Electra today announced it successfully completed a first-of-its-kind flights from a heliport on a commercial airport ramp at the Roanoke–Blacksburg Regional Airport. “The operations showcased the breakthrough capabilities of Electra’s fixed-wing Ultra Short aircraft to use vertical flight landing areas and helicopter-style instrument procedures to support reliable, affordable, and safe regional operations without adding traffic to congested airport runways,” said the company in a press release.
“Using Electra’s hybrid-electric EL2 Ultra Short aircraft, the flights tested point-in-space procedures and dedicated instrument routings across numerous Virginia airports, including Virginia Tech/Montgomery Regional Airport (KBCB)in Blacksburg, Roanoke–Blacksburg Regional Airport (KROA), and Allan C Perkinson/Blackstone AAF Airport (KBKT). The flights at each of these locations, plus two additional sites in Newport News and Richmond, all took off and landed on small heliports, vertiports, taxiways, and other novel Ultra Short access points historically only accessible by helicopters. Electra conducted the work in coordination with the FAA eVTOL and AAM Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), the Virginia Smart Airspace Program, Virginia Tech, the Virginia Department of Aviation, and PennDOT, the lead eIPP participant for Virginia operations. “
“What happened in Virginia provides a glimpse into the future of flight,” said Marc Allen, CEO of Electra. “We showed that fixed-wing, Ultra Short aircraft can use vertical flight landing areas and a new generation of instrument procedures to reach places conventional airplanes were never designed to access. This will both bring air service closer to the passenger and also expand capacity at commercial airports in completely non-congestive ways. Direct Aviation is not just about a new aircraft, but a new operating model that brings air travel closer to communities and saves travelers huge amounts of time on their journeys.”
During flights, Electra and its partners collected operational data to compare aircraft performance against procedure requirements and inform future evaluation of fixed-wing AAM operations using helicopter-style instrument procedures, said the company. Through over a year of program development leading up to this month’s testing, Smart Airspace partners and the FAA designed flexible vertiport and heliport approaches to accommodate the Ultra Short, evaluated and tested novel approach and departure instrument procedures for the Ultra Short, and workshopped new air traffic concepts to allow the Ultra Short to land off-runway at airports safely and efficiently.
“This is the kind of practical flight testing needed to move Advanced Air Mobility from concept to operational reality,” said Tombo Jones, Director of Virginia Tech’s Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership. “The goal is not just to fly a route, but to generate the data and operational insight needed to help new aircraft types integrate safely, efficiently, and repeatably into the airspace system.”
For more information
https://electra.aero/news/electra-completes-groundbreaking-flights-using-helicopter-style-instrument-procedures-and-novel-take-off-and-landing-areas-for-its-ultra-short-airplane
(Image: Electra)