The AP reports that the same Ohio river valley “where the Wright brothers pioneered human flight will soon be manufacturing cutting-edge electric planes that take off and land vertically, under an agreement announced Monday between the state and Joby Aviation Inc.” Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said, “When you’re talking about air taxis, that’s the future. We find this very, very exciting – not only for the direct jobs and indirect jobs it’s going to create, but like Intel, it’s a signal to people that Ohio is looking to the future. This is a big deal for us.” Joby’s decision to “locate its first scaled manufacturing facility at a 140-acre (57-hectare) site at Dayton International Airport delivers on two decades of groundwork laid by the state’s leaders, Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said.” Joby’s production aircraft “is designed to transport a pilot and four passengers at speeds of up to 200 miles (321.87 kilometers) per hour, with a maximum range of 100 miles (160.93 kilometers).”
;Full Story (Associated Press)
Tag: Aeronautical
FAA Issues Safety Warning for 737 MAX Anti-Icing Systems
Economic Times (IND) reported that the Federal Aviation Administration is warning airlines to limit the use of an anti-icing system on Boeing’s 737 MAX jets in dry air to avoid overheating engine-housing components which could cause them to break away from the plane, with the finding affecting CFM International LEAP-1B engines used on all versions of the aircraft.
DOD Considering “All” Options as it Seeks Upgrades to F-35’s Cooling System
Breaking Defense reports the “Defense Department is considering ‘all’ options as it seeks upgrades to the F-35’s cooling system, … with the F-35 Joint Program Office not ruling out the potential for a new competition to upgrade the system currently provided by incumbent producer Honeywell Aerospace.” Honeywell makes the F-35’s Power and Thermal Management System (PTMS), “which combines an auxiliary power unit, environmental control and emergency power into a single apparatus that, among other capabilities, cools off the aircrafts subsystems. The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) wants to upgrade the PTMS in order to enable future capabilities on the fifth-generation aircraft.” When asked “whether the F-35 program is planning a competition to field a new PTMS, JPO spokesman Russ Goemaere on Thursday said, ‘All PTMS options will be assessed to ensure we provide the greatest capability to the warfighter.’”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)
Honeywell Debuts Avionics Upgrades for Gulfstream
Aviation International News reports that an upgrade to Honeywell’s Primus Epic avionics “is now available for the Gulfstream G650/650ER.” Gulfstream says the Block 3 avionics update “enhances pilot situational awareness.” As standard features, the Block 3 update “comes with new graphics modules that provide higher terrain resolution.” It also “has additional synthetic vision display options with better graphics, improvements to the communications and alerting systems, and new software for the next-generation flight management system.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
Commercial Space Industry Projected to Experience 41% Growth Over Next Five Years
Fortune reports that the global space economy “grew 8% to $546 billion in 2022 and is projected to climb another 41% over the next five years, according to a leading space nonprofit.” The sector is expected “to show resiliency in the coming years, despite uncertainty about the global economy and a recent slowdown in space investment.” Companies are seeing “continued revenue growth from commercial space assets and governments around the world boosting expenditures, according to a report from the Space Foundation, a Colorado Springs, Colorado-based space flight advocacy group.” The analysis “considered spending from 51 governments, as well as commercial revenue from companies in 11 space industry sub-sectors.” Space Foundation Director of Research and Digital Programming Lesley Conn said, “Commercial space is the vital growing sector of the overall space economy. Within five years, certainly you’re going to see a real acceleration and an expansion of space and space assets.”
Full Story (Fortune)
CAE Projects That Aviation Industry Requires 1.3M New Professionals by 2032
Aviation International News reports that the global civil aviation industry “will need a combined 1.3 million new professionals by 2032 to support the growing commercial and business aviation markets, according to flight training giant CAE.” In its recently released 2023 Aviation Talent Forecast, CAE “projects that the business aviation industry alone will need 106,000 to join the segment – 32,000 pilots and 74,000 maintenance technicians.” The airlines will “need to recruit 252,000 pilots, 328,000 maintenance technicians, and 599,000 cabin crew, according to the prognostication.” CAE Civil Aviation Group President Nick Leontidis said, “With a need for 1.3 million people by 2032, CAE’s Aviation Talent Forecast is a call to action for the industry to promote careers in aviation to the next generation, reach out to underrepresented communities, and develop innovative support programs to expand the pool of talent needed for the continued growth and safety of our industry.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
First Joby EVTOL Prototype Rolls Off Assembly Line
Aviation Week reports that Joby Aviation “has rolled out the first prototype of its S4 electric-vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft to be built on its pilot production line in Marina, California.” The aircraft has “received FAA special airworthiness certification for flight testing.”
Full Story (Aviation Today)
Virgin Galactic Reveals Dates for First Commercial Space Flights
The Street reports that Virgin Galactic has unveiled its inaugural commercial flight dates. “Seats have been assigned for the Virgin Space Ship Unity and for the inaugural Galactic 01, a scientific research mission,” which is “scheduled between June 27 and 30.” The next flight, Galactic 02, is scheduled for August “with the first group of excited space ticket holders.” Initial presale tickets may have “seemed like a steep price but now the going rate for a single ticket is $450,000, more than double the original price.”
Full Story (The Street)
NASA Astronauts Complete ISS Solar Power System Upgrade
Aviation Week reports that two NASA astronauts “installed a sixth and final planned ISS Roll Out Solar Array (iROSA) on the long solar power truss of the International Space Station (ISS) during a June 15 spacewalk.” Astronauts Woody Hoburg and Steve Bowen performed the procedure during a five-and-a-half-hour excursion.
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Musk Says SpaceX Plans to Launch Starship Again in Six to Eight Weeks
SPACE reports that Elon Musk announced Tuesday on Twitter that the SpaceX is shooting for another liftoff of Starship six to eight weeks from now. That timeline “may be ambitious, however, given the amount of prep work required ahead of the second flight.” For example, the liftoff “damaged Starbase’s orbital launch mount, blasting out a big crater beneath it and sending chunks of concrete flying, along with a huge cloud of dust and other debris.” SpaceX has been “developing and testing a water-cooled steel plate that will sit beneath the mount and prevent a recurrence of this problem, Musk said recently.” The company could also face some regulatory hurdles in a “coalition of environmental groups [that] is currently suing the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the body that issued Starship’s launch license, saying the agency didn’t properly assess the potential damage that the giant vehicle could inflict on the South Texas ecosystem and the human communities around Starbase.”
Full Story (SPACE)