November 30, 2022 - No. 044 In This Issue : Hermeus Progresses Toward Hypersonics with Engine Demo : $650 million aerospace manufacturing center moves closer to opening, holds ribbon cutting : Royal Air Force completes world-first sustainable fuel military transporter flight : The leap second’s time is up: world votes to stop pausing clocks : Boeing certification troubles in Canada ground 1st WestJet freighters : Pexco Aerospace highlights knock-on benefits of AirShield :Turkey unveiled the first prototype of its own fifth-generation TF-X fighter : Boeing faces exodus of senior engineers in tight market for talent : Eco Caravan, propelled by an electrified system, completes first flight : The future of sustainable aviation could be electric Hermeus Progresses Toward Hypersonics with Engine Demo by Kerry Lynch - November 17, 2022, 10:55 AM Hermeus's Chimera engine completed a successful demonstration of turbojet to ramjet in testing at the Notre Dame Turbomachinery Laboratory in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo: Hermeus) Hermeus took another step forward in its quest to bring hypersonic transportation to market, demonstrating turbojet to ramjet transition within its engine, Chimera. The Atlanta-based company called the demonstration “one of the most important technological feats to making operational hypersonic flight a reality.” Chimera is a turbine-based combined-cycle engine that essentially is a hybrid between a turbojet and ramjet. The ability to transition between the two will enable Hermeus’s first demonstrator aircraft, Quarterhorse, to take off from a regular runway and then accelerate to high-Mach speeds, the company explained. Testing took place at the Notre Dame Turbomachinery Laboratory, which has the ability to provide heated air to simulate high-Mach temperatures and pressures, Hermeus said. “The Notre Dame facility allowed us to create conditions similar to what we’ll see in flight,” said Hermeus chief technology officer Glenn Case. “Completing this testing on the ground significantly de-risks our Quarterhorse flight-test campaign, which will begin late next year.” Hermeus added that the cost and speed in which it was able to reach the milestone is notable—the company designed, built, and tested the engine within 21 months for $18 million. “This achievement is a major technical milestone for Hermeus,” said CEO AJ Piplica. “But more than that, it’s a proof point that demonstrates how our small team can rapidly design, build, and test hardware with budgets significantly smaller than industry peers.” Chimera is designed with a pre-cooler to reduce the temperature of the air coming into the turbojet. Once the aircraft reaches Mach 3, the engine will bypass incoming air around the turbojet, enabling the ramet to take over. The company noted its design is unique because most hypersonic platforms are powered by rocket engines not suitable for passenger flight. With the demonstration complete, Hermeus is turning its focus on the completion of Quarterhorse for its first flight in late 2023. Hermeus Progresses Toward Hypersonics with Engine Demo $650 million aerospace manufacturing center moves closer to opening, holds Christian Smith Asheville Citizen Times A $650 million aerospace manufacturing center in south Buncombe that is expected to create around 800 new jobs through 2027 held a ribbon cutting ceremony Nov. 16 to celebrate construction of the majority of the exterior structure. The Pratt & Whitney facility will begin production in mid-2023, according to a news release from the company, and will build turbine airfoils for the company's engines, which are used in both civilian and military airplanes. Pratt & Whitney has already begun hiring employees and has filled 118 of 150 positions the facility plans to open with. The average salary of those jobs is about $68,000, according to company spokesperson Cataldo Perrone. “Global companies like Pratt & Whitney can choose to locate anywhere, but they know they’ve made the smart move with North Carolina,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at the ribbon cutting, according to a news release. “This investment will strengthen our state’s manufacturing industry, bringing good paying jobs to Buncombe County for years to come.” $650 million aerospace manufacturing center moves closer to opening, holds ribbon cutting Royal Air Force completes world-first sustainable fuel military transporter flight From: Ministry of Defence Published 18 November 2022 • First time an aircraft has flown in the UK using 100% sustainable aviation fuel on all engines • Potential to reduce lifecycle carbon emissions by up to 80% while improving operational effectiveness • Another key step by the RAF towards achieving Net Zero by 2040 • An RAF Voyager – the military variant of an Airbus A330 – took to the skies over Oxfordshire powered entirely by 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), paving the way for a range of possibilities for the future of flying military and civilian aircraft. The flight, which took place on Wednesday, was a joint endeavour between the RAF, DE&S and industry partners Airbus, AirTanker and Rolls-Royce, with the fuel supplied by Air bp. Sustainable aviation fuel – which is made from waste-based sustainable feedstocks, such as used cooking oil – reduces lifecycle carbon emissions on average by up to 80% compared to the conventional jet fuel it replaces, lessens the RAF’s reliance on global supply chains, and improves operational resilience. Defence Minister Baroness Goldie said: The Royal Air Force has flown the UK’s first military air transport flight using 100% sustainable aviation fuel on one of their operational Voyager aircraft. They should be rightly proud of this achievement; it is a breakthrough moment for the RAF and an exciting development for the MOD. Through the RAF’s pioneering spirit, expertise and partnership with UK industry, British science and engineering is leading the way in improving operational resilience and developing future operating capability in a climate-changed world. Different approaches will suit different platforms and environments. As such, a range of alternative fuel options are being looked at to ensure the UK is at the forefront of this developing technology. This success follows last November’s small aircraft UK flight powered by 15 litres of synthetic gasoline – another world-first led by the RAF. Synthetic fuel is made from water and carbon dioxide, which is then put under pressure and an electric current run through it. Wednesday’s 90-minute flight from RAF Brize Norton, flown by a combined RAF, Rolls-Royce and Airbus flight test crew, replicated an air-to-air refuelling sortie and was witnessed by senior RAF and industry representatives. It demonstrated the RAF’s potential for its future operational capability, ensuring the ability to contribute to UK defence wherever and whenever required. Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston said: Climate change is a transnational challenge that threatens our resilience, our security and our collective prosperity. That is why I have set the RAF the ambitious challenge of becoming the world’s first net-zero Air Force by 2040. The way we power our aircraft will be key to meeting that challenge and the RAF is already thinking about how we will operate beyond fossil fuels. This exciting trial flight of a Voyager from RAF Brize Norton powered entirely by Sustainable Aviation Fuel is an important milestone on that journey, and marks another technological first for the RAF alongside our industry partners. Engineers from Airbus’ Commercial Aircraft and Defence and Space divisions have been working with the RAF, Rolls-Royce and Airtanker testing the aircraft’s performance and handling on the ground and in the air in preparation for the final flight with both engines powered by 100% SAF. Aviation Minister at the Department for Transport, Baroness Vere said: Our Jet Zero Strategy made clear that sustainable aviation fuels are key to greener flight for both military and civilian aviation. This is a win for the planet and a testament to British ingenuity. We have launched the £165 million Advanced Fuels Fund to kickstart a homegrown SAF industry, as well as challenging the sector to deliver the first net zero transatlantic flight next year. This breakthrough test flight is just one of the ways the RAF is actively working to reduce lifecycle carbon emissions produced by flying its aircraft. Other innovations have included a world-first, record breaking microlight flight using synthetic fuel, flying an electric aircraft at RAF Cranwell and creating fuel from genetically modified bacteria. While continuing to fulfil the priority focus of protecting the nation, the sustainable aviation fuel could mark a step-change towards the RAF’s goal to be Net Zero by 2040. Working towards the Government’s Net Zero 2050 goal and Jet Zero Strategy, the RAF also plans for their first Net Zero airbase by 2025. In addition to supporting the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel in the Armed Forces, the Royal Air Force Commander in Chief HM King Charles III has also supported an increase in its adoption in the private sector though the Sustainable Markets Initiative. The SMI is a network of global CEOs from across all industries, working together to accelerate a sustainable future in line with its mandate. Part of the SMI’s work is raising awareness of SAF amongst the business community and encourage greater SAF uptake in corporate travel in addition to increased purchase agreements to encourage demand from the public and private sectors. Royal Air Force completes world-first sustainable fuel military transporter flight The leap second’s time is up: world votes to stop pausing clocks How, and whether, to keep atomic time in sync with Earth’s rotation is still up for debate. Elizabeth Gibney The practice of adding ‘leap seconds’ to official clocks to keep them in sync with Earth’s rotation will be put on hold from 2035, the world’s foremost metrology body has decided. The decision was made by representatives of governments worldwide at the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) outside Paris on 18 November. It means that from 2035, or possibly earlier, astronomical time (known as UT1), which is determined by Earth’s rotation, will be allowed to diverge by more than one second from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is based on the steady tick of atomic clocks. Since 1972, whenever the two time systems have drifted apart by more than 0.9 seconds, a leap second has been added to UTC. Stopping the adjustments is “a leap forward” for researchers who work on time and frequency, says Georgette Macdonald, director-general of the Metrology Research Centre in Halifax, Canada. “I’m pleased their efforts got us to this moment.” Leap seconds aren’t predictable, because they depend on Earth’s natural rotation. They disrupt systems that are based on precise timekeeping, Macdonald says, and can wreak havoc in the digital age. Facebook’s parent company, Meta, and Google are among the tech companies that have called for leap seconds to be scrapped. The CGPM — which also oversees the International System of Units (SI) — has proposed that no leap second should be added for at least a century, allowing UT1 and UTC to slide out of sync by about 1 minute. But it plans to consult with other international organizations and, by 2026, decide on what upper limit, if any, to put on how much the two should be allowed to diverge by. Time for change Representatives from Canada, the United States and France were among those at the CGPM who called for the leap second to be scrapped before 2035. But Russia, which voted against the proposal, wants to push back the date to 2040 or later to deal with technical issues in its satellite-navigation system, GLONASS. The Russian system incorporates leap seconds, whereas others, including the GPS satellite, already effectively ignore them. The decision means that Russia might need to install new satellites and ground stations, says Felicitas Arias, former director of the time department at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in Sèvres, France. Astronomers who rely on UT1 to align their telescopes will also need to adjust for the change, says Elizabeth Donley, who leads the time and frequency division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado. But the current situation is unsustainable and would continue to get worse, she adds. Different organizations handle the leap second differently (Google, for example, ‘smears’ out the extra second over a 24-hour period). This creates an ambiguity between time sources of as much as half a second, she says, “which is huge”. Leap-second decision delayed by eight years Although in the long term Earth’s rotation is slowing as a result of the pull of the Moon, a speed-up since 2020 has also made the issue more pressing, because, for the first time, a leap second might need to be removed, rather than added. UTC has only ever had to slow by a beat to wait for Earth, not skip ahead to catch up with it. “It's kind of being described as a Y2K issue, because it’s just something that we’ve never had to deal with,” Donley says, referencing the computing errors once expected to occur at the start of the year 2000. There is a chance that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) could stymie plans to make the switch in 2035. The body effectively ceded decision-making about the leap second to the CGPM in 2015, and Arias says its working group agreed with the CGPM’s proposal. But the ITU remains in control of disseminating UTC, and could argue that the time is not right to make the change, she says. “This is the thing that makes us a little bit nervous.” Subtle difference Although human timepieces have been calibrated with Earth’s rotation for millennia, most people will feel no effect from the loss of the leap second. “In most countries, there is a one hour step between summertime and wintertime,” says Arias. “It is much more than one second, but it doesn’t affect you.” Future metrologists might find more elegant ways than the leap second to realign UTC and UT1. By the time the difference becomes significant, “our ability to reconcile it will be better than our ability is right now”, says Macdonald. Or they might not bother, Arias adds. When the difference becomes big enough, countries could permanently shift their legal time zone by one hour, she says. Or we could even decouple our sense of time from the Sun entirely, to create a single world time zone in which different countries see the Sun overhead at different times of day or night. “It could be a solution,” she says. “Science already doesn’t use local times, we talk in UTC.” doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03783-5 The leap second’s time is up: world votes to stop pausing clocks Boeing certification troubles in Canada ground 1st WestJet freighters Eric Kulisch MIAMI — A delay in getting four 737-800 aircraft, newly converted to freighters by Boeing, certified by the Canadian government has set back WestJet’s plans to expand into freighter operations by nine months. The four cargo jets are sitting idle on the tarmac at Calgary International Airport, WestJet’s home base, while Boeing awaits approval from aviation authorities for the design changing the used passenger aircraft into a dedicated freighter. WestJet now expects to commence all-cargo flights on March 26, the start of the summer flying season, Kristin de Bruijn, executive vice president of cargo, said in an interview here this month during The International Air Cargo Association trade show. Once Transport Canada greenlights the structural modification, which includes installing a wide cargo door in the fuselage and reinforced flooring to support containers, the airline can add the planes to its air operators certificate. Then it will need a few months to understand how the aircraft operate and complete technical acceptance and validation. “The certification didn’t go as planned and we had different expectations about the duration of the certification,” said de Bruijn. “It’s been a lengthy process. Unfortunately, we had to delay the start.” WestJet officials indicated last spring they expected to have two cargo jets in revenue service by July 1, or sooner. The airline is leasing the 737-800s from BBAM Aircraft Leasing and Management, which sent the planes to a Boeing (NYSE: BA) overhaul partner in China to carry out the conversions. Boeing put through fine-tooth comb WestJet Cargo, essentially a startup airline within an airline, will be the first in Canada to operate a 737-800 modified under Boeing’s conversion program. The airline had two of the cargo jets in its possession by midsummer, according to an aviation database shared with FreightWaves. WestJet will have lost nine months between the original start date of freighter service in July and next year’s revised schedule. Kristin de Bruijn (pink shirt), vice president of cargo for WestJet, walks towards the WestJet Cargo booth at The International Air Cargo Association’s forum in Miami, on Nov. 10, 2022. (Photo: Eric Kulisch/FreightWaves) Transport Canada in January approved a supplemental type certificate for independent Aeronautical Engineers Inc. (AEI) to transform the narrowbody aircraft into a cargo configuration for Chrono Aviation, but Boeing is still waiting for its version to be registered. AEI took less than three months to obtain its certification from Transport Canada, said Robert Convey, the company’s senior vice president of sales and marketing. That’s because it validated the Federal Aviation Administration’s approval of aircraft changes, checking the paperwork instead of conducting a top-to-bottom review and testing of the aircraft — a common practice for internationally made aeronautical products. Since Boeing owns the aircraft’s type certificate it just needs to modify it through a service bulletin rather than submitting a supplemental type certificate (STC) to authorities, the path taken by third-party conversion shops. Boeing is having a difficult time with the 737-800 certification because frayed relations with the FAA after the deadly crashes of the 737 MAX and quality control problems with 787 fuselages have followed the company north of the border, according to an industry source familiar with the WestJet situation. Investigations determined that Boeing hid safety problems and misled regulators and customers during the MAX development. The mistakes, shortcuts and management failures damaged Boeing’s reputation. Congress and the FAA subsequently cracked down on the practice of delegating certain technical approvals to manufacturers, among other safety reforms. Aviation regulators, who no longer automatically trust Boeing to take all the right steps, are forcing the manufacturer to follow certification processes to the letter rather than get the benefit of the doubt. “In days past they just would have rubber-stamped it,” said the source, who did not want to be identified so as not to jeopardize business relationships with various parties. “That’s what’s holding it up.” Transport Canada said in a statement to FreightWaves: “The foreign validation of an aeronautical product involves the establishment of the Canadian certification basis, providing technical information related to the design, and reviewing compliance against Canadian design standards and policies. This is a highly technical activity and can be a lengthy undertaking, depending on the complexity of the aeronautical product. The timelines for the [Boeing 737 converted freighter] program to date are commensurate with those for similar projects.” An aerospace industry expert, speaking in an unrelated context last spring, said the close ties between Boeing and the FAA created an expectation that if something about the aircraft had yet to be completed the process, such as a flight test or type inspection authorization, could move along while Boeing finished up the job. Now the FAA won’t accept promises. It wants planes in a service-ready state for certification. And it appears, Transport Canada is taking a similar approach. One reason Boeing’s 737-800 conversion may not be fully ready for certification is a new Transport Canada requirement for planes to undergo “cold-soak” testing to demonstrate they will perform in extreme cold temperatures, which likely caught Boeing by surprise. The testing typically involves parking a plane at a northern airport where temperatures reach minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit and operating flaps, doors, systems and gears to make sure nothing sticks or freezes up. AEI was informed by Transport Canada when it applied for STC validation that cold-soak testing would be required, but was able to provide performance data from previous 737-400 conversions for Canadian customers to demonstrate airworthiness, Convey said. If Boeing didn’t realize until the spring it would need to conduct extreme-temperature tests it likely had to wait for winter to come around again. The delays likely are costing WestJet or BBAM a lot of money, depending on whether WestJet is making lease payments or not for aircraft it can’t use yet. WestJet is also paying to park the planes at Calgary International Airport. BBAM could be subject to penalties for not delivering usable aircraft within an agreed time frame. The lessor in turn could have a claim against Boeing for late delivery. And Boeing is minus cash flow from the deal because it won’t get paid until the planes get certified and can fly, aviation leasing experts say. Boeing, WestJet and BBAM officials refused to respond to questions about the delays, timing of the leases or whether Boeing will provide compensation. WestJet Cargo prepares for takeoff WestJet has already invested in training manuals, equipment and capabilities to become a full cargo organization because operating all-cargo jets involves different processes than moving cargo in the bellyhold of passenger aircraft. GTA Group will provide ground handling for WestJet at the freighter hub in Toronto. De Bruijn, who joined WestJet in the spring after a stint at Qatar Airways, provided new details about the freighter network that differed from what her predecessors previously suggested. WestJet Cargo will offer transborder and intra-Canada service. The initial routes will be Toronto-Miami, Toronto-Los Angeles and four major cities in Canada: Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Halifax. WestJet sent a large delegation to Miami, and had one of the exhibition’s most prominent booths, to market the new Miami service. WestJet’s original plan was to focus on domestic, overnight express delivery, possibly as a contract carrier for an express operator, while offering limited special purpose charters during off-peak hours. Scheduled flights between major Canadian cities and across the border were part of the next phase. “We’re going to market the space ourselves initially,” de Bruijn said. “Certain customers may want a dedicated route. But what we should do first is start so they can see how the aircraft operate. You need to prove your reliability before customers will sign a long-term flying program with you. We need to get through the summer and show that first because it’s not going to be easy.” De Bruijn said she expects to start closing contracts for the new freighter services in February. The freighters will play an even more important role distributing cargo in a hub-and-spoke operation now that WestJet is centering its widebody 787 Dreamliner fleet around western Canada. The cargo chief dismissed a question about whether there is enough business to go around in the Canada market with Air Canada in the past year launching a freighter division with larger Boeing 767 cargo jets and all-cargo operator Cargojet steadily expanding. “We see quite some demand. Canada is twice the size of the European Union. You need freighters [especially with] a lot of hiccups in the supply chain,” said de Bruijn. “And more widebody capacity that used to be positioned inter-Canada is now going international. So domestically you’re seeing a reduction in capacity because of that shift as the markets are opening again. That gives more room for business.” WestJet this month launched a new cloud-based cargo management system from SmartKargo, which officials say is better equipped to handle the freighter business than its legacy system. DeBruijn eventually wants to expand the freighter fleet beyond four aircraft to maximize operating efficiencies. “If you look at any study it’s always a minimum of seven or eight to get the cost benefits,” she said. “We’re starting with four, we just need to get them in the air and then I’ll work on a longer-term strategy on what that right size is.” Boeing certification troubles in Canada ground 1st WestJet freighters Pexco Aerospace highlights knock-on benefits of AirShield By Mary Kirby → High-efficiency particulate air (commonly known as HEPA) filters have purified the air onboard many modern jets for decades. And, during the Covid crisis, these hardworking hospital-grade filters were lauded as heroes for their ability to capture most airborne microbes as cabin air is circulated every two to four minutes. But while HEPA is considered helluva good at its job, there is still room to improve cabin ventilation. That’s among the reasons why, in the spring of 2022, Pexco Aerospace acquired the AirShield design from Seattle-based design company Teague and began working to bring this blade-like nozzle technology to market. A longtime supplier of structural aircraft interior systems and components, Pexco was certainly no stranger to the cabin environment when it first began collaborating with Teague in the midst of the pandemic — at a time when many airlines were blocking their middle seats. Indeed, the firm had already amassed its own IP for ‘side air curtain’ technology on aircraft and felt that there were some potential crossovers with AirShield, a retrofit product that is installed over the top of existing passenger air vents, Pexco Aerospace president Jon Page tells Runway Girl Network. And so, after acquiring AirShield, and as narrowbody operators entered a recovery phase, Pexco began working to obtain US FAA supplemental type certification for AirShield for Airbus A320 family aircraft. While going through intense engineering and on-wing testing with several global airlines, and the rigorous STC process, management quickly learned that there are other passenger experience (PaxEx) benefits to AirShield than simply driving the air down to the HEPA filters at twice the normal rate. Indeed, by re-directing purified air around and in-between each passenger to create protective air barriers, AirShield also happens to reduce odors — including from your burrito-eating seatmate — and makes the cabin environment quieter to boot, says Page. The Pexco president explains: “[T]he decibel level of the gaspers is very high. It’s one of the things that makes airline travel so loud. And we’ve been able to cut that by more than four. Like we divided it; it’s one-fourth the sound that it was before. So, we’ve been able to reduce the cross contamination and reduce the sound on an airplane.” Additionally, he says, AirShield enables cabin crew members to better control temperature onboard. [W]hat we’re talking about doing is putting these AirShields across all rows and it reduces that gasper noise and improves the HVAC [heating, ventilation and air conditioning]. You know how sometimes you’re cold on an airplane and sometimes you’re hot? It’s because half the gaspers are shut, or 80% of them are open. It would be like at your house, shutting all the air vents in your house and saying ‘why is it cold in here on a 0 degree day in Atlanta?’ You know, that’s the problem with these airplanes as they were designed for the gaspers to be 100% open and flowing and you can’t overcome that when 80% of gaspers are shut or 20% of them are halfway shut. And so the AirShield goes on and it makes it operate like a widebody where the HVAC is controlled by the front of the airplane by the flight attendants where they can set the temperature, and the cabin will normalize because the HVAC is running optimally. And that’s what the AirShield does. It removes that control of each individual person and puts it back to where it the way it should run. It’s true that most narrowbodies have retained individual air vents, whilst many of the more modern widebodies eschew them. Whether or not passengers will appreciate losing control of the gasper onboard single-aisle aircraft remains to be seen, however. RGN has certainly observed many complaints about the lack of gaspers on widebody aircraft. Perhaps ironically, given that even the presence of AirShield can enhance the perception of safety, Pexco has faced some resistance in industry because certain airlines fear that installing AirShield will be seen as an implicit admission that they don’t believe the HEPA filters are cleaning the air as well as they should, confides Page. “And so, people are dipping their toes in but they’re afraid of that perception that if they put it on 10% of their planes that the media or the public would say, ‘well, why don’t you have them on 100% of your planes?’” That might, however, create an interesting marketing opportunity for smaller airlines to launch fleet-wide from the get-go, especially given that highly contagious respiratory infections like Covid, the Flu and RSV remain a concern for passengers. Despite the challenges, Pexco reckons that industry will come around. “We believe it’s like a lie-flat seat where once one person goes, they’ll all go because there will be a perception that ‘I’ve gotta have this,'” says Page. As such, the firm will submit its final FAA STC paperwork for the A320 on Wednesday, 23 November, just before the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. It expects to receive its certificate this calendar year, covering roughly 80% of A320s that are fitted with the airframer’s Airspace XL large-stowage bins. Now that the hard work has been done to obtain STC for Airbus narrowbodies, STC for the 737 is expected to be easier to obtain, in as little as a month or two after securing a customer that wants to fit AirShield to its 737s, according to Page. “You know, this is a little bit of a Field of Dreams-type of a product. If you build it, they will come. And we’re hopeful that that’s true.” Pexco Aerospace highlights knock-on benefits of AirShield Turkey unveiled the first prototype of its own fifth-generation TF-X fighter By: Maksim Panasovskyi | 24.11.2022, 21:10 Turkey is moving steadily toward building its own fifth-generation fighter jet. Yes, exactly the fifth generation, while China, the U.S., Britain and the trio of France, Germany and Spain are working on a sixth-generation aircraft. Here's What We Know Turkish Aerospace Industry has unveiled the first prototype of the Turkish fighter, called the TF-X. The manufacturer has already been able to assemble several key parts of the aircraft - the centerplane, wings, as well as the nose and tail of the fuselage. The prototype will be ready for ground testing on March 18, 2023, after which Turkish Aerospace Industry, a state-owned company, will be able to proceed with ground testing of the fighter. It is expected that TF-X will be able to take to the skies in 2026 (previously the flight was planned for 2025) and will be accepted for service two years after that. Technical characteristics of the aircraft Turkey keeps secret. It is known that at the initial stage TF-X must be equipped with engines F110 American company General Electric. In the future, it is planned to integrate Turkish-made engines. The supplier will be selected based on the results of a tender in which Tusas Engine Industries, TRMotor and TAEC (a joint venture between Kale Group and Rolls Royce) will take part. The TF-X will be 18.2 meters long and have a wingspan of almost 11.9 meters. This means that the Turkish fighter will be slightly larger than the American F-35 Lightning II, but will be inferior in size to the F-22 Raptor. The company will have to face some problems on the way to building the TF-X. The key one is the delayed supply of General Electric engines (F-110-GE-129 or F110-GE-132). Yes, the production of propulsion systems is established in Turkey, but they are used in the F-16C/D Fighting Falcon and have simplified technical parameters. It is not certain that the US will want to supply the right engines, and a deal with Russia looks very unlikely in view of the attack on Ukraine. Other problems are the high cost and supply of advanced digital electronics, which could be in question as other countries develop a sixth-generation fighter as well. Turkey unveiled the first prototype of its own fifth-generation TF-X fighter Boeing faces exodus of senior engineers in tight market for talent By Bryan Corliss Nov. 28, 2022, © Leeham News: Boeing’s engineering corps could become further depleted within the next few days, as union-represented engineers and technical workers at the company’s Puget Sound plants face a Wednesday deadline on filing their retirement paperwork. If they don’t leave now, individuals could face retirement benefit losses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The potential loss of several hundred of Boeing’s most experienced engineers comes at a time when the company is scraping together engineering teams to tackle production problems in Charleston, and in the midst of an industry-wide shortage of engineering talent. Boeing faces exodus of senior engineers in tight market for talent Eco Caravan, propelled by an electrified system, completes first flight Thiago Vinholes November 23, 2022 Cessna Caravan re-powered by startup Ampaire flew for 33 minutes on its first sortie; aircraft certification expected in 2024 The “Eco Caravan” took off for the first time on November 18 from Camarillo Airport, in Los Angeles. It is an aircraft based on the traditional Cessna Caravan converted with hybrid-electric powertrain by the startup Ampaire, starting the certification campaign. With Ampaire test pilot Elliot Seguin, the Eco Caravan registered N405GV flew for 33 minutes on its first sortie. According to the California company, the hybrid model was taken to an altitude of 3,500 feet and tested different propulsion configurations until it returned to the point of origin. “The Eco Caravan propulsion system performed just as expected,” declared Seguin after the flight. “”It was smooth and quiet. All temperature and power output readings were normal.” Certification expected in 2024 The aircraft’s powertrain consists of a piston engine supplied by the German manufacturer Red Aircraft and an electric motor powered by batteries from Electric Power Systems, which generate a total of 765 horsepower (shp). In the original version, the Caravan is powered by a Pratt & Whitney PT6 turboprop with 675 hp. According to Ampaire, the Eco Caravan allows fuel savings of up to 70% compared to the Caravan with a conventional engine. The company also points out that the aircraft, due to the mechanical simplicity of its powertrain, offers 45% lower maintenance costs. The Eco Caravan is the first hybrid aircraft to enter the FAA approval process. As it is derived from an aircraft already approved by regulatory authorities, the hybrid variant only needs a supplementary certificate to enter service. Ampaire’s goal is to have the plane ready for passenger operations by 2024. To date, Ampaire has orders for 75 conversion kits for the aircraft, including a recent order from Monte Aircraft Leasing for 25 aircraft, plus 25 options. The startup believes that the more than 3,000 single-engine Caravans currently in service around the world are eligible to receive the modification. In addition to the modified Caravan, Ampaire has other hybrid-electric aircraft projects underway. In 2020, the company flew the EEL, a hybrid aircraft based on the twin-engine Cessna 337 Skymaster, which had one of its piston engines replaced by an electric generator. Another development by the company is the Eco Otter SX, a hybrid-electric conversion of the De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter. Eco Caravan, propelled by an electrified system, completes first flight The future of sustainable aviation could be electric UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AEROSPACE ENGINEERING ANASTASIA PIRRAMI An aerospace engineering team at the University of Michigan is researching hybrid-electric aircraft to dramatically reduce carbon emissions. The U-M aviation program will follow a design similar to the way hybrid-electric cars use batteries. The U-M Graham Sustainability Institute recently awarded Gökçin Çinar, an aerospace associate professor, a $50,000 grant to continue that research. The idea is to put batteries on board aircraft i,n addition to existing gas turbine engines. The batteries would be used in a hybrid system to reduce fuel burn and emissions from the gas turbine engines. “I want to use this grant for catalyzing bigger partnerships, collaboration opportunities and research projects,” Çinar said. “So, if we succeed in this project, that’s going to hopefully open some other doors in sustainable aviation research.” The aviation industry could account for 25% of global carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, according to Çinar’s project summary titled “Reducing Air Transport Emissions through Efficient Electrified Aircraft Operations.” Carbon dioxide is the largest greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. The need to lower emissions from airplanes is clear and dire, Çinar said. Aviation emissions, mainly carbon emissions, are a substantial contributor to air pollution and global warming. Carbon dioxide is the largest component of aircraft emissions, accounting for approximately 70% of the exhaust, according to the Washington, D.C. -based Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Çinar and her research team are exploring whether hybrid-electric planes can be built by 2030, she said. The team includes graduate students who work for her as research assistants and the Raytheon Technologies Research Center, one of the industry research leaders in electrified aircraft. Çinar’s research is about electrified propulsion aircraft and would follow the same idea as electric and hybrid-electric cars, she said. A big part of creating a more sustainable aviation industry that could be applied to hybrid-electric aircraft is minimizing drag, said Joaquim R. R. A. Martins, a U-M professor of aerospace engineering. Drag is the force that opposes an aircraft’s forward motion in flight. Martins and Çinar are both faculty members in the U-M Sustainable Aviation research group. Martins works with design optimization, an engineering design methodology used to make something as effective as possible. He has been working towards solutions to decrease drag through changing characteristics of the aircraft. Less drag produced by the aircraft means less carbon emissions. He is researching ways to change the shape of the wing and to make aircraft lighter. Minimizing drag and lowering the fuel needed to move it decreases the weight of the aircraft. “You need to figure out that relationship and then do a trade between drag and fuel,” Martins said. “So, minimizing the amount of fuel needed to fly a certain distance, that’s sustainability right there.” The biggest challenge associated with hybrid-electric aircraft is battery weight, Çinar said. A fully electric aircraft is not plausible because the batteries weigh too much compared to jet fuel. They are 50 times heavier than 1 pound of jet fuel for the same level of energy. “We want our systems, our aircraft, to be as light as possible, but with batteries being so heavy, it’s giving us a serious challenge,” Çinar said There are a lot of unknowns about electrification, she said, and the industry is still in the exploration stages. Her research focuses on integrating what she describes as “radical propulsion systems,” or electric power sources, into the industry. The goal is to spur academic and electrical industry research to help understand the dynamics of the complex system. Çinar said that her research and team are going to work towards finding solutions to aviation sustainability, and that she hopes that it can educate the next generation of engineers. The future of sustainable aviation could be electric Curt Lewis