December 28, 2020 - No. 98 In This Issue : Trump Administration Finalizes Do-nothing ‘Standards’ for Airplane Climate Emissions : Pilot Unions Reject 5% Rollback of Pay Cuts at Air India : Jet Fuel From CO2? Breakthrough Could Make Air Travel Carbon Neutral : Global Drone Super-highways a Step Closer as Octopus Ventures Back Altitude Angel : Ohio Shut Out of Astronaut Team for Moon Missions : Quick Swap Engines Could Be The Future Of Zero Emission Flight : Montenegro's indebted state airline ceases operations : Indonesia certifies N219 regional turboprop : Why the Hill HX50 might just rock the helo market : Researchers Find a Way to Pull Carbon Out of The Air And Turn It Into Jet Fuel : Elon Musk: SpaceX to test Super Heavy booster in 'a few months' Trump Administration Finalizes Do-nothing ‘Standards’ for Airplane Climate Emissions WASHINGTON— The Trump administration announced today that it finalized new regulations of airplane climate emissions that fail to force greenhouse gas reductions through either technology or operations changes. The aviation sector was previously the largest unregulated transportation source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country. But the new Trump standards, signed Wednesday, won’t force plane manufacturers or airlines to make any changes to cut harmful climate pollution. “This is another industry handout from an administration that’s hell-bent on hamstringing efforts to tackle the climate crisis and maintain a livable planet,” said Liz Jones, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “It’s now up to the Biden administration to step up and actually cut aviation emissions as part of an ambitious climate agenda.” The Environmental Protection Agency determined in 2016 that aircraft pollution drives climate change and endangers public health. The United States contributes about a quarter of worldwide aviation greenhouse gas emissions. The emissions from U.S. aircraft alone are higher than the total emissions of more than 150 countries. Over the past decade, airplane emissions rose by 44% and were set to triple again by 2050 ahead of the coronavirus pandemic. However, more than four years after its initial endangerment finding, the EPA has now finalized standards that lag behind existing technology by more than 10 years. The new standards won’t apply to in-service airplanes and won’t apply to new in-production airplanes until 2028. At that point the EPA expects all airplanes to already comply with the standards or be phased out. As a result the agency doesn’t project any emissions reductions from the rule. “This rule is especially infuriating because there are effective ways for the aviation industry to modernize and decarbonize,” said Jones. “What we desperately need are technology-forcing standards to get the industry on track.” Earlier this year the Center released a report that explained how climate pollution from U.S. aviation could be cut by three-quarters or more in the next 20 years. When Trump’s rule was proposed, the Center and its allies — more than 100 environmental and health groups and 12 states — submitted comments highlighting why it is illegal and shortsighted. Unless Biden’s EPA moves immediately to replace the Trump rule, the Center is prepared to launch a legal challenge. https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-administration-finalizes-do-nothing-standards-for-airplane-climate-emissions-2020-12-28/ Pilot Unions Reject 5% Rollback of Pay Cuts at Air India Dec. 25—NEW DELHI — Air India's pilot unions, Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG) and Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), on Thursday rejected a partial roll back of their salary-cuts stating that the unions would be forced to resort to calling in strikes if the issue was not addressed. "We do not accept this paltry 5% roll back in illegal pay cut and you may advise the concerned to donate this 5% towards funds for building the Parliament or PM CARE," both unions wrote in a joint letter to the airline's chairman and managing director Rajiv Bansal. "If we do not see a timely substantial reduction in this disproportionate pay cut, we will be forced to seek justice through harsher means including Industrial Action," the letter said. A copy of the letter, which is dated 24 December, has been reviewed by Mint. In the letter the unions said that the disproportionate unilateral pay cut imposed on pilots due to the covid-19 pandemic, since April 2020, amounts to a gross reduction of upto 58% of their salaries. "This cut has been carefully worded to slash our wages by more than half while insulating top management from any meaningful austerity contribution such as a fair percentage cut on gross emoluments which spreads the burden fairly," the unions said in the letter. "We have gone above and beyond during this pandemic risking life & limb to ensure the success of Vande Bharat Mission. In spite of 171 pilots testing COVID-19 positive, operations continue to run smoothly even in the face of a resurgence of an even deadlier strain of COVID19," they added. The letter also stated that while parliamentarians have only taken 30 per cent cut on gross emoluments and vehemently refused to take a higher cut, pilots continue to suffer from a massive pay cut. "The Aviation industry in India is firmly on the rebound with domestic air traffic increasing substantially from 25% in April 2020 to 80% as of December 2020, a fact acknowledged by other airlines who have started rolling back austerity measures significantly. In contrast, our management is content hiding behind the COVID-19 Pandemic & Ministry of Civil Aviation," it added. https://www.aviationpros.com/airlines/news/21204031/pilot-unions-reject-5-rollback-of-pay-cuts-at-air-india Jet Fuel From CO2? Breakthrough Could Make Air Travel Carbon Neutral A new breakthrough could help reduced the carbon footprint of air travel, with the aim to bring emissions by jets to net zero. A team of researchers from Oxford University has successfully managed to turn carbon dioxide (CO2) into jet fuel, though as of now the experiment was performed at a very small scale. As concerns about climate change keep mounting by the day, scientists have been looking into converting CO2 into sustainable, synthetic hydrocarbons fuels for transportation purposes for a few years now. As of now, this reverse engineering has only been experimented in the lab but could be a game-changer when introduced on a larger scale - making air travel carbon neutral. The team of researchers have discovered a way to use low-cost iron catalysts to convert CO2 in the atmosphere (or directly from emissions of factories) into synthetic jet fuel. The scientists first prepare the Fe-Mn-K (iron-manganese-potassium) catalyst by the organic combustion method (OCM). This catalyst then exhibits a CO2 conversion through hydrogenation to hydrocarbons in the aviation jet fuel range of 38.2 percent and a low carbon monoxide output of 5.6 percent. The conversion reaction also produces other by-products which are important raw materials for the petrochemical industry and are presently also only obtained from fossil crude oil. In this method, the carbon dioxide extracted from air is employed for conversion and later re-emitted from jet fuels when combusted in flight. Resultantly, the overall effect of this process is a carbon-neutral fuel. As of now, this process remains inside the walls of the lab. There are challenges that need to be overcome before this could be made a practically viable method of aviation fuel production. One of the hurdles involve carbon capturing – the process of capturing carbon from the atmosphere. The activation of CO2 is also a challenge. Another complication is that hydrocarbon synthesis via the hydrogenation of CO2 usually favours the formation of short-chain, rather than the desirable long-chain that is required for the synthesis of aviation fuel. This new process represents a significant social advance that highlights CO2 recycling and resource conservation as an important, pivotal aspect of greenhouse gas management and sustainable development. This catalytic process is expected to be the route to achieving net-zero carbon emissions from the aviation industry in the near future – that is until we as a society are fully equipped to run on eco-friendly electric airplanes. Speaking to Wired, one of the paper's authors, Tiancun Xiao from Oxford's Department of Chemistry, said, “Climate change is accelerating, and we have huge carbon dioxide emissions. The infrastructure of hydrocarbon fuels is already there. This process could help relieve climate change and use the current carbon infrastructure for sustainable development.” https://gadgets.ndtv.com/science/news/jet-fuel-from-co2-oxford-university-researchers-carbon-dioxide-aviation-sustainability-2344678 Global Drone Super-highways a Step Closer as Octopus Ventures Back Altitude Angel Altitude Angel, the world’s leading UTM (Unified Traffic Management) technology provider, today announced it raised a further £4m ($5.3m US) from one of Europe’s largest VC investors, Octopus Ventures. The latest fundraising concludes Altitude Angel’s series A round, led by Octopus Ventures and existing investor Seraphim Capital. It also brings the total invested in Altitude Angel in 2020 to £7.05m ($9.4m) UTM is the platform which will allow UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, sometimes called drones) and manned aircraft to operate harmoniously in shared skies. Through the widespread adoption of UTM platforms, governments and authorities will be able to begin building the super-highways of the future – networks of interlinking drone corridors which will revolutionise the transportation of goods; from medical supplies and fast-food deliveries to ‘Amazon-like’ parcel drop off and collections. The investment will allow Altitude Angel to capitalise on its reputation as the world’s leader in developing and deploying local and national UTM platforms, allowing it to further expand its international presence and in doing so, accelerate the safe and secure use of drones in skies across the globe. Following the opening of its Dutch HQ in September, the company will be opening offices local to its international partners in addition to increasing its presence in markets promoting UTM growth through H1 2021. Octopus Ventures’ Zoë Chambers will join the Altitude Angel board, which is chaired by former Microsoft executive Pieter Knook. Zoë Chambers, deep tech investor at Octopus Ventures, said: “We’ve been talking about the potential of drones to radically transform all sorts of industries for a long time now, as the number of applications is huge, but for it to be viable, we need a system that can manage drones and, eventually, other types of unmanned air traffic at scale. “Altitude Angel’s technology solves this problem and allows highly automated drones to be safely integrated within a nation’s airspace and, in doing so, allow drones to be used to survey infrastructure, deliver small parcels, or even deliver important medical supplies, such as donor organs, without disturbing normal air traffic. “The market opportunity is enormous, and we firmly believe Altitude Angel’s UTM platform will become the blueprint for drone integration and the infrastructure layer for an unmanned air traffic network across the globe. Richard and his team have already made meaningful progress towards this goal and we’re excited to get to work to help realise their vision.” Richard Parker, Altitude Angel, founder and CEO added: “Altitude Angel has consistently broken new ground in the development and deployment of Unified Traffic Management technology, pioneering the integration of UTM within existing ATM (Air Traffic Management) systems and networks. Our partnership with Octopus Ventures and the investment they have made in our business will allow us to significantly build on the foundations we’ve spent the past years laying. “The substantial investments made in our company throughout 2020 – during a time of immense globally instability – demonstrate the solid basis for the business we’re building and means we can focus more on accelerating our growth and expansion plans, strengthening our existing solution portfolio and continue to deliver on our vision for the future of automated transport. As countries around the world rebuild from the impact of COVID, we’re going to help them build-back bigger, stronger and, most importantly: equipped to deal with tomorrow’s skies.” This latest investment follows Altitude Angel’s announcement in September it would be opening the world’s first commercial drone super-highway in open and unrestricted airspace in the Thames Valley, to the west of London, in 2021. The corridor uses Altitude Angel’s “Arrow” technology. Operated and managed by Altitude Angel, the site will be available to support fully automated drone flights beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) from any drone company which completes a series of basic technical integrations which, crucially, don’t require specialist hardware on-board the drone. Altitude Angel was founded in 2014 by Richard Parker and has quickly become the world’s leading UTM technology company. Its solutions are deployed by air navigation service providers (ANSPs) around the globe, including the Netherlands’ LVNL, Norway’s Avinor and the UK’s NATS, with further significant rollouts planned in 2021. Its market leading data is also used by drone manufactures, including the world’s largest, DJI, flight planning platforms and enterprise businesses. About Altitude Angel: Altitude Angel is an aviation technology company delivering solutions which enable the safer integration and use of fully automated drones into airspace. Through its Airspace Management platform, GuardianUTM O/S, they deliver the essential software platform which enable national deployments of U-space compatible services, safely unlocking the potential of drones and helping national aviation authorities and air navigation service providers to establish new services to support the growth in the drone industry. The foundation components of GuardianUTM O/S are also available to enable third-party UTM developers to incorporate enterprise-grade data and services into their UTM solutions. Altitude Angel was founded by Richard Parker in 2014 and is headquartered in Reading, UK. Altitude Angel’s developer platform is open and available to all at: https://developers.altitudeangel.com. About GuardianUTM: GuardianUTM enables drone manufacturers and software developers to connect into a rich, dynamic source of accurate, authoritative and relevant information to support geofencing, while offering enhanced UTM capabilities such as a single interface to multi-country flight authorisation. The system is being deployed by NATS, the UK’s main air navigation service provider, and was demonstrated as part of ‘Operation Zenith’ in 2018, offering enhanced airport safeguarding and automated approvals to fly in controlled airspace. Altitude Angel is now bringing online functionality to enable drone pilots anywhere in the world to get 1-click access to controlled airspace. Its companion product, GuardianUTM O/S, supports all the functionality required to deliver national-grade drone traffic management capabilities to any country that wishes to safely unlock the potential of drones. About Octopus Ventures Octopus Ventures, part of the Octopus Group, is built to specialise in the four areas we believe will change the world for the better: health, money, deep tech and consumer. We have backed the founding teams of more than 100 companies including Zoopla, Secret Escapes, graze.com, tails.com, Swiftkey, Elvie, Depop, Sofar Sounds, Big Health, Bought By Many, ByMiles, OLIO and Cazoo. Some of our portfolio companies have gone on to join forces with the world’s largest businesses including Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Twitter. With £1.3 billion under management and investing over £100m a year, Octopus Ventures is one of the largest and most active venture investors in Europe. Our typical investment is from £1 million for Seed to £10 million for Series B and we can continue to fund the companies we back right through to IPO. We are based in London and New York with a network that spans from San Francisco to China. The companies we back become a part of this network, with access to a formidable resource of experience and expertise. Our current investment focus: Future of Health: Transforming the health industry, from digital therapeutics through to biotechnology. Future of Money: Revolutionising society’s ability to exchange and allocate financial resources and risk. Deep Tech: The tools and technologies that will power the next industrial revolution. These include quantum computing, robotics and drones, sensory human augmentation and 3D printing. Consumer: Reinventing the everyday, in how we live, work, travel, play, rest and recuperate. https://www.suasnews.com/2020/12/global-drone-super-highways-a-step-closer-as-octopus-ventures-back-altitude-angel/ Ohio Shut Out of Astronaut Team for Moon Missions Dec. 27—Ohio produced such famous astronauts as John Glenn and Neil Armstrong during the Cold War, when America was in a highly competitive space and technology race against the former Soviet Union. Now, though, the Buckeye State is getting snubbed by NASA for the upcoming Artemis team which is scheduled to resume moon missions in 2024. California led the way with five of the 18 Artemis astronauts hailing from the Golden State. Not one is from Ohio. Tom Henry The 'genius and generous' legacy of Bowling Green's Neocles Leontis You can find the complete Artemis team, along with profiles of each of the 18 chosen astronauts at nasa.gov. The Artemis program is today's version of the Apollo program. The latter began in the 1960s after the Mercury and Gemini programs. It ended with America's last trip to the moon in 1972. In Greek mythology, Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo. Advertisement NASA chose Artemis as the name for its new era of missions to recognize how women have become more involved with science and technology over the past half-century. It has committed to having one of Artemis' nine female astronauts become the first woman to step foot on the lunar surface. Thus, Ohio will not get the distinction of producing both the first man and the first woman to walk on the moon. Perhaps it's silly focusing on any one state when we're all one country and, in theory, working together for the good of all. Promising results in coronavirus vaccine trials are one of the positive signs we can cling to as we trudge toward 2021. Tom Henry Henry: Let's make the most of COVID Christmas season Yet it's a bit odd watching the new Ohio Department of Health's coronavirus ad campaign on television without wondering why we got shut out of the Artemis missions. The ad underscores Ohio ingenuity, starting with footage of the Wright Brothers and Mr. Armstrong. Ohio has a lot to be proud of, indeed. And, no, we weren't guaranteed an Ohio-born astronaut on the Artemis team. Yet it would have been nice. The closest we came was Christina H. Koch of Grand Rapids, Mich., who was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 2013. She's not that local, either: According to her NASA bio, she's a native of Grand Rapids but grew up in Jacksonville, N.C., and lived in Livingston, Mont., before relocating to Houston once she became an astronaut. In addition to producing some of America's most noteworthy astronauts, Ohio has put more astronauts into outer space than any other state, some 25 of them. Those from northwest Ohio include Mr. Armstrong, of Wapakoneta, and Terence T. "Tom" Henricks, of Woodville. Coincidentally, Congress is now trying to to rename NASA's Plum Brook Station in Sandusky after Mr. Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong, who died on Aug. 25, 2012, generally shunned such publicity. Known for his modest personality, he said years ago he didn't seek out the limelight because he considered his feat a team effort. U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio) and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) introduced legislation to rename Plum Brook after Mr. Armstrong in 2019. That effort began as NASA approached the 50th anniversary of its historic 1969 Apollo 11 mission. "Neil was a humble and patriotic Ohioan who believed the honor of serving his country was a reward in and of itself," Mr. Portman, who delivered the eulogy at Mr. Armstrong's funeral, said. "That's why, when I asked him the year before he passed away whether he wanted me to pursue naming Plum Brook after him, he demurred. "But he was a strong supporter of Plum Brook Station and the important simulations and testing being done there, and I believe it is precisely because of his humility, coupled with his unparalleled accomplishments, that the renaming is appropriate," Mr. Portman said, adding that he got the Armstrong family's blessing. The U.S. Senate agreed to the name change last year, and the U.S. House of Representatives did the same on Dec. 16. The legislation is awaiting President Trump's signature. Last year, also in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 mission, another Ohioan with a distinguished career in NASA was honored. The Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority and Toledo City Council named our local airport the Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport in recognition of Mr. Kranz, who grew up in Toledo. He became a NASA legend for what he did here on Earth as the Apollo-era flight director who ran the control room in Houston for several of the space agency's most famous missions. See this profile I wrote about Mr. Kranz to learn more about him, and this column about the 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing to learn more about the mood of the country then. NASA's plan is to go back to the moon with multiple Artemis missions. It wants to learn more about the millions of tons of water discovered at the moon's south pole after the Apollo missions ended. It also wants — cue up Pink Floyd — to explore the mysterious "dark side" of the moon in person for the first time. Then, NASA will set its sights on Mars and beyond, starting in the mid-2030s. About all that's left to say here is this: I've heard several times from a well-connected source in the Republican Party that former Ohio Gov. and frequent CNN contributor John Kasich is a big Pink Floyd fan, known to have driven long distances listening to that group's best-known album, Dark Side of the Moon. But that's another story. Over a career that has spanned nearly four decades, Tom Henry has written wacky, weird, funny, sad, heartbreaking, soulful, serious, and even some inspirational stories. He created The Blade's environment-energy beat in 1993 and, on occasion, riffs about jazz and blues. He also likes big, sloppy dogs. https://www.aviationpros.com/aircraft/defense/news/21204026/ohio-shut-out-of-astronaut-team-for-moon-missions Quick Swap Engines Could Be The Future Of Zero Emission Flight One of the latest ideas for Airbus’ research and development quest for zero-emission flight is a hydrogen-powered pod propulsion system. The new concept includes six removable fuel cells designed to be disassembled and reassembled for quick swaps at airports. In September, Airbus revealed three ZEROe concept aircraft, all relying on hydrogen as a primary fuel source. Two of the aircraft were fairly classical; one narrowbody turbofan for 120 to 200 passengers and one turboprop for the 100-seat regional market. The third, seating up to 200 passengers, was a breakout concept with a wide fuselage and blended wing. The planemaker then gave itself five years to deliver a commercially viable hydrogen-powered aircraft. Individual systems with liquid hydrogen The newest idea falls somewhere in between, with a classical fuselage shape but innovative engines. It consists of six “pods” with eight blades each, mounted under the aircraft wings. While the design itself may not be groundbreaking, the fact that the pods would be powered by hydrogen cells is. “The ‘pod’ configuration is essentially a distributed fuel cell propulsion system that delivers thrust to the aircraft via six propulsors arranged along the wing. Hydrogen fuel cells have very different design considerations, so we knew we had to come up with a unique approach,” Matthieu Thomas, ZEROe Aircraft Lead Architect, said in a statement seen by Simple Flying. Each pod is essentially a stand-alone propulsion system that would consist of: a propeller electric motors fuel cells power electronics LH2 (liquid hydrogen) tank a cooling system a set of auxiliary equipment Potential solution to refueling problems One of the key features of the potential system is that it is designed for quick swaps. This could provide a solution to the problem with refueling at airports, which experts have raised as one of the main issues facing hydrogen-powered flight. Thanks to its removable features, it can be dismantled and reassembled in record time. “This ‘pod’ configuration is a great starting point to nurture further inquiry into how we can scale up hydrogen technology to commercial aircraft. This is one option, but many more will be conceptualised before we make a final selection, a decision that is expected by 2025,” says Glenn Llewellyn, VP of Zero-Emission Aircraft. Is hydrogen really zero-emission? Hydrogen is proclaimed by many as one of aviation’s best bets at reducing carbon emissions. While hydrogen itself does not produce any carbon dioxide when used as a fuel source, at the moment, hydrogen used as fuel is produced from fossil fuels; a process that in and of itself releases carbon dioxide and monoxide into the atmosphere. Hydrogen retrieved in this manner is usually called “brown” or “grey” hydrogen. Its slightly more environmentally friendly option, where emissions are reduced using carbon capture and storage, is known as “blue” hydrogen. So while a hydrogen-powered plane, such as the retrofitted Piper Malibu operating ZeroAvia’s first commercial-grade hydrogen flight in September, could be called “zero-emission,” at the moment, the fuel supply chain could not. However, this could also become a reality with the production of “green hydrogen.” This is done through electrolysis, using renewable energy sources such as solar, hydro, or wind power. Meanwhile, at the moment, green hydrogen unfortunately only accounts for 1% of total annual hydrogen production. https://simpleflying.com/zero-emission-flight-quick-swap-engines/ Montenegro's indebted state airline ceases operations PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Montenegro Airlines ceased its operations on Saturday after the small country’s new government refused to continue financing the indebted national carrier. The airline which was formed 25 years ago has apologized to its passengers for the sudden termination of all flights and thanked them for “the years of trust, travel and friendship.” The company that operated a small fleet of Embraer 195 and Fokker 100s and flew to many European capitals is estimated to have accumulated over 150 million of euros in debt which grew further with the collapse of the summer tourist season because of the coronavirus pandemic. Montenegro's new conservative government, which last month took over from a pro-Western leadership, said the company’s management suffered from “numerous omissions and shortcomings," adding that monthly salaries to over 350 employees were last paid in September. The government said it will immediately stop funding the losses, adding that the airline’s debt is such that it faced the “possibility of confiscation of aircraft” on foreign airports. But the government added that it plans to form a “completely new” airline in the months to come. The airline, which carried about 10 million passengers over the past two and a half decades, said the government’s “decision to shut down our company will have a negative impact on the entire aviation sector in the country.” In a sentimental farewell gesture, the pilots on the company’s last flight to Belgrade on Friday were given permission by air controllers to make a heart-shape course in the skies over the picturesque mountainous Adriatic state. “It was pure emotion triggered by the tears and huge love for our company by the crew and all its employees,” the flight's captain, Nikola Pavicevic, wrote on Facebook. https://www.stltoday.com/news/world/montenegros-indebted-state-airline-ceases-operations/article_fd7a9d02-cc6e-5f4f-b7c1-cc3f5bc1f2a0.html Indonesia certifies N219 regional turboprop State-owned Indonesian Aerospace (IAe), also known as Dirgantara Indonesia, has received certification for its N219 commuter aircraft. A type certificate was officially issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on 18 December, the transport ministry said in a statement on 28 December. The ministry plans to order the small regional turboprop for flight calibration purposes and for providing air transport services to remote regions, among others. It states: “The Minister of Transportation hopes that this achievement will motivate Dirgantara Indonesia to continue to innovate, because technical improvements are still needed in the next generation of aircraft so that they can compete with foreign-made aircraft and have high [commercial value].” The same statement indicates that the aircraft has been undergoing certification since February 2014 and the three-year validity on the certification period was extended twice, on 8 February 2017 and 11 February 2020. According to the ministry, each aircraft is fitted with two Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PT6A engines and can carry up to 19 passengers. Following the type certification, IAe has plans for the N219 to enter the commercialisation phase in 2021, it states in a 28 December evening update posted on its official Twitter account. English-language media Jakarta Globe reported on 11 December that the aircraft type completed its final test flight that day. According to the report, Indonesia’s minister for research and technology Bambang Brodjonegoro said the final test flight would clear the way for a commercial aircraft licence for the N219 to fly commercial routes in the country. Cirium fleets data shows that IAe has two prototypes. PK-XDT (MSN 001) was rolled out in November 2015 and launched its first flight in August 2017. PK-XDP (MSN 002) was rolled out in September 2018 and its first flight was in December that year. The local government of the semi-autonomous Aceh province most recently showed interest in the programme, placing in December 2019 an LOI to order four examples. Domestic airline Aviastar Mandiri has by far shown the greatest support for the programme, placing in October 2018 an LOI for 20 orders, adding to an April 2015 LOI for 20 orders and 10 options. Other LOIs – for eight orders by national private charterer Air Born and 10 orders and options for five by for Jakarta-based Trigana Air – also date back to April 2015. Defunct airlines Merpati and Nusantara Buana Air had lapsed LOIs to order 20 examples each, placed in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Nusantara also had options for another 10. https://www.flightglobal.com/aerospace/indonesia-certifies-n219-regional-turboprop/141763.article Why the Hill HX50 might just rock the helo market In every industry, an innovator seems to emerge who changes the playing field with a revolutionary idea. One of these men just might be UK-based Hill Helicopters’ founder Jason Hill. Hill, an aeronautics PhD and pilot who previously worked on helicopter programs at GKN Westland (now Leonardo), is aiming at nothing less than “fixing the ills of a broken industry.” “The products we’re flying around today were out of date in the 1980s; they’re decades out of date,” Hill told Elan Head of Vertical magazine in an exclusive interview. “We need a very large injection of innovation to bring general aviation back to life. We need modern technology, we need more connected aircraft, we need higher performance aircraft, we need better crashworthiness, we need to improve the desirability.” Just months ago, UK-based Hill Helicopters emerged from stealth, promising to revolutionize the light helicopter industry with its concept for a sleek, five-seat turbine helicopter model called the HX50, Vertical magazine reported. The company hopes to bring the HX50 to market as early as 2023 at a price point of just £495,000 (US$665,000) — wildly ambitious targets for any certified helicopter program, as Hill is quick to acknowledge. “For a new, innovative product to inject the kind of step change in technology that the [helicopter] industry needs, if you were to try and do it the certified route, you’d need huge amounts of money; you’d need to be pre-production for a decade. And it’s just not a viable business model,” Hill told Vertical magazine. So instead of launching the HX50 as a certified aircraft, Hill Helicopters plans to debut it as an experimental category, amateur-built model, eliminating many of the regulatory layers associated with certification. HX50 sales and experience will then be used to support a full certification process, resulting in an otherwise identical (but more expensive) commercial model, the HC50. According to Hill, pursuing the more streamlined amateur-built framework for initial type approval “allows us to take more of the responsibility ourselves, meet all the same regulations, but get the product to market much, much faster than would have been possible with a traditional certification route,” Vertical magazine reported. “And then once the product is in the market, it becomes very difficult for a certification body to argue that ‘Oh, it’s a terrible idea, it’s very dangerous, it’s too risky,’ if we’ve got 1,000 or 2,000 of them out there already with an exemplary safety record.” That might sound wildly ambitious as well, given that amateur-built helicopters — which require the owner/operator to build at least 51% of the aircraft — have always represented a small and accident-prone niche of the market. But Hill, an aeronautics PhD and pilot who previously worked on helicopter programs at GKN Westland (now Leonardo), is aiming at nothing less than “fixing the ills of a broken industry.” “The products we’re flying around today were out of date in the 1980s; they’re decades out of date,” he said. “We need a very large injection of innovation to bring general aviation back to life. We need modern technology, we need more connected aircraft, we need higher performance aircraft, we need better crashworthiness, we need to improve the desirability.” That’s what Hill believes he can offer with the HX50, which his company is designing from the wheels up, including its avionics suite and GT50 turbine engine, Vertical magazine reported. The latter is a two-spool turboshaft engine, comprising a single stage centrifugal compressor with a pressure ratio of 8.0:1 at 49,000 rpm, driven by a two-stage axial turbine, specifically optimized for high efficiency, low fuel consumption and long-life. According to the website, the GT50 is designed and developed by a team of industry veterans, using methods, tools, and techniques pioneered over decades — in other words, a completely in-house engine. By developing the GT50 in parallel with the helicopter, Hill says, they were better able to define exactly what attributes were required for the powerplant in order to deliver the payload, performance and engine control characteristics essential to the HX50, rather than having to accept a poorly suited and expensive old technology engine. Unlike most experimental aircraft, the HX50 won’t be available as a kit for homebuilding. Instead, customers will be required to assemble their aircraft in a “carefully choreographed” two-week factory course alongside licensed engineers, Vertical magazine reported. Then, rather than sending them off to operate in isolation, the company plans to stay connected with the owner community through a cloud-based operating platform that will include flight data monitoring services, “so we’ll be able to provide a degree of support and oversight and monitoring of each of the aircraft we sell,” Hill said. Hill also said the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has been “incredibly supportive” of the concept. While Brexit has caused angst in some corners of the aerospace industry, Hill is optimistic that it will prove to be an advantage in bringing the HX50 to market. “Brexit has been a real enabler because we’ve now got new powers coming home, so the UK will be able to certify its own aircraft again,” rather than relying on the much larger and slower moving EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency). Without question, it is a mountain yet to be climbed — Hill must win over the large potential customer base, who see today’s light helicopters as too difficult to fly, too risky, or simply too ugly to be desirable. “What we’re offering to these people isn’t just a revolutionary helicopter — it’s an ability to be part of the movement to relaunch GA,” he said. “These people are all very, very passionate about aviation. They love helicopters, they love the helicopter lifestyle, they just know it can be more.” https://asiatimes.com/2020/12/why-the-hill-hx50-might-just-rock-the-helo-market/ Researchers Find a Way to Pull Carbon Out of The Air And Turn It Into Jet Fuel The start of electric aviation is upon us, but it's going to take many more years before the average environmentalist can fly guilt free on a fully electric long haul jet. In the meantime, scientists are trying to make the commercial planes we already have more sustainable, and one of the best ways to do that is to change the fuel they consume. Instead of spitting carbon dioxide (CO2) out into the atmosphere, researchers at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in the UK have now come up with a way for airplanes to capture this gas from the air and burn it for fuel. Instead of creating a whole new fleet of electric planes, which would require huge leaps in battery storage technology, this new approach would allow the world to reduce its carbon footprint from flying much sooner. That is, if it proves to work on a larger scale. In the lab, researchers were able to capture and convert gaseous CO2 directly into jet fuel using an inexpensive iron-based catalyst. The amount of liquid fuel produced is still far too small to power an actual airplane, but if the carbon can be captured from the air in high-enough volume, converted into energy at great enough efficiency and then re-emitted, a plane could theoretically fly 'carbon neutral'. "This catalytic process provides an attractive route not only to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions but also to produce renewable and sustainable jet fuel," the authors write. "The recycling of carbon dioxide as a carbon source for both fuels and high-value chemicals offers considerable potential for both the aviation and petrochemical industries." Normally, when fossil fuels burn, the hydrocarbons they contain are turned into carbon dioxide and water, releasing energy. The new system essentially reverses this natural process. By adding heat to the system, engineers were able to combine carbon dioxide with hydrogen, split from water, to produce a few grams of liquid fuel that the authors say could work in a jet engine. The catalyst responsible for this impressive chemical reaction is composed of iron, manganese and potassium, which are abundant Earth elements, easier and cheaper to prepare than many similar candidates. The catalyst also interacts easily with hydrogen and shows high selectivity for a range of jet-fuel hydrocarbons. The outcome is a little bit of fuel, as well as several petrochemicals that can only be obtained from fossil fuels. The new system isn't the first, nor will it be the last that converts our carbon emissions into desirable biofuel. In Canada, scientists have been developing a huge industrial complex to capture CO2 like the trees of a forest would, using it to form hydrocarbon fuel. But while a handful of studies have shown it's possible to convert atmospheric CO2 into liquid fuel, it's extremely challenging and expensive to produce more than a tiny amount. The new system looks promising, but whether or not its practical is another matter. "This does look different, and it looks like it could work," Joshua Heyne, an independent engineer who was not involved in the study, told Wired. "Scale-up is always an issue, and there are new surprises when you go to larger scales. But in terms of a longer-term solution, the idea of a circular carbon economy is definitely something that could be the future." Some, like Heyne, are hopeful, while others see 'flying on air' as mere hype. Last year, when a company in Europe announced they were working on a way to capture CO2 from the air to power future airplanes, critics pointed out the fuel produced each day would only allow for five minutes of flying. Such tiny yields are not a solution to the climate crisis, and some environmentalists argue our only feasible option is to fly less. Especially because the reality of a circular carbon economy is still far off and the crisis of climate change is already upon us. In the end, it all depends on how quickly we can scale up this promising technology, and the fact is, it might not happen fast enough. Engineers want to ultimately hook up their new system to established carbon emitters, such as coal-burning power plants, and that would, of course, require continued fossil fuel production. It's also really expensive, and might not be appealing to businesses even if it did work. Still, with climate change accelerating and aviation only set to increase in coming years, the team of engineers argues CO2 conversion and utilisation as "an integral and important part of greenhouse gas control and sustainable development." Other sustainable biofuels which rely on plants require vast amounts of cropland and don't tackle our emissions at the same time. "This, then, is the vision for the route to achieving net-zero carbon emissions from aviation," they conclude, "a fulcrum of a future global zero-carbon aviation sector." We shall see. The study was published in Nature Communications. https://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-find-way-to-pull-carbon-out-of-the-air-and-make-it-jet-fuel Elon Musk: SpaceX to test Super Heavy booster in 'a few months' Elon Musk says that flight testing on SpaceX's new Super Heavy booster will begin in 'a few months' from now -- for Starship. SpaceX will be testing its new Super Heavy booster in "a few months" from now according to Elon Musk, with the Super Heavy booster being used to fly Starship and its orbital launches and deeper space missions -- it'll also be how SpaceX will land on Mars soon Musk said that the company will be testing the Super Heavy booster at its two launch pads down in Boca Chica, Texas with new prototype rockets to be tested on each launch pad. The company recently began setting up its new SN9 prototype of Starship at its Texas testing facility, before this news began to float out. SpaceX will have an engineering marvel with Super Heavy standing at a large 240 feet tall with 28 Raptor engines in total, with Super Heavy recently seeing a prototype of the next-gen heavy-lift rocket exploding once it landed after a high-altitude test flight in Texas. https://www.tweaktown.com/news/76945/elon-musk-spacex-to-test-super-heavy-booster-in-few-months/index.html Curt Lewis