John Croft: July 2010 Archives

Italian airframer Oma Sud has provided me with pictures, some artist concepts, some actual hardware, of their new Red Bird two-seater. As I mentioned in the previous blog post, the all-composite aircraft will fly for the first time late in August or early September. It will be a retractable design in Europe with side-by-side seating, powered by a 100hp Rotax 912 engine, and it will be a fixed gear light sport aircraft (LSA) in the US. Oma Sud officials say the aircraft will fly initially as an ultralight, and will then be certified in Europe as a very light aircraft by the end of 2011.

Italian airframer Oma Sud (ohm-ah sude) revealed yesterday at EAA's AirVenture that it is developing an all-composite factory-built Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) called the Red Bird that will fly for the first time late in August or early September. The aircraft will be a retractable low-wing design with side-by-side seating, powered by a 100hp Rotax 912 engine.

Officials say the aircraft will fly initially as an ultralight, and will then be certified in Europe as a very light aircraft by the end of 2011. A fixed gear version that meets ASTM light sport aircraft ASTM standards will then be offered in the US.

The company is here this year for the first time at Oshkosh, displaying its twin engine Skycar pusher (pictured below), which it plans to receive FAA approval for by November. Skycar received European certification in December 2009.

Terrafugia yesterday unveiled its second generation Transition "roadable" aircraft, a more efficient design the company hopes to fly early next year and begin producing as a factory-built light sport aircraft (S-LSA) in late 2011.

The proof-of-concept Transition, which first flew last year, accumulated 28 flights all of which took place over the runway and below 200ft (61m) altitude, says Terrafugia test pilot Phil Meteer. Flights lasted approximately 1 minute.

Along with FAA approval to boost allowable maximum weight by 50kg (110lb) above the 1,320lb LSA limit to allow for highway safety devices, the US National highway traffic safety administration (NHTSA) also qualified the vehicle as a multi-purpose vehicle, allowing for smaller front bumpers. Terrafugia had originally designed a pitchable horizontal stabilizer at the front of the aircraft to double as full-width bumper.

The new design features a single stabilator at the back of the aircraft, with an open rather than closed fuselage bottom that allowed for a larger, three-blade pusher propeller between the twin tail booms. For ground transport, the Transition's 100hp Rotax 912S engine now powers the rear wheels rather than the front wheels.

Terrafugia says it has more than 80 orders for the Transition, which the company had originally expected to sell for $194,000. Officials say they are now re-evaluating the price.

A serene Monday morning at Flight International's rental house on Lake Winnebago is a great start to this year's EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

The team (Brendan Sobie, Jon Ostrower, Dan Webb, Tom Gordon, Jeff Decker and myself) will be cranking out three interactive Flight Daily News features starting on Tuesday.

Check out the action at www.flightglobal.com

Here's some recent coverage from Flight International magazine.

Like many "old" people, I've debated whether I should become a Twit, aka, someone who centres their news day on Twitter, both watching the various people they "follow" or tweeting away themselves, often with wild abandon.

I've been leaning AWAY from getting involved, largely because it's more work and no one's paying me any more money to do it.

However an email I just read today from Cessna, regarding their Tweet-up, a gathering of Twitterers, at the Oshkosh show (#OSH10)  made me firmly resolve to stay as far away from Twitter or Twitterheads as possible..

 

Cessna will host a Tweetup and, in what is probably an Oshkosh first, a Tweasure Hunt, both focused primarily for Twitter users but available to Facebook aficionados as well. Both events will take place July 28.

A "Tweasure Hunt"??? Will Elmer Fudd emcee?? 

Uhhhh, have fun kids. Cute idea, but it makes we want to head down to the local pub to drink Old Milwaukee and smoke Camels...

On 11 July, I had my first flight in a Gobosh 700 light sport aircraft (LSA).

The all-metal, two-seat aircraft, made in Poland by Aero at the AT-4 exclusively for US-based Gobosh, is powered by a 100hp liquid-cooled Rotax 912ULS engine.

Here's a feature package I wrote (and assembled with DC-3 feature our test pilot Mike Gerzanics wrote) about the test flight for the 20 July edition of Flight International as part of our pre-Oshkosh coverage.

Private pilot and new owner Pete Merski took me on a demonstration flight on 11 July 2010 to show off some of the features of this unique aircraft. Check out the videos.

Sikorsky today revealed officially it has developed an all-electric 200hp (150kW) helicopter, the Firefly, that will be unveiled later this month and fly for the first time later this year.

We knew it existed, but we didn't know how far they'd progressed! Below is an artist's conception of the vehicle provided by Sikorsky.

Based on the S-300C piston-powered helicopter, the electric version will feature a high-efficiency, electric motor and digital controller from power conversion specialists, US Hybrid, coupled with a lithium ion energy storage system from Gaia Power Technologies. Eagle Aviation Technologies completed the airframe modifications and assembled the demonstrator helicopter. In the cockpit, Sikorsky says integrated sensors will provide real-time aircraft health information through a panel integrated interactive LCD monitor.

Sikorsky says the demonstrator will be unveiled 26 July at the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture exhibition in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, as part of the world symposium on electric aircraft.

Eurocopter and its parent company EADS is working on similar equipment, but powered by a hybrid-electric engine.

BTW, if you're thinking of copying the picture, please note the copyright persmission that Sikorsky sent along with it...

 
Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (Sikorsky) hereby grants to the recipient of this email and the recipient's employer, a royalty-free, perpetual, revocable, and worldwide license to use, reproduce, distribute, and communicate to the public, the photograph(s) attached hereto as a component of the publication identified above, and in connection with the production, advertising, sale, and other exploitation of the publication, provided that such license is exercised in a manner that is not derogatory to Sikorsky or its products.  Sikorsky provides the foregoing license solely to the extent of any rights Sikorsky or may have in the photograph(s).  Sikorsky disclaims all representations or warranties relating to the photograph(s) whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise and shall have no responsibility for any use of the photograph(s).  All rights not expressly granted by Sikorsky herein are reserved.  The photograph(s) shall be presented with the following legend appurtenant thereto:  "Copyright Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. All rights reserved."

AgustaWestland today made good a promise made in 2008, when talk of the XX9 medium light twin helicopter made the rounds at air shows.

Here at the Farnborough Airshow today, the company lifted the veil on the design.

The 4.5-tonne class twin helicopter is meant to challenge Eurocopter's Dauphin and EC145 lines. While the company has not yet put a price tag on the 10-passenger multi-role design, AgustaWestland chief executive Giuseppe Orsi during the unveiling ceremony said the company expects "at least" 1,000 sales over the next 20 years. 

Placed between the AW109 and the AW139 twins when it enters service in 2015, the AW169 will be powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW210 turboshaft engines, but little else has been revealed about suppliers. Officials did say however that AgustaWestland will develop the avionics system using three Rockwell Collins display in the cockpit. The aircraft, certified to Part 29 commercial aircraft standards, will also have dual flight management systems and be certified for single-pilot instrument flight rules flight in day or night conditions. 

AgustaWestland has the show media drooling over what's under the covers at its static display here at the Farnborough Show (photo by Dominic Perry)

Before I'd seen the outline, I was hoping "new" in this case would mean a re-launched BA609 tiltrotor. AgustaWestland had been in negotiations with partner Bell Helicopter to take charge of the entire program, with a decision to be made one way or another by end June. June came and went and not a tweet from AgustaWestland or Bell on the topic.

So, what could it be?

Informed sources say its the AW169. What exactly the AW169 *is* we'll find out at noon!

Sikorsky officials to date have revealed precious few details about an electric or hybrid-electric research helicopter they've been developing. Called the Firefly, it was revealed during the inauguration ceremony for the new Sikorsky Innovations group in February. At the time, it was described as a cooperation between sister UTC company, Hamilton Standard, and Sikorsky.

During a pre-show interview, Sikorsky president Jeff Pino said there would be an annoucement here at the show, and that he himself would attend the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual pilgrimage to Oshkosh, Wisconsin to dicuss the topic at the Electric Aircraft Symposium later this month.

Whatever they come up with, it'd better be pretty cool looking to steel some of the thunder from EADS and Eurocopter's revelation (pictured below) hybrid-electric revealed at the Berlin air show in June...

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In a bizarre posting in FedBizOps today, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Centre appears to put women (robots) in a place they escaped from when they earned the right to vote.

The agency wants to buy two interactive "robot characters" that will be used "with varied target audiences".

One will be a male figure, a "wise-looking robot suitable for all audiences"; the other a female "of somewhat ethnic background may add additional comfort to a more diverse audience or when wanting a female to speak at an all female event."

And because the male "will be used more often", he gets to have moving arms!

Other features of both robots make we wonder what the heck NASA is doing these days..

• Both robots will offer voice modifiers to raise or lower their pitch, remote controls, batteries, chargers, voice hearing transceivers, MP3 player, instruction booklet, and warranty. 
• Additional clothing is needed that can be worn by either robot includes a flight suit, lab coat, and astronaut suit and also where robots can be suited in any children's clothing to adapt to seasonal changes or target audiences.
• An F-18 model aircraft adds another component draw to the robots that can be used by either robot. Each robot can use the aircraft, be carried, or placed atop of a seating place.
• Technology purchased with the robots allow for pre-scripted audio program where the robot can speak at specific timeframes with a specific message such as a greeting to a museum or event, "live" conversation utilizing a built-in 2-way sound system, or where the robot is in one room and the operator is in another room.

And it's not just Dryden getting involved with the robotic revelry. It appears that the Kennedy Space Centre is looking for a few good robots as well..

From yesterday's FedBizOps: "NASA/KSC has a requirement for a 5'9" Life-Like Robot, brand-name Engineered Arts Limited, RoboThespian, or equal"

This dude's pretty cool though. Not sure if he's a chauvanist, like the Dryden dud.

Piasecki Aircraft says hardware and software it developed with the Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania have allowed for a full-size helicopter to avoid obstacles and automatically chose a landing spot using a self-generated landing path.

The skills are targeting the US military's goal of building an autonomous casualty evacuation helicopter capability.

The companies demostrated the capabilities on Boeing's Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) in Mesa, Arizona.

The helicopter carried a sensor package that includes and inertial sensor and a laser scanner along with mapping and obstacle aviodance software to build real-time 3-d maps of the ground and find obstacles in the helicopter's path.

Piasecki says tests showed that the system could detect 4-in-high pallets, chain link fences, vegetation, people and other objects that could block a potential landing site.

"The system is programmed to select a safe landing site that is closest to a given set of coordinates, such as the location of a casualty or a drop-off point for resupply," says Piasecki.

In terms of obstacle detection and avoidance, Piasecki says the ULB was able to detect and maneuver around a 60ft manlift while flying at a speed of 20kt (pictured above). Flight tests also showed that the sensor package, pictured at left on the ULB, was also able to detect high-tension wires over desert terrain.

Piasecki Aircraft says hardware and software it developed with the Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania have allowed for a full-size helicopter to avoid obstacles and automatically chose a landing spot using a self-generated landing path.

The skills are targeting the US military's goal of building an autonomous casualty evacuation helicopter capability.

The companies demostrated the capabilities on Boeing's Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) in Mesa, Arizona.

The helicopter carried a sensor package that includes and inertial sensor and a laser scanner along with mapping and obstacle aviodance software to build real-time 3-d maps of the ground and find obstacles in the helicopter's path.

Piasecki says tests showed that the system could detect 4-in-high pallets, chain link fences, vegetation, people and other objects that could block a potential landing site.

"The system is programmed to select a safe landing site that is closest to a given set of coordinates, such as the location of a casualty or a drop-off point for resupply," says Piasecki.

In terms of obstacle detection and avoidance, Piasecki says the ULB was able to detect and maneuver around a 60ft manlift while flying at a speed of 20kt (pictured above). Flight tests also showed that the sensor package, pictured at left on the ULB, was also able to detect high-tension wires over desert terrain.

Kinston, North Carolina might be a sleepy little town with a per capita income of $18,000 a year, but it's now home to high tech production for the next generation of widebody aircraft.

The video below, filmed by me and created by Spirt AeroSystems, shows what all the buzz is about, and even includes a Noth Cah-line-ah accent....

Spirit starting this month is beginning to build Airbus A350 cabin and wing components at its new centre of excellence in Kinston.

Officials held a grand opening ceremony on 1 July, with Airbus president and CEO Tom Enders commenting that Kinston will see more work from Airbus in the future, potentially from the US Air Force's KC-X tanker program, should Airbus win.

At full capacity, the 46,468m2 (500,000ft2) facility, adjacent to the Kinston Regional Jetport, could manufacture10-13 cabin sections and forward wing spar components per month, says Enders. The A350's cabin will be built in three sections by three different manufacturers, with each section composed of four or more composite panels, a fundamentally different approach to construction than Boeing used for the 787 with its four barrel sections.

Below is a video of some of the robotic machinery dancing to the beat of composite cabin panels being built up... 

Airbus is building three variants of the A350, with the 315-passenger -900 version to enter service mid-2013, followed by the 276-passenger A350-800 in mid-2014 and the 379-passenger A350-1000 at the end of 2015. The company has 535 orders for the aircraft, three from private customers. Airbus is promising a 25% lower fuel burn per seat basis versus compared to the Boeing 777, an aircraft the A350 will compete with, along with older Boeing 747s and the 787.

Below is a presentation provided by Spirit.