e-flight-journal

As the current epidemic situation is still severe and complicated, the organizer of AERO ASIA decide to reschedule AERO Asia from March 2-5, 2022 in Zhuhai China to November, 2023 in Zhuhai, China.

AERO Asia is the leading Business and General Aviation show for China and Asia, and is the result of the enduring efforts of two successful and experienced aviation trade shows: AERO in Friedrichshafen, Germany and Airshow China in Zhuhai, China. AERO in Friedrichshafen, Germany, is the world’s leading general aviation business show with over 40 years of experience. Airshow China is China’s biggest airshow since 1996 which has become one of the leading airshows in the world.

AERO ASIA is more than just a trade show. It sees itself as a central platform for general aviation in China, as a positive booster in market development, as well as as a showcase for innovation and new technologies such as electric aviation and eVTOL. The show is looking forward to its first session in November 2023 in Zhuhai, China.

Shanghai-based eVTOL startup Autoflight annouced today that they have set up a reseasrch, development and certification center in Augsburg, Germany, and will apply for EASA certification of their V1500M 4-seat eVTOL. The former head of Airbus EC135 and H145 projects Mark Henning joined as the head of Autoflight Europe.

Autoflight plans to start the EASA certification process of the V1500M eVTOL in 2022, and to obtain the EASA type certification in 2025. They also plan to establish more demo flight sites and conduct more demo flights in Europe.

Mr. Henning has 26 years of experience in the aviation industry. A graduate of the Technical University of Munich, he started his career at the German aerospace company DASA, holding managerial positions at the European aerospace defense group EADS and the European helicopter company Eurocopter. Before joining Autoflight, he worked in Airbus Group, and served as the head of EC135 and H145 helicopter programs, as well as project management, strategy, production and R&D positions, and participated in many large-scale fixed-wing and helicopter R&D and manufacturing projects.

More information in an exclusive Interview with Mark Henning the next issue of e-flight-Journal later this week.

On 30 December 2021 the Chinese regulator CAAC published the special conditions (SC) of the lithium batteries for light sports airplane (LSA). CAAC states in the document that since there is no technical requirement for lithium batteries in ASTM F2840-14 technical standard for LSA, this SC is . The SC is necessary for the certification of electric LSA.

RX1E, RX1E-A and the float plane model RX1E-S are the three electric LSA models certified by CAAC employing this SC which may also be the basis for the ongoing Part23 RX4E four-seat electric airplane certification.

This SC can be downloaded at (in Chinese only): http://www.caac.gov.cn/XXGK/XXGK/BZGF/ZYTJHHM/202112/P020211231536548727917.pdf

On December 30, 2021 a 50% sub-scale model of the E20 eVTOL developed by Shanghai-based startup TCab made the first flight. The sub-scale model has 6 meters wingspan and interestingly, variable propellors.

TCab was founded this year in Shanghai. Its first design is E20 which has design parameters of 5 seats, pure electric, a combination of both tilt rotors and “lift and cruise” configuration, cruise speed 260km/h, range 200km. TCab revealed a full size mockup of E20 early this month.

The 5th e-Flight Forum, organized by Flying Pages and Z-Park General Aviation Industry Alliance and hosted by Xiaoting district, Yichang City, China, continues into the second and the final day. More than 60 speakers from China, US, Germany, UK, Australia present the latest development in electric aviation.

You can watch the live streaming of the second day of the forum at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y78MAadj6M

The well known E-flight-Forum 2021 China /Europe /America started as a hybrid forum with a real event in China in the city of Yichang in Xiaoting district, in Hubei Province.

the on-site event is combined with an online session live-streamed in Europe over Zoom and is projected to the Chinese guests.

The sessions with the European Guests are simultaniously translated and transmitted in 2 Languages.

The english session is running as a live stream in Youtube and can be reached over the website www.e-flight-forum.com. The Program with many international high class speakers you can find at e-flight-forum 2021 Program English.

Today Shanghai-based eVTOL startup TCab Aero unveiled E20 eVTOL full-size mockup and vertiport-based operation ecosystem concept.

E20 has design parameters of 5 seats, pure electric, a combination of both tilt rotors and „lift and cruise“ configuration, cruise speed 260km/h, range 200km.

TCab Tech was founded in Shanghai in May 2021 with a group of veterans with the background of both conventional aviation industry and eVTOL.

TCab metaphors ‘time cab’, named with the mission to offer affordable and time-efficient means of transportation to the general public, and above all, having everyone enjoys the moment of flight.

The founder and CEO of the company, Yon Wui NG, was previously Vice General Manager of Geely Terrafugia responsible for the eVTOL aircraft named TF-2A. Before Geely Terrafugia, Yon spent 10 years with Airbus China Engineering Center whereby one of his positions was Head of Engineering for the engineering center.

TCab Tech securied close to 10 millions USD this Autumn from their Seed and Seed+ series fundraising. 

German Investor Lukasz Gadowski ( started for example Delivery Hero) invested in Tian Yu’s Shanghai-based Autoflight which recently has released its 3 – 4 Person Air taxi V1500M and already started the serial production and delivery of unmanned eVTOL- cargo drones such as the V400 „Albatros“.

Today the leading German economics newspaper Handelsblatt reported this deal. Gadowski is a serial entrepreneur and startup investor who invests with his Berlin-based company Team Global in startups with a focus on eMobility on the ground and in the air. Gadowski has among other companies also invested in Volocopter and Archer.

The German Aerospace Center DLR is has investigating the overall system of a hybrid-electric short-haul aircraft for up to 100 passengers together with Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Bauhaus Luftfahrt e.V..This program is part of the SynergIE joint project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi).

Research efforts are focused on new aircraft configurations that can be successfully operated commercially with significantly lower emissions and reduced noise pollution. As a final design for an aircraft with distributed hybrid-electric propulsion, the researchers selected and evaluated a concept with turbogenerators in the fuselage and 10 electric motors along the leading edge of the wing as the best solution out of the various possible arrangements. The optimal design and installation of the propellers makes it possible to reduce the chord of the wing and size of the rudder, and thus reduce energy consumption by approximately 10 percent.

„In conventional regional aircraft, the wings are often oversized in order to achieve good performance during take-off and landing,“ explains Martin Hepperle from the DLR Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology. „These aircraft then have excessively high energy consumption during cruising flight.“

The flight characteristics of the prototype have already been tested in the DLR AVES flight simulator. In future, remaining questions on the aeroacoustics of the distributed propellers and on optimal flap systems for landing approaches are to be resolved.