Presenter Email
bholmes@alakai.tech
Location
Jim W. Henderson Administration & Welcome Center (Bldg. #602)
Start Date
8-13-2018 1:45 PM
End Date
8-13-2018 3:00 PM
Submission Type
Presentation
Keywords
eVTOL, clean, duration, fuel cell
Abstract
Imagine for a moment, having your very own safe, affordable, clean-fuel, point-to-any point vehicle for travel in the 21st-century 3-dimensional airspace system. Your ultra-reliable e-VTOL allows commuters to leave behind the constraints of hub-and-spoke airports, and the congestion of interstates, turnpikes and freeways. Facilitating Inter- and Intra-urban travel, such as downtown-to-airport, or metropolis-to-metropolis, or home-to-work. Perfect for dense urban environments worldwide. And all while offering the clean power of hydrogen for zero-emission travel.
This vision for efficient, clean, delay-free mobility has been talked about for decades, but always waived aside as some kind of futurist vision. This future requires tackling hard problems in propulsion, airspace management, regulatory satisfaction and (not the least) technologies that seemed out of reach. Well, the future is upon us.
What’s at stake? Serious impact on climate change. Affordable transportation. Widely available medical-flights. Timely disaster relief and recovery. Autonomous transport and delivery. On-Demand air taxis. Efficient emergency response. Ubiquitous border security. Economical bulk commodity deliveries. Simplified off-shore deliveries. Sustainable fleet support.
NASA, FAA and industry have been laying the foundations for decades, starting with the NASA AGATE and SATS programs of the 1990’s to 2000’s, and the industrial initiatives in On-Demand Mobility such as DayJet, SATSair, LinearAir and many others. Now, some 20 years later, we’re poised to build and deliver e-VTOL, powered by clean, reliable hydrogen fuel cells, operated with more reliable simplified vehicle operations, and in more automated airspace capabilities.
This paper summarizes the core strategy, progress and challenges in the certification program for a hydrogen fuel-cell powered e-VTOL having redundant power sources, redundant motors, redundant auto-pilots, and an airframe parachute. The authors believe the implications to operator training for safe and reliable transportation services for the public are central to strategies and industrial vision.
Presenter Biography
Bruce Holmes joined the Board of Directors for Alakai Technology in 2017. His background in on-demand air mobility concepts over many years brings a breadth of experience and knowledge to the Alakai vision. In his role as VP for Digital Aviation at SmartSky Networks, LLC he supports the launch of the first 4G LTE Air-To-Ground WiFi network, along with the SkytelligenceTM software integration and service-oriented architecture platform to support the aerospace apps development community. The SmartSky mission is to bring the Internet of Things – That Fly to the world of aviation, through disruptive connectivity technology and software-enabled solutions. This mission is highly relevant to the vision shared by many around the world for connected aviation capabilities affecting flight deck applications, airspace operations, aircraft systems management and cabin technical and passenger services. Bruce is a veteran of several aviation technology industrial startups and of decades in the federal sector with NASA. Through his engineering management consulting firm, Bruce has served a variety of industry, government and university clients in strategy, technology, aviation systems development, and partnerships. He serves on boards of directors in industry and academia, and advisory councils in government, including an FAA Administrator’s Advisory Committee and on U.S. National Academies Intelligence Science and Technology Experts Group for the Office of the Director for National Intelligence and the Urban Air Mobility Round Table supporting NASA portfolio assessment. He also serves as a Senior Advisor to a Washington DC-based investment banking firm, FOCUS Bankers. In 2007, Dr. Holmes retired from public service of 33 years with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a member of the federal Senior Executive Service. While at NASA, he directed a variety of technology advancement programs in civil aviation. Holmes served in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during 2000 and 2001 in aviation policy analysis, and helped found the U.S. Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO), leading the development of the strategies for the U.S. Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). His contributions to the creation of the emerging market for on-demand air mobility were chronicled in the books, Free Flight, by James Fallows, 2001, and The Great Eclipse, by Dennis Maxwell, 2011. Dr. Holmes holds six patents and is the author of more than 100 technical papers. He is a flight instructor, and commercial, jet-and seaplane-rated pilot of more than 50 years; Bruce is a recent recipient of the FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Royal Aeronautical Establishment, and recipient of numerous industry and government awards. His academic background includes undergraduate, graduate, and Doctor of Engineering degrees from the University of Kansas and post-graduate work as a Senior Executive Fellow at Harvard in the Kennedy School of Government.
Original PowerPoint, Full-res
Included in
Aeronautical Vehicles Commons, Management and Operations Commons, Propulsion and Power Commons
Clean-Fuel e-VTOL Air Mobility Vehicles for Unmanned and Manned Operations
Jim W. Henderson Administration & Welcome Center (Bldg. #602)
Imagine for a moment, having your very own safe, affordable, clean-fuel, point-to-any point vehicle for travel in the 21st-century 3-dimensional airspace system. Your ultra-reliable e-VTOL allows commuters to leave behind the constraints of hub-and-spoke airports, and the congestion of interstates, turnpikes and freeways. Facilitating Inter- and Intra-urban travel, such as downtown-to-airport, or metropolis-to-metropolis, or home-to-work. Perfect for dense urban environments worldwide. And all while offering the clean power of hydrogen for zero-emission travel.
This vision for efficient, clean, delay-free mobility has been talked about for decades, but always waived aside as some kind of futurist vision. This future requires tackling hard problems in propulsion, airspace management, regulatory satisfaction and (not the least) technologies that seemed out of reach. Well, the future is upon us.
What’s at stake? Serious impact on climate change. Affordable transportation. Widely available medical-flights. Timely disaster relief and recovery. Autonomous transport and delivery. On-Demand air taxis. Efficient emergency response. Ubiquitous border security. Economical bulk commodity deliveries. Simplified off-shore deliveries. Sustainable fleet support.
NASA, FAA and industry have been laying the foundations for decades, starting with the NASA AGATE and SATS programs of the 1990’s to 2000’s, and the industrial initiatives in On-Demand Mobility such as DayJet, SATSair, LinearAir and many others. Now, some 20 years later, we’re poised to build and deliver e-VTOL, powered by clean, reliable hydrogen fuel cells, operated with more reliable simplified vehicle operations, and in more automated airspace capabilities.
This paper summarizes the core strategy, progress and challenges in the certification program for a hydrogen fuel-cell powered e-VTOL having redundant power sources, redundant motors, redundant auto-pilots, and an airframe parachute. The authors believe the implications to operator training for safe and reliable transportation services for the public are central to strategies and industrial vision.
Comments
Presented during Session 3: Personal Air Vehicles & UAS – Training and Implications for Pilots