all these phases of flight. The software is called Integrated Arrival/Departure/Surface Traffic Management, or IADS. Rather than having planes line up in a physical queue as soon as they’re ready to leave, the IADS scheduler creates a virtual queue, like a restaurant reservation system. That way, wait time can be spent at the gate with the engines off and the door open rather than on the ramp or taxiway burning fuel. The result is a more efficient and environmentally friendly operation. By integrating data from previously independent systems, the ATD-2 IADS system provides operators in different facilities with a shared understanding of the airport traffic situation. ATD-2’s tools also include apps that users consult to know which aircraft should be in position, and when, for the whole process to work most efficiently. Everyone involved can see the different factors in play and the common goal to work towards. One Million Gallons Saved The ATD-2 team first put their air traffic scheduling technology to the test with real-world users in September 2017 at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. With partners from the FAA, commercial airlines, and the air traffic controllers’ union, they were able to show how improvements from ATD-2’s approach can drastically cut down delays and reduce emissions. By May 2021, the IADS tools had saved more than one million gallons of jet fuel. The amount of carbon dioxide emissions avoided was equivalent to planting more than 159,000 trees in an urban environment. Those savings were made possible by reducing jet engine run time, which also decreases maintenance costs. Overall, passengers were spared 837 hours in flight delays and saved an estimated $4 million in value of time. Airlines also saved an estimated $1.2 million in flight crew costs. And that’s only at one airport. The benefits will be sky high if the ATD-2 tools are one day put into action at airports around the nation. With the end of the project in September 2021, NASA passed its research results and technology developed to the FAA and industry partners. The FAA’s Terminal Flight Data Manager program will roll out IADS capabilities – made possible by NASA’s pathfinding work – to 27 major airports in the coming years. Milestones: ATD-2 included two separate field demonstrations of the Integrated Arrival Departure Surface, or IADS, system: A single-airport demonstration at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina (Sep. 2017-Sep. 2020) NASA developed core components of the IADS system and used them to validate concepts developed by the FAA and industry. In addition to the technology that was transferred by NASA, lessons were learned from the demonstration that reduced risk for the FAA’s implementation of the ATD-2 capabilities and established the business case for required industry investments. A multi-airport demonstration at Dallas/Ft. Worth International and nearby Dallas Love Field airports in Texas (April-Sep. 2021) The team extended the single-airport tools to improve the efficiency of surface operations at neighboring airports, where departing flights compete for limited airspace resources. Using IADS’ surface traffic predictions, NASA’s terminal scheduler tool assessed demand to use the airspace versus its capacity and provided recommendations for efficient rerouting of flights. Partners: The Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 was run out of the Aviation Systems Division at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, in collaboration with the Federal Aviation Administration. The project was managed by NASA’s Airspace Operations and Safety Program. American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field Airport all partnered with NASA in the field demonstrations. https://www.nasa.gov/ames/atd2 ATR Will ‘Piggy-bank’ on Airbus for Hydrogen-fuel Technology ATR will consider hydrogen fuel as part of its drive to improve the environmental performance of its regional airliners, though it will rely on shareholders Airbus and Leonardo to research and develop the technology. “We will be 'piggy-banking' on our big shareholders,” ATR CEO Stefano Bortoli said during a briefing at the turboprop manufacturer’s Toulouse headquarters. “We are very pragmatic. We are a company with a staff of 1,200; we do not have 1,000 engineers to dedicate to R&D; we do not have the big labs or large test rigs,” he explained. ATR will consider “every” technology, including hybrid-electric, that reduces CO2 emissions and integrate it onto its platform, as long as it proves “available and affordable,” Bertoli insisted. Under a project called ZEROe, Airbus has begun developing three concepts for a zero-emission, hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft that could enter service by 2035. One of the designs centers on a twin-turboprop powered by hydrogen combustion in modified gas-turbine engines that could seat up to 100 passengers and fly to a projected range of up to around 1,000 nm. The hydrogen solution has to be assessed, ATR chief engineer Daniel Cuchet corroborated, though he cautioned that the Airbus colleagues haven’t yet determined the best pathway for hydrogen use. Moreover, hydrogen might not work for ATR. “We are not building an aircraft for engineers,” he remarked. “Our customers want a robust, affordable, and versatile aircraft. Not all our operators would be interested in using hydrogen because it is not feasible for them, for economic reasons or because the relevant hydrogen infrastructure will not be in place. Many of our aircraft land on unpaved runways on remote islands.” Until the hydrogen technology is mature, blending and eventually replacing conventional fossil-based kerosene with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is a “good short-term solution,” Cuchet asserted. All ATR aircraft have earned certification to fly with a 50/50 blend, and the company aims to gain certification for 100 percent SAF usage by 2025. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2021-09-27/atr-will-piggy-bank-airbus-hydrogen-fuel-technology When Airbus’ Aircraft Will Be 100% Compatible With Sustainable Aviation Fuels All Airbus aircraft are presently certified to fly with up to a 50% blend of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) mixed with kerosene. While this may be an impressive factor, this figure is not enough for the manufacturer to reach its net-zero goals. As a result, the company wants to achieve certification for 100% on all its planes by the end of this decade. Great progress There was a significant breakthrough in March this year when Airbus A350 took off from Toulouse, fuelled by 100% SAF. The firm joined forces with German aerospace research center DLR, oil refining company Neste, and Rolls-Royce on this mission. Airbus plans to repeat the 100% SAF achievement on an A320neo before this year is over. This move will help it transition into a new generation of aviation in the coming years. Ambitious targets Altogether, the firm is intent on operating in a net-zero ecosystem by 2050. This is a mission that is in line with European Union’s goals for a carbon-neutral industry. However, there is still a lot of work to be done when it comes to operators adopting SAF. Airbus is also making effort to increase the momentum internally. “All Airbus aircraft today are certified to fly with a 50% SAF blend. We have a clear ambition to achieve certification for 100% sustainable aviation fuel for our fleets by 2030. So, if we look, what is used today, SAF represents maybe 0.03% of the fuel which is used in civil aviation, and that’s for sure. We have a clear plan leading to 2030,” Sabine Klauke shared during the Airbus Summit. “We are looking in our own premises, so we are using our own transport aircraft, the Beluga range, with sustainable aviation fuel. In some areas, depending on the airport, 36% is what we can reach, and we really want to go on. We also have biogas trucks in our supply chain. So it’s really about putting it wherever we can.” Balance needed While the likes of Rolls-Royce are investing heavily in the deployment of electric aircraft, there is recognition of the importance of SAF. Electric aircraft will most notably help transform the way short-haul operations are handled. However, for long distances, SAF will be the focal point while hydrogen technology continues to mature. Nonetheless, Airbus has big plans for hydrogen, preparing for a 2035 introduction for its first hydrogen-based commercial aircraft. In recent months, the likes of Ryanair, SWISS, JetBlue, Air France, and United Airlines, have all ramped up their SAF initiatives Overall, stakeholders across the aviation industry identify this field as a prime focus in the future of the market https://simpleflying.com/when-airbus-aircraft-will-be-100-compatible-with-sustainable-aviation-fuels/ Northrop Grumman introduces stealthy unmanned jet fighter as loyal wingman for manned combat jet aircraft PALMDALE, Calif. – Northrop Grumman Corp. has designed a new autonomous jet fighter aircraft intended to accompany manned combat jets into battle. National Defense reports. Continue reading original article The Military & Aerospace Electronics take: 27 Sept. 2021 -- Unveiled earlier this month at the Northrop Grumman facility in Palmdale, Calif., the Model 437 stealthy jet with a 3,000 mile range is a collaboration between Northrop Grumman and aircraft designer Scaled Composites in Mojave, Calif. Executives say the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will be for two autonomous aircraft technology programs — the U.S. Air Force’s Skyborg and the United Kingdom's Project Mosquito. Skyborg will be an attritable unmanned aircraft with artificial intelligence (AI) to accompany manned jet fighters into battle. Project Mosquito is a British loyal wingman program that aims to fly a combat aircraft alongside the F-35 jet fighter, the multirole Typhoon fighter, and its future replacement, the Tempest. https://www.militaryaerospace.com/unmanned/article/14211032/unmanned-jet-fighter-loyal-wingman Airbus Says Single Pilot Flight Crews Are The Long Term Future Despite last week’s Airbus Summit in Toulouse primarily covering sustainability goals, the aviation powerhouse also touched on other significant potential changes to its industry. Airbus has high hopes for single-pilot cockpits on long-haul routes. Plans in the works This summer, it was revealed that Airbus has been collaborating with Cathay Pacific to bring smaller crews on long-haul flights. This move would place only one pilot in the cockpit for most of the time. Altogether, rather than having the capacity for three to four pilots on long distances, Project Connect would leave two pilots on board and have them rotate the flight deck so that each one can get some rest. Savings to be had Overall, the benefits of a reduced crew revolve around costs. Around 25% of aircraft expenses are related to the cost of the crew. Therefore, airlines are keen to utilize technology to help smaller-sized crews handle long trips. Every penny counts when it comes to flight operations, so any sort of saving could go a long way. “We need to mature technology to enable any further cockpit member reduction in crews. So, we have a set of technology readiness level reviews, which at some point in time, can restart. It has an economic impact. Then from the technology standpoint, we could automate a little bit of it for a cockpit that will be more modern. So, this is in the technology space,” Airbus’ leadership shared in Toulouse last week. “At some point in time, whenever we are ready for sure, this is the kind of discussion that would require some wider discussion with the airlines, with the unions, and with the public.” Safety measures Airbus highlights that safety is the priority of its operations, and it won’t compromise this with the program. For this reason, the company will take its time with the project to make sure that the technology continues to mature and that the firm can continue to do reviews so that services can transform safely and effectively. The manufacturer states that automation is an incredible way to maintain safe operations. It has mulled over several details, and it is seeing notable results on the improvement of safety with automation. Therefore, Airbus wants to continue down this path as it sees opportunities to reduce human intervention on board. Airbus concludes that “the long term aspiration of a single pilot operation is a good one.” It feels that automation is attractive and that while the industry may be a while from this shift, the momentum will continue to bring the right dynamics in the market. https://simpleflying.com/airbus-single-pilot-flight-crews/ Flewber Takes First Flight After Mobile App Launch Flewber, a technology platform that connects travelers with available private flights on demand, enabled its first private flight on Sept. 9 when a passenger flew from Teterboro, NJ to Syracuse, NY New York, New York, Sept. 27, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Flewber Global Inc. (“Flewber”), a technology platform enabling travelers to book air taxi services in real-time, celebrated the first completed flight booked through its new mobile application, which launched on Sept. 9. Flewber’s first passenger was a Bitcoin miner with a facility in upstate New York. He needed to schedule a last-minute flight for a meeting and site inspection but encountered difficulty finding a flight through legacy private charter services and virtually no commercial flights. Then, he found Flewber; it was the only platform that offered the round trip flight he needed on such short notice. “It’s the same day, so this is the best opportunity,” he said as he prepared to board his flight. “I can fly in, do my meeting, and then fly right back.” The passenger added that Flewber’s mobile application was easy to set up and use, taking only one minute from download to book his flight. The flight was performed by Flewber’s wholly-owned operator; the platform will also serve to connect passengers with a broader network of Part 135 operators, expanding the available routes throughout the region. “This is the precise experience we were hoping to create when we first started Flewber, so it’s great to see it play out in the inaugural flight,” said Marc Sellouk, founder and CEO of Flewber. “This platform has the power to connect travelers with the exact route they need, the moment they need it. Between our own fleet of aircraft and our partner network of certified Part 135 operators, regional routes throughout the greater Northeast are just a swipe away.” There are millions of people traveling regional routes every day for business and pleasure alike. Teterboro Airport alone offered more than 36,500 flights in 2020, a supposedly down year for private aviation. But that is only one of the thousands of private airports throughout the U.S. In California, for example, there were more than 212,000 private charter flights in 2020. Nationally, private aircraft operators already log more than 1.28 million hours of flight time every year, and demand is on the rise. Jay Yu, Co-Founder and President of Flewber stated, “I am very pleased with the enormous effort from our team and the urgency they carry at executing our technology initiatives. Flewber’s next phases will focus on growing our user base and revenue growth.” Flewber offers travelers flying private a simple way to book flights, even on the same day of travel. See what it’s all about and download theFlewbermobile application to book your next flight today. About Flewber Global Inc. Flewber Global Inc. is an innovative technology platform redefining what it means to travel in a private aircraft. Its mission to be “Simply Private” means providing passengers with an escape from crowded airports and security lines, allowing them the opportunity to unwind and relax while enjoying all the benefits of private travel (and without the high cost associated with legacy private aircraft.) With no membership or subscription fees, Flewber’s pricing model is straightforward and cost-effective. Flewber Global Inc. leverages its state-of-the-art, proprietary mobile application and social experiences to provide air taxi services with a bespoke white glove approach for one-of-a-kind experiences. For more corporate information please visit: www.Flewber.com https://www.bakersfield.com/ap/news/flewber-takes-first-flight-after-mobile-app-launch/article_1b7a6eea-ce1e-5434-b3f8-a6b944bbaab9.html Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport launches hydrogen infrastructure for 2023 Airbus, Air Liquide and Vinci Airports have partnered to implement a hydrogen gas distribution station at Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport in France, as part of a three-step plan to support the decarbonization of air travel. First is the deployment of a hydrogen gas distribution station at Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport from 2023. This station will supply the airport’s ground vehicles (buses, trucks, handling equipment, etc) and those of its partners, as well as the heavy goods vehicles that drive around the airport. This first phase is essential to test the airport’s facilities and dynamics as a ‘hydrogen hub’ in its area of reach. Second, the deployment of liquid hydrogen infrastructures is scheduled between 2023 and 2030. This step will allow hydrogen to be provisioned into the tanks of future aircraft. Finally, by 2030, the three partners will study the possibility of equipping Vinci Airports’ European airport network with the hydrogen production, storage and supply facilities needed for use on the ground and on board aircraft. Beyond 2030, the partners plan for the new hydrogen infrastructure to be deployed throughout the airport, from production to mass distribution of liquid hydrogen. This partnership is designed to be a step forward for the development of hydrogen across the airport ecosystem and, as a result, the decarbonization of air travel. This announcement comes alongside Airbus’s first full-size wing prototype, created as a part of the company’s research and technology program, ‘Wing of Tomorrow’. The program tests the latest composite materials and new technologies in aerodynamics and wing architecture to contribute to aviation’s decarbonization. Sabine Klauke, Airbus chief technical officer, said, “High-performing wing technology is one of several solutions – alongside sustainable aviation fuels and hydrogen – we can implement to contribute to aviation’s decarbonization ambition. ‘Wing of Tomorrow’ is also an example of how large-scale industry collaboration will be critical to achieving our sector’s agenda for a more sustainable future.” https://www.passengerterminaltoday.com/news/ground-support/lyon-saint-exupery-airport-launches-hydrogen-infrastructure-for-2023.html Do space tourists really understand the risk they're taking? Who makes sure space tourists get back safe? Space tourism industry representatives argue that stringent safety oversight would hamper the companies' ability to innovate. Space tourism vehicles just might be the only transportation technology out there with the potential to kill humans that doesn't need to undergo independent safety certification. For now, aspiring space travelers seem okay with that, but is the fledgling industry playing a dangerous game? The four private astronauts of SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission — the first-ever all-civilian flight to orbit — seemed relaxed a day before their Sept. 15 launch as they pondered the prospect of blasting off into nothingness sealed inside a space capsule, atop a rocket filled with explosive fuel. Jared Isaacman, the tech entrepreneur who funded the mission and also served as its commander, claimed the crew was probably at a higher risk of an accident during the fighter jet flights they had taken during their training. "Over the past couple of days, we've been tearing up the sky in fighter jets, which I put at a relatively higher risk than this mission," Isaacman said. "So we are nice and comfortable as we get strapped into [the Dragon Crew capsule]." How dangerous are rocket flights? But how high exactly is the risk of dying during a space mission? Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight for NASA, told the NBC's Today show on Sept. 15 that a ride on SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule is about three times safer than a ride on NASA's space shuttle was in the final years of its operation, a time when shuttle flights were at their safest due to increases in inspections and awareness. "We were able to incorporate some additional technologies. The Dragon system has an abort capability that we didn't have," McAlister told the Today show. "That has all increased the likelihood that you will have a successful mission." But what exactly does that mean? Teri Hamlin, the technical lead of space shuttle probabilistic risk assessment at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, told National Public Radio in 2011 that, in the early days, the risk of a space shuttle flight ending in a disaster was a scary 1-in-9 flights. By the time the shuttle retired in 2011, the fleet having lost two of its vehicles in catastrophic accidents, the risk had dropped tenfold, to about 1in 90. If that number and McAlister's extrapolation are correct, the probability of a catastrophic failure on Inspiration4 were about 1-in-300. (In practice, NASA suffered two fatal accidents in 135 shuttle flights, with the 1986 Challenger accident and 2003 Columbia tragedy killing seven astronauts each.) Compare that with the 1-in-205,552 lifetime risk of an average American dying in an aircraft accident, according to data from the National Safety Council. On the other hand, the lifetime risk of dying in a car accident in the U.S. is 1 in 107, according to the same source. Yet many experts warn that something unprecedented is going on in the space tourism industry that might increase the odds of aspiring space tourists dying in a crash. Accountable to no one "The problem is that the current space tourism industry neither has government [safety] regulation nor their own regulation," Tommaso Sgobba, executive director at the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS) and former head of flight safety at the European Space Agency (ESA), told Space.com. "Neither do they have any historical record to prove that their technology is safe." No modern appliance or device — from hair dryers and microwaves to cars, aircraft and rollercoasters — can enter the market without first receiving a certification from an independent body that its design meets independently set safety standards. These certifications are there to ensure that effort has been made to minimize the risk that these technologies will injure their users and that someone independent from the company thinks they are safe. But a U.S. Congress moratorium on safety regulations established in 2004 means that space tourism companies are less accountable than you might think. "The moratorium was put in place to let the industry learn and progress following some very successful lobbying from the industry," Josef Koller, systems director at the center for space policy and strategy at The Aerospace Corporation, told Space.com. "The law specifies that emphasis should be placed on developing best practices and voluntary standards that could eventually lead to the implementation of regulation. But so far there is not much to go around really." Currently, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires commercial space companies to demonstrate that their operations present no risk to the public on the ground (or in the air space). The agency, however, has no oversight over the safety of the flight participants, nor does it certify the launch and entry vehicles as safe for humans, an FAA spokesperson told Space.com in an email. "Under federal law, the FAA’s commercial space transportation oversight responsibilities are designed to protect the safety of the public on the ground and other members of the public using the national airspace system — not the individuals in the space vehicle," Steve Kulm, FAA public affairs specialist, said in the email. "In fact, Congress has prohibited the FAA from regulating the safety of the crew or spaceflight participants. Further, Congress has not authorized the FAA to certify the launch or reentry vehicle as safe for carrying humans." Companies, however, have to prove that their technology worked safely during a test flight to gain FAA license approval to carry humans, Kulm added. Stifling innovation Karina Drees, the president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, which represents space tourism companies, told Space.com that early regulation could stifle innovation in the fledgling sector and prevent the best technologies from being developed. "That's the concern I think a lot of folks have," she said. "If we see regulation a little too soon, then there's a real potential for the best technologies to not come forward. The vehicles that have been designed today are quite different from each other. And so if regulation had been written on any one style, then that would have really prevented some of these designs from coming to the market." Today's space tourists therefore sign informed consent in which they accept whatever might happen during the mission. "That's one of the things that makes this country [the U.S.] great: the ability to make your own choices," Drees said. "Americans can choose whether to go scuba diving, which isn't heavily regulated, they can choose to go skydiving, they can choose to have elective surgeries. All of these things are under the same type of informed-consent requirements." Early aviation's 'tombstone technology' Danielle Bernstein, principal director for federal programs at The Aerospace Corporation, told Space.com that the situation in the commercial human spaceflight sector is similar to that of the early decades of aviation. "When the Wright brothers finally figured out flying and into the 1910s and 1920s, we didn't have much commercial flight," Bernstein said. "It was more military and exploratory. But then you move later into the century and there was more of it. But still, there wasn't a lot of regulations. And so there were accidents." The approach taken by the early aviation pioneers is sometimes described as fly-fix-fly or, as Sgobba says, "tombstone technology." "They would build the machine, fly it, wait for an accident to happen, investigate it, and if they found a problem with the technology, they would learn from it and fix it," said Sgobba. He added that, unlike the early aviators, space tourism companies are not building a technology from scratch. Government-funded agencies such as NASA or Russia's space agency Roscosmos have accumulated decades of experience managing the risk associated with flying things (and people) to space. The questions "The approach that has been in place in the space industry for the last maybe 40 years is focused on performance requirements and fault tolerance," Sgobba said. "For example, your design should never allow a single human error to cause a disaster. But if you look at the 2014 Virgin Galactic crash, that's exactly what happened." On Oct. 31, 2014, Virgin Galactic suffered a fatal test flight crash when its first SpaceShipTwo vehicle, called Enterprise, broke apart during a rocket-powered test flight. One pilot was killed and another seriously injured. In a subsequent investigation, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board found that the Virgin Galactic crash was caused by the early release of SpaceShipTwo's feathering tail, which is designed to slow down and stabilize the craft during its descent through Earth's atmosphere. During Virgin Galactic's triumphant first fully crewed spaceflight this past July, which carried billionaire owner Richard Branson on board, the company's VSS Unity space plane deviated from its approved trajectory into the surrounding air space, where it could potentially have jeopardized civilians flying on commercial aircraft. The incident led the FAA to essentially ground Virgin Galactic until an investigation is completed. The company therefore had to suspend its planned second fully crewed flight, which was supposed to take place in late September or early October. The company is now selling tickets for its flights to suborbital space for $450,000 per seat. Sgobba questions whether the excitement of a space trip would be enough for enthusiasts (and a lot of bored rich people) if some of these "ordinary citizens" were to perish during their adventure. "I think that once civilians start dying, the market for space tourism will evaporate," Sgobba said. "Just like it evaporated for Concorde. Concorde was a luxurious version for going from Paris to New York. But once it had an accident, people lost interest. The companies fixed the problem, but the interest was no longer there." Independent reviews Virgin Galactic's space plane is, according to Sgobba, inherently more dangerous than a capsule such as Blue Origin's New Shepard or SpaceX's Crew Dragon. The reliance on the human factor is higher, and it is impossible to perform tests without human pilots inside. "Virgin Galactic is more problematic, because there is always a problem when there are safety-critical mechanisms in place," Sgobba said. "It could be a helicopter or another aircraft concept; there is always a higher risk when there are large moving parts that you rely on to accomplish your mission to be safe. That doesn't mean that you cannot operate something like the Virgin Galactic feathering tail safely, but there definitely needs to be extra effort to make this safe." Blue Origin shares information about its approach to safety in a video on its website. The company stresses a multiply redundant approach that should ensure that no critical system can break down without a backup being available, Blue Origin representatives said. SpaceX benefited during the development of its crewed system from cooperation with NASA. The company has a contract to fly NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station, so it has to meet the space agency's rigorous safety standards. Still, Sgobba questions some of SpaceX's practices. "For the Inspiration4 mission, they replaced a docking port on the Dragon crew capsule with this beautiful cupola," Sgobba said. "But my question is, who, independent from the project, reviewed this change to make sure it's safe?" Before NASA, ESA or the other space agencies launch anything into space, they conduct flight readiness reviews, Sgobba explained. The independence of the panel conducting the review is a key requirement to making its findings valid. During such a review, every part is scrutinized to minimize the chance that problems will occur. "But who was in charge of reviewing the changes they made for the Inspiration4 mission?" said Sgobba. "Was it just Elon Musk giving his approval? That would be the first case in the history of technologically advanced industries when a single person, the owner, has the final word on an activity like this." Again, in the current regulatory environment, there is no one to ask questions about such procedures. What's next? The 2004 U.S. Congress moratorium on the safety regulation of space tourism is set to expire in 2023. But what exactly will happen next is still unclear. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation has been cooperating with standards organization ASTM International on guidelines and has already published recommendations on fault tolerance, data exchange to support the integration of space operations into air traffic management and classification of safety events, said Drees. When asked whether the industry would be ready for more stringent regulations after 2023, she said she doesn't think so. It's still the early days, and regulation would impede innovation, she said. For the foreseeable future, aspiring space tourists, or spaceflight participants, will have to trust the companies that they want to fly with. To help the customers make the decision whether to sign the informed consent waiver, the companies are obliged to disclose their safety record, and Drees believes everybody is ready to do so. "It's really in the company's best interest to make sure they're disclosing in pretty clear terms the track record of the vehicle, because they want their companies to be ongoing for years to come," Drees said. "There's really no incentive for the companies to not disclose any of that information. And there's no incentive for the companies to take shortcuts to not practice safely." Some might question how justified such trust in those companies really is. Bank of America, which covers Virgin Galactic's publicly traded stock, last week criticized the company's failure to disclose that VSS Unity veered off course during the July flight, the incident that led to the grounding by the FAA. Sgobba, in the meantime, calls for a more "mature" approach and, together with other industry veterans like Koller and Bernstein, proposes the creation of a new independent body overseeing the safety of commercial spaceflight operations, the Space Safety Institute. "The Space Safety Institute would serve as an independent reviewer," Sgobba said. "It would also focus on education and research in critical areas of space systems' safety." Koller added: "The Space Safety Institute would provide a platform where people and entities could come together and discuss ways of accomplishing their goals. If a company has a new idea, it's important to provide support and technical analysis on whether the system can actually achieve that goal and be safe." Drees said the commercial spaceflight industry might be supportive of such an idea, as long as it doesn't inhibit its ability to innovate. "That's going to be really critical to the future of the industry— that we don't write standards and regulations before we have that opportunity to innovate and design new vehicles," she said. "So, as long as we still have that opportunity to design and build and fly the vehicles without being subject to stringent regulations right from the start, then I think industry is generally supportive of that idea." https://www.space.com/space-tourism-risk-safety-regulations Curt Lewis