Next time you’re trying to catch a flight, you might spot a new initiative from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) with a controversial component: facial recognition. The TSA has ramped up its biometric identity verification pilot by installing facial recognition systems in more airports. The update has some travelers, legislators, and civil liberties advocates worried about personal privacy, demographic bias, and the consequences of opting out.
Rolls-Royce has completed the first ground tests on its massive UltraFan engine, claiming it's at least 10% more efficient than any other large aero engine in service today. This carbon/titanium beauty will roll out on airliners in the 2030s.
Despite the UltraFan's intimidating size, it's impressively lightweight thanks to Rolls-Royce's high-precision 3D-manufacturing robots, which make most of those mammoth 140-inch-diameter (3.56 m) blades in carbon composite, but use titanium to add strength and resilience to the leading edges.
The turbines behind the main fan are kept fairly small, creating a high bypass ratio by allowing a good volume of air to pass straight through around the compressors and out the back. This cuts down noise by a remarkable 35%. It also boosts efficiency – as does a planetary power gearbox that allows the main fan to spin slower and the compressors to spin faster, putting each in their optimal zones.
3D-printed carbon-composite blades with titanium leading edges are extremely light – the UltraFan couldn't be as big without them
Natilus and Zeroavia team up on hydrogen-powered blended wing aircraft
By Loz Blain
May 25, 2023
The blended-wing Natilus Kona aircraft, which is now flying in quarter-scale testing in California, is set to have a zero-emissions variant thanks to a partnership with Zeroavia, which will provide a 600 kW hydrogen-electric powertrain option.
The ZA-600 powertrain is already in testing. It's the one Zeroavia has been testing on one side of a 19-seat Dornier 228 – the largest hydrogen-powered aircraft ever to fly when it first took off. Zeroavia's goal is to have it fully packaged up, certified and powering clean commercial flights by 2025.
The partnership with Natilus makes sense; blended-wing aircraft designs by their very nature offer extended space in the fuselage, and hydrogen powertrains might be significantly lighter than batteries for clean flights, but they do tend to take up an annoying amount of space that's harder to find in a traditional tube with wings shape.
Chinese passenger jet to make inaugural commercial flight Sunday
Source: UPI
The first large passenger jet domestically-produced in China, is set to make its inaugural commercial flight this weekend.
China Eastern Airlines is expected to fly the narrow-body Comac C919 plane from Shanghai to Beijing Sunday afternoon on what is the busiest domestic route in the country.
The company updated its schedule to reflect the aircraft being assigned to the route and said it will use a lottery system to award seats to those who applied for tickets.
Sunday's flight will mark the culmination of years of research and development by the state-run Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. The plane's first test flight took place almost exactly six years ago as China looks to compete with Boeing and Airbus in the commercial aviation space.
France bans short-haul flights to cut carbon emissions
Published 4 days ago
France has banned domestic short-haul flights where train alternatives exist, in a bid to cut carbon emissions. The law came into force two years after lawmakers had voted to end routes where the same journey could be made by train in under two-and-a-half hours. The ban all but rules out air travel between Paris and cities including Nantes, Lyon and Bordeaux, while connecting flights are unaffected.
Critics have described the latest measures as "symbolic bans".
2 planes aborted landings in San Francisco when a Southwest jet taxied across their runways
Source: AP
an hour ago
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Two airliners aborted landings at San Francisco International Airport last week after pilots spotted a Southwest Airlines jet taxiing across runways on which the other planes had been cleared to land.
An air traffic controller told the Southwest pilots they should not have been on the runways during the May 19 incident.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that the Southwest plane cleared the runways when the other planes passed directly overhead, and the decision to abort the landings was “precautionary.”
“The FAA looked into the events and determined the appropriate steps were taken to ensure safe operations,” the agency said.
Light plane crashes after chase by jet fighters in Washington area
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, June 4 (Reuters) - U.S. authorities scrambled jet fighters to pursue a light aircraft that violated airspace in the Washington D.C. area and later crashed into mountainous terrain in southwest Virginia, U.S. officials said.
The jet fighters caused a sonic boom over the U.S. capital as they raced to catch up with the Cessna Citation, which can carry between seven to 12 passengers, officials said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said a Cessna aircraft crashed into mountainous terrain in southwest Virginia around the time the sonic boom was heard in the capital. A U.S. official said the jet fighters did not cause the crash.
A source familiar with the matter said the Cessna was believed to be on autopilot and did not respond to authorities efforts to make contact with it.
30% Less Fuel Consumption from New NASA Truss X-Plane
June 19, 2023 by Brian Wang
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2023/06/3 ... plane.html
The new X-plane seeks to enable a potential new generation of more sustainable single-aisle aircraft – the workhorse of passenger airlines around the world. Working with NASA, Boeing will build, test, and fly a full-scale demonstrator aircraft with extra-long, thin wings stabilized by diagonal struts, known as a Transonic Truss-Braced Wing concept.
The X-66A will validate technologies for a Transonic Truss-Braced Wing configuration that, when combined with other advancements in propulsion systems, materials, and systems architecture, could result in up to 30% less fuel consumption and reduced emissions when compared with today’s best-in-class aircraft.
Due to their heavy usage, single-aisle aircraft today account for nearly half of worldwide aviation emissions. Creating designs and technologies for a more sustainable version of this type of aircraft has the potential for profound impact on emissions
Airbus pursues new technology for 100% hydrogen-powered airliner
By David Szondy
June 21, 2023
Airbus is looking towards a greener aviation future, revealing major projects to build hydrogen jet airliners with not only a complete hydrogen-fueled propulsion system, but also a hydrogen Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) to generate electricity onboard.
There's often talk about a new hydrogen economy, but there's much more to this than simply swapping out fossil fuels for hydrogen. The two are very different things and require much more than just an engine that's been modified to burn hydrogen. It requires complete systems and engineering at a very basic level.
Working with ArianeGroup, an Airbus–Safran joint venture, Airbus has completed testing a complete system for feeding hydrogen to an aeronautical gas turbine engine. The HyPERION project, named after a French acronym for hydrogen for environmentally responsible aviation propulsion, began in December 2020 and is aimed at producing practical hydrogen commercial airliners by 2035. Its purpose is to both test technologies to make sure they work with a high degree of security and to identify areas where more work is needed.
While airfreight is certainly the fastest method of transporting cargo, it's also by far the most expensive. The Droneliner aircraft could help change that, by doing away with a crew and adopting a more cargo-friendly body shape.
Currently, most cargo aircraft have cylindrical bodies with concave inner walls, just like passenger-carrying airliners.
According to British aerospace startup Droneliner, this means a lot of space is wasted when those aircraft are carrying traditional rectangular loads. Additionally, those loads usually have to be put on and taken off via the side of the plane. And what's more, some cargo space is sacrificed in order to make room for the cockpit and crew.
A Virgin Atlantic flight taking off this week from London to New York City will last about eight hours, span around 3,500 miles — and emit only a fraction of the planet-warming gases associated with a typical transatlantic flight.
On Tuesday, the British airline is set to pluck a Boeing 787 Dreamliner from its fleet and run the two powerful engines on 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, during the journey from Heathrow Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport. If all goes to plan, Virgin Atlantic will be the first commercial airline to fly a passenger plane across the Atlantic Ocean by burning only fossil-free jet fuel, marking an important milestone for the CO2-intensive industry.
The flight will demonstrate “the longer-term potential of SAF to decarbonize aviation,” said Joey Cathcart, a senior aviation associate in the Climate-Aligned Industries Program at RMI, a clean energy think tank. (Canary Media is an independent affiliate of RMI.)
“This is really critical because SAF is the most readily available decarbonization mechanism that aviation has today,” he added. Cathcart, who is based in Salt Lake City, is slated to board the ocean-crossing plane tomorrow in London with a select group of passengers. “Confidence is high,” he replied when asked if he had any preflight jitters.
Air Force grounds entire Osprey fleet after Japan crash
Source: The Hill
12/06/23 7:37 PM ET
The Air Force on Wednesday grounded the entire fleet of CV-22 Ospreys after a fatal crash in Japan on Nov. 29 killed eight U.S. servicemembers.
Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, command of Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), directed an operational grounding of the CV-22 fleet to “mitigate risk” while the investigation into the crash continues, AFSOC said in a statement.
A preliminary review of the crash indicates a “potential materiel failure” caused the accident, according to AFSOC, but the cause is still unknown and the investigation is ongoing. “The standdown will provide time and space for a thorough investigation to determine causal factors and recommendations to ensure the Air Force CV-22 fleet returns to flight operations,” AFSOC said.
Japan had asked the U.S. to suspend its Osprey flights following the crash, but the Pentagon had said only the Air Force unit involved with the crash had suspended its flights. Japanese officials have repeatedly expressed alarm with the hybrid aircraft. In 2016, a U.S. Osprey crashed near Okinawa, prompting an initial round of safety concerns.
GE completes testing sustainable aviation fuel on 10th aircraft engine model
Source: ABC News
December 11, 2023, 3:41 PM
GE Aerospace is taking another step towards its commitment to sustainable flights, completing testing with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on its 10th aircraft engine model.
The company announced Monday its finished testing with 100% SAF on 10 aircraft engine models. Currently, GE Aerospace engines power three out of four commercial flights worldwide, the company said. Among the tests, which have been taking place since 2016, were test flights operated with SAF. Most recently, Emirates Airlines operated a flight on an Airbus A380 powered by four engines made by a GE subsidiary – one of them fueled by SAF.
Current regulations allow commercial flights to operate with a blend of SAF and jet fuel, however airlines, regulators and manufacturers are working towards operating flights with 100% recycled fuel. GE's tests were conducted with Hydrotreated Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) fuel thats made of vegetable oils, waste oils, or fats.
"Right now [SAF] is more expensive and it's hard to find, but that's something that's going to change over time," Chris Lorence, chief engineer and general manager at GE Aerospace, told ABC News. "As more capacity comes online, our hope is that it's going to be comparable or better than jet fuel today."
Airbus's EcoPulse aircraft makes maiden all-hybrid flight
By David Szondy
December 14, 2023
Airbus' EcoPulse hybrid-electric distributed propulsion demonstrator aircraft has completed its maiden flight using its complete powertrain of ePropellers, high-density batteries, and a turbogenerator in support of aviation's decarbonization.
The 100-minute flight took off from Tarbes Airport on November 29 at 10:32 am CET, though it was not the very first flight of the EcoPulse. Along with ground tests, the aircraft had already carried out 10 hours of flight tests using the aircraft's main propeller powered by an internal combustion engine.
With the main propeller shut down, propulsion was provided during the most recent test by the six electric-powered ePropellers. In flight, the crew worked on verifying the demonstrator aircraft's flight control computer, high-voltage battery pack, distributed electric propulsion, and hybrid-electric turbo generator.
DARPA has selected Aurora Flight Sciences to build a full-scale X-plane to demonstrate the viability of using active flow control (AFC) actuators for primary flight control. The award is Phase 3 of the Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (CRANE) program.
The X-65 flight is controlled by using jets of air from a pressurized source to shape the flow of air over the aircraft surface, with AFC effectors on several surfaces to control the plane’s roll, pitch, and yaw. Eliminating external moving parts is expected to reduce weight and complexity and to improve performance.
The X-65 will be built with two sets of control actuators – traditional flaps and rudders as well as AFC effectors embedded across all the lifting surfaces. This will both minimize risk and maximize the program’s insight into control effectiveness. The plane’s performance with traditional control surfaces will serve as a baseline; successive tests will selectively lock down moving surfaces, using AFC effectors instead.
“The X-65 conventional surfaces are like training wheels to help us understand how AFC can be used in place of traditional flaps and rudders,” said Wlezien. “We’ll have sensors in place to monitor how the AFC effectors’ performance compares with traditional control mechanisms, and these data will help us better understand how AFC could revolutionize both military and commercial craft in the future.”
FAA recommends airlines inspect door plugs on another Boeing model
Source: ABC News
January 22, 2024, 12:08 AM
Weeks after a mid-cabin door plug fell off during the ascent of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9, the FAA is recommending flight operators check another model of Boeing airplanes.
On Sunday night, the FAA issued a statement recommending operators of the Boeing 737-900ER "visually inspect mid-exit door plugs to ensure the door is properly secured." In a statement late Sunday night, Boeing said it fully supports "the FAA and our customers in this action."
The 737-900ER has the same door plug design as the 737 Max 9.
According to the FAA’s safety alert, some operators that were conducting additional inspections on their 737-900ER mid-exit door plugs "noted findings with bolts during the maintenance inspections." The FAA noted that the Boeing 737-900ER has over 11 million hours of operation and 3.9 million flight cycles, and the door plug has not been an issue. Major airlines that fly the Boeing 737-900ER include Alaska, Delta and United.
Hovering uncannily close to the waves, the Airfish-8 carves its way over water three times quicker than a boat, and 2.3 times more efficiently than an aircraft. Singapore's ST Engineering has announced its first orders, set to enter service in 2025.
It's arresting enough to look at even when it's just floating, with its enormous reverse-delta wing, large double T-tail, top-mounted pusher props and wickedly upswept wingtips. But to watch it in action, gliding perilously close to the ocean, leaving more of an indentation behind it than a wake? Absolutely spectacular.
The Airfish-8 will carry two crew, and either 8 passengers or up to a ton of cargo. It's a combustion-powered seaplane requiring no particular infrastructure, since it'll operate off regular jetty facilities, and its 500-horsepower V8 car engine fills up on regular unleaded.
