AEROSPACE March 2020 URBAN AIR MOBILITY − FOCUS UNSTABLE APPROACHES AND DATA MINING CAN THE UK JOIN THE HYPERSONICS RACE? www.aerosociety.com Marc h 2020 V olume 47 Number 3 IN THE BIGGEST CRISIS IN ITS boeing104-YEAR HISTORY − WHAT NEXT FOR THE AEROSPACE GIANT? Royal A eronautical Society blues Unpaid memberships will lapse on 31 March 2020 Membership fees were due on 1 January - Don’t forget to pay your subscription before it expires* As per the Society’s Regulations, unpaid How to renew: memberships will lapse on 31 March 2020 and all memberships will be suspended where a Online: Log in to your account on the Society’s payment for an individual subscription has not website to pay at: been received before this date. This excludes www.aerosociety.com/login members paying their annual subscriptions by Direct Debit in monthly instalments. 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Regulars 4 Radome 12 Transmission In this issue we take a look at the challenges of the eVTOL and the urban The latest aviation and Your letters, emails, tweets air mobility revolution – from battery technology to electronic conspicuity aeronautical intelligence, and social media feedback. analysis and comment. to modelling and simulation. Some 200+ projects around the globe are 58 The Last Word grabbing headlines with ride-sharing giant Uber, with no background in 11 Pushing the Envelope Keith Hayward looks at aviation, in the driving seat to bring this technology to market, while legacy Rob Coppinger considers the implications of the UK the technical challenges Government’s bailout of aerospace companies and new start-ups are metaphorically tripping over of developing batteries to Flybe. each other in the rush to claim the prize worth billions with affordable, power eVTOL air taxis. on-demand urban air transport. However, this field has major challenges. Public acceptance is critical, as well as the thorny issue of certification. Features Boeing With a low-barrier to entry, anyone with Photoshop, a few design skills and Honeywell some experience building hobby drones can potentially announce a ‘human carrying’ aerial taxi – simply by scaling up cheap consumer components and adding more batteries. Easy right? However, having sucked up 30 investors’ cash, will these start-ups find that the eVTOL bubble bursts 14 once regulators demand that they replace these components with certifiable aerospace grade equivalents? It is worth remembering that the Leonardo Boeing: All change, we hope Unwired urban air mobility Fly-by-wire technology AW609 tiltrotor is yet to enter service, despite having first flown in 2003. One year on from the grounding of the 737 MAX, applications for UAMs. Some might argue that Orville and Wilbur Wright also defied convention Richard Aboulafia assesses Reaction Engines in forging a new mode of transport, and these eVTOL pioneers should be the future for Boeing. viewed in the same light. However, the Wrights (and their contemporaries) were not attempting to enter an industry that already has established safety 18 Stronger together 32 rules and a high level of regulation. Established aviation companies, or start- NATO’s plans to introduce ups with very deep pockets, thus may have the best chance of survival if, more collaborative programmes to increase indeed, the eVTOL hype machine crash lands once reality sets in. capabilities for its members. The UK’s need for speed Vertical Aerospace Vertical ‘Hype’-ersonics or the next frontier of aerospace – and Tim Robinson, Editor-in-Chief can the UK join this high- [email protected] 22 speed race? YouTube Traveller YouTube Editor-in-Chief Editorial Office 2020 AEROSPACE subscription Tim Robinson Royal Aeronautical Society rates: Non-members, £180 Stimulating the urban air mobility revolution 38 +44 (0)20 7670 4353 No.4 Hamilton Place Please send your order to: [email protected] London W1J 7BQ, UK Wayne J Davis, RAeS, No.4 Hamilton The RAeS conference +44 (0)20 7670 4300 Deputy Editor Place, London W1J 7BQ, UK. on rotorcraft simulation [email protected] Bill Read +44 (0)20 7670 4354 considers the modelling of +44 (0)20 7670 4351 www.aerosociety.com [email protected] urban air mobility vehicles. Rethinking an unstable [email protected] AEROSPACE is published by the Royal Any member not requiring a print approach to training Aeronautical Society (RAeS). version of this magazine should 28 Urban air mobility Production Manager Using machine learning and contact: [email protected] identity parade Wayne J Davis Chief Executive predictive modelling could +44 (0)20 7670 4354 Sir Brian Burridge CBE FRAeS USA: Periodical postage paid at How remote ID will pave the Champlain New York and additional help train pilots to avoid [email protected] Advertising the sky for UAM operations. unstable approaches. +44 (0)20 7670 4346 offices. Publications Executive [email protected] Chris Male Postmaster: Send address changes to IMS of New York, PO Box 1518, +44 (0)20 7670 4352 Unless specifically attributed, no Champlain NY 12919-1518, USA. [email protected] material in AEROSPACE shall be taken Afterburner to represent the opinion of the RAeS. Publications Executive ISSN 2052-451X 42 Message from our President Annabel Hallam Reproduction of material used in this +44 (0)20 7670 4361 publication is not permitted without the 43 Message from our Chief Executive written consent of the Editor-in-Chief. [email protected] 44 Book Reviews Printed by Buxton Press Limited, Book Review Editor Library Additions Brian Riddle Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire 48 [email protected] SK17 6AE, UK 49 RAeS civil cadet pilot award Distributed by Royal Mail 51 Council Elections Additional content is available to view online at: www.aerosociety.com/aerospaceinsight 52 Diary Including: Electric aviation and the global aerospace supply chain, Rethinking upstable approach 54 Obituaries training, In the February 2020 issue of AEROSPACE, Overview of Asia-Pacific aviation Part 1 and 2, 56 Elections and new member spotlight Online Singapore Air Show report Part 1 and 2, Interview with David Mackay, Chief Pilot, Virgin Galactic. @aerosociety i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com MARCH 2020 13 Blueprint INTELLIGENCE / ANALYSIS / COMMENT BWBs are back Airbus gives two reasons why it is time to revisit BWB concepts for airliners. First, technology has advanced – particulary in flight controls and avionics as well as materials, meaning that structures can be made lighter. The second huge driver is the environmental challenge that aviation faces today. Cabin space reaches new heights Airbus believes that a BWB would open up exciting new possibilities for cabin interiors with increased space and comfort. Windows are thus likely to be virtual via large HD display screens. Airbus 4 AEROSPACE Starting small Airbus declines to give an exact seat count for MAVERIC but notes that its footprint at airport gates would be more compact than existing single-aisle airliners. Jean-Brice Dumont, Airbus EVP Engineering, also notes that the MAVERIC BWB is scalable in size. Secret flight tests Powered by two model jet engines, a 3.2m wingspan sub-scale demonstrator has already been flight tested in 2019 at an undisclosed location in central France. Phase 1 of the testing focused on flight controls and aerodynamics, with further tests to expand to cover industrial and operational aspects, such as maintenance, evacuation, production and airport compatibility. W AIR TRANSPORT Airbus unveils MAVERIC Revealed by Airbus at the Singapore Air Show was MAVERIC (Model Aircraft for Validation and Experimentation of Robust Innovative Controls) – subscale demonstrator for an ultra- green blended-wing body (BWB) airliner that could cut fuel burn by up to 20% compared to existing single-aisle aircraft. MAVERIC's voluminous interior, meanwhile, would open up new possibilities