Transformative Vertical Flight Initiative

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Transformative Vertical Flight Concepts Initiative

VFS Electric VTOL Lead: Dr. Anubhav Datta, University of Maryland

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Sixth Annual Electric VTOL Symposium planned for Jan. 2019!

Get Involved:

Since 2014, AHS—The Vertical Flight Society has been leading a series of workshops with NASA, AIAA and SAE on Transformative Vertical Flight (TVF), and built a community of aerospace professionals that includes technical, regulatory, and business elements, and exploring the potential for new forms of air transportation systems with innovative propulsion systems. The focus has been on systems that embody combinations of on-demand, electric and hybrid-electric propulsion, and vertiport-capable configurations and designs.

The third workshop in 2016 built on the work of the previous two by soliciting expert opinions from the participants on the work and timeframes needed to transform air transportation consistent with the TVF vision. These inputs served as a starting point for the development of an advocacy roadmap needed to generate support for TVF transportation systems, technology, and markets. The TVF roadmap has congtinue to be advanced, but requires further refinement and vetting before it will be a credible advocacy tool.  To accomplish this, small focused TVF Working Group have been establish that you are invited to join. A TVF Roadmap Working Groups website has been created to enable volunteers to join and contribute in their areas of expertise. This web portal also provides a means for TVF Working Group members to access tools like virtual meeting spaces, information sharing sites, and rosters of TVF Working Group leads and members. Please visit this website to join a TVF Working Group, and tell your colleagues who have a similar interest in transforming air transportation. Working Group members are still welcome!

Transformative Vertical Flight Working Groups:

1. Personal/Private Vehicles (Short Range)
2. Commercial Intra-city (Short Range) — Report: Status of eVTOL Technology (Jan 2018)
3. Commercial Inter-city (Longer Range)
4. Public Services

Prior Events (presentations, videos, articles, etc.):

• 1st Workshop (Aug. 2014): Presentations | summary article | event page
• 2nd Workshop (Aug. 2015): Presentations and video | summary article | event page | proceedings
• AHS Forum 72 (May 2016): Transformative Vertical Flight Special Session
• 3rd Workshop (Sept. 2016): Presentations | summary article | event page (part of SAE's Aerotech 2016)
• AHS Forum 73 (May 2017): Transformative Urban Air Mobility Special Session
• 4th workshop (June 2017): Presentations and video (part of AIAA's AVIATION 2017) 
• 5th workshop (Jan 2018): Presentations and videos | summary article | event page
• 6th symposium (Jan 2019): event page — plan now to attend!

Objective: Engage industry, academia and government agencies in developing a preliminary road map that will aid in the advocacy and pursuit of emerging technologies and approaches, such as electric/hybrid power and distributed propulsion, that offer the potential to fundamentally transform Vertiport capable flight configuration designs and operational concepts. As these new configuration types cannot be modeled adequately by conventional analytical tools modeling, and do not inherently fit into the existing rotorcraft certification framework (Part 27), they require new conceptual design tools and regulations able to capture the fundamental differences in approach. This initiative bring togethers interested parties to establish a foundation from which investment can fill the gaps to achieve successful new aviation products.

Approach: Combine the mutual interests of technical organizations, government laboratories (NASA, DARPA) and industry to collaboratively explore and exploit the potential for new opportunities for Vertiport capable flight. The initiative is focused on achieving participation from all stakeholders, including new and small companies aggressively focused on this topic, as well as mature aerospace companies for whom this could enhance or augment their conventional Vertiport capable flight products.

Desired Outcomes:

1. Establish and document common stakeholder needs, areas of collaboration, and advocacy to establish methods to encourage the future success of unconventional Vertiport capable flight concept solutions that are newly enabled by technologies.

2. Assemble a community to collaborate on new conceptual design and analysis tools that permit new configuration paths with far greater multi-disciplinary coupling (i.e. aero- propulsive-control) to be investigated.

3. Establish a community to develop and deploy regulatory guidelines with potential formation of an ASTM F44 Committee Subgroup for the development of consensus-based certification standards for General Aviation scale Vertiport capable flight systems that provides fixed wing approaches that don't fit within existing FAA Part 27 certification.

4. Launch an information campaign to ensure key U.S. Government agencies understand the potential benefit and industry interest in establishing new Vertiport capable flight markets.

Organizing Organizations:

• The Vertical Flight Society (VFS) 

• American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

• SAE International (SAE)

With support from the following committees:

• VFS Advanced Vertical Flight Technical Committee

• AIAA V/STOL Aircraft Systems Technical Committee

• AIAA Transformational Flight Program Committee

• SAE Power Systems, Propulsion, Electric Powertrain and Energy Storage Committees

• ASTM F44 Committee on General Aviation Aircraft