Next-generation aircraft: From evolution to revolution
As aircraft designers and developers start to consider what, to many, may represent a radical departure from current conventions – with novel blended-wing-body designs augmenting new propulsion architectures – this determination to improve and innovate is “really, part of our history,” explained Cesar Perira, chief sustainability officer at Embraer. However, citing the story of the 1990s CBA 123 regional turboprop development – an aircraft which failed to sell a single unit – he called for a sense of realism in identifying “what the market wants” and delivering an achievable solution.
“We’re not rushing to bring any thing to market until we have a clear understanding of what the market wants,” he clarified, highlighting that neither will Embraer be rushing to fly a prototype aircraft or proof of concept until it is deemed the optimum time in its development. Ideally, continued Perira, this will be when approximately 90% of the aircraft is certifiable – unlike competitors such as the now-defunct Eviation, which flew an early-stage mockup of the ‘Alice’ relatively soon into its development.
Admittedly, large and well-established OEMs are in a different position to start-ups such as Germany’s Vaeridion, which is developing a clean-sheet, nine-seat, all-electric regional airliner (the ‘Microliner’). Vaeridion head of propulsion and systems Douglas Costa highlighted how having already identified what would represent a “meaningful” use case for the target market, the CS-23 size platform makes an ideal initial use case for electrification. However, although the battery-electric regional airliner certainly represents a shift away from current conventionally-powered aircraft, Costa mused: “We still consider ourselves relatively conservative”.
Additionally, Vaeridion is developing its own batteries in-house, described by Costa as “one of the most strategic assets to verticalize” and an “extremely strategic” decision that will see the company maintain full control of their integration. Following on from an initial ground test ‘iron bird’, Vaeridion intends its initial prototype to qualify towards certification credit for its indented EASA CS-23 certification. The same category as the Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, this category, believes Costa, will be far less capitally intensive overall than attempting to certify a larger platform or even an eVTOL.
Alan Newby, director of research and technology at Rolls-Royce, posed the perspective that invariably, working on things that “have the biggest impact” (such as increasing efficiency within the narrowbody sector) will remain a high priority. Nevertheless, he summarised a “dichotomy” felt by many – contrasting the inevitably long lead times of aviation development with investors’ more urgent call for a return on investment. Urging a need for realism within the market (buoyed by investor patience), he nevertheless concluded that it’s quite feasible the regional space will represent a realistic opportunity for emerging technology to prove itself – even if Perira cautioned: “The nature of our industry is evolution, not revolution,” calling for the speeding up of fleet renewal and evolution of existing technology as a priority.
