On the new track of the electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle (evtol), commonly known as the "flying car", a competition is unfolding between China and the United States, either explicitly or implicitly. One of its fulcrums may be whether the airworthiness regulatory authorities support the adoption of unmanned evtol.
This is the key step to realize the commercialization of unmanned aerial vehicles (hereinafter referred to as "ehs-21.6 billion" by the Civil Aviation Administration of China), which is the latest step to realize the commercialization of unmanned aerial vehicles. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a recent statement that this technology should use the existing regulatory framework.
UAV belongs to evtol and is mainly used in urban air mobility (UAM) industry. The industry has ushered in a blowout development in the past two years. Many companies have entered the market and set off a financing boom.
As the operation of aircraft involves public safety, it faces extremely strict supervision. Before commercial operation, aircraft must be recognized by civil aviation regulatory authorities, that is, airworthiness certification, which is almost the most important link in its R & D and commercial process. However, the flying vehicle is an emerging field, and the civil aviation regulatory authorities do not have mature experience in the airworthiness certification of flying vehicles. At present, the global civil aviation regulatory authorities are exploring.
"The release of the special conditions is a kind of 'first try' for CAAC to take the lead in the global (Civil Aviation) regulatory authorities. However, whether Chinese unmanned aerial vehicles can realize the real sense of curve overtaking depends on when they can really pass the airworthiness certification and realize commercial operation." Xu Huaxiang, Chief Strategic Officer of Yihang intelligence, told China business daily.
world's first airworthiness standard
Unmanned aerial vehicle is a new type of aircraft. Previously, there was basically no ready-made airworthiness certification standard in the world. For the aviation industry where safety is above all else, airworthiness certification is essential.
The airworthiness certification system, which has been reviewed and reviewed by professionals in the civil aviation industry for many years, is a serious airworthiness certification system. However, evtol appears with a new configuration and product positioning. It is not only very different from traditional aircraft in appearance, but also different from traditional civil aviation in operation mode and flight environment. Therefore, it is difficult to apply the previous airworthiness standards for its approval.
At present, civil aviation departments all over the world are actively exploring the airworthiness certification of evtol. Evtol is divided into two modes: unmanned and manned. FAA and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) are leading in the verification of manned evtol and are relatively cautious about unmanned evtol. The world's mainstream flying car companies, such as Joby and archer in the United States and Lilium in Germany, have adopted manned driving mode, so as to obtain the certification of airworthiness authority faster and put into commercial operation.
At the beginning of this year, the evtol prototype produced by Joby has obtained the special airworthiness certificate issued by FAA and the airworthiness approval of the US air force, and will join the company's flight test plan in 2022.
On March 3 local time, the FAA said in a statement that as these aircraft enter the aviation ecosystem, the FAA must continue to maintain the high safety standards expected by the public. In order to simplify and accelerate integration, this technology should use the existing regulatory framework to establish a strong security record.
In contrast, the Civil Aviation Administration of China is more open-minded towards unmanned aerial vehicles. In April 2021, CAAC officially accepted the airworthiness application of Yihang unmanned aerial vehicle and completed the establishment of the validation working group. In December of the same year, the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued the special conditions for eh216-s unmanned aerial vehicle system of Yihang (Draft for comments). By February this year, the special conditions had been released.
"China's regulation has a relatively high acceptance of emerging technology products. The release of the special conditions is a major milestone in the history of global aviation development," Xu Huaxiang told reporters
Eh216-s is an unmanned aircraft produced by Yihang, a Chinese flying automobile enterprise. Yihang is the first listed urban air traffic enterprise in the world. According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the special conditions are formulated separately for eh216-s, a special category of aircraft. The special conditions have made clear provisions on the flight and performance, design and structure, power unit, data link, etc.
"It can be said that it defines the development mode of urban air traffic in the future, whether it needs automatic driving, whether it needs platform control, whether it needs fixed-point flight, etc. with these standards, the products can be standardized and there is the possibility of further large-scale development." Xu Huaxiang believes that the promulgation of the special conditions has opened a breakthrough for the dilemma of lack of standards in the industry.
A person in the aviation industry believes that China's modern aviation industry started late, and the airworthiness standard formulation in the traditional aviation field is more like a follower. However, in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles without airworthiness certification in the world, China's regulatory authorities have a "first try" attitude.
As early as 2020, the supervision office of the general office of the State Council issued a circular saying that the United States, Japan, South Korea and other countries have raised the urban air traffic industry with huge space for future development to the national strategic level, but China's relevant research lags behind, and policies, regulations and industry standards are still blank. Enterprises are facing difficulties in flight test approval, flight permit and market launch. It is suggested that the development of urban air traffic should be included in the national strategy, Promote the development of the industry.
cost advantages and application scenarios
In recent years, with the rise of the concept of urban air traffic, flying cars have developed rapidly. The reporter learned that at present, there are more than 200 enterprises engaged in the product development of urban air traffic aircraft in the world. The vast majority of urban air traffic enterprises belong to start-up companies and complete product development and test investment through financing. In addition, traditional car companies, airlines and technology companies, such as Boeing, Airbus, Daimler and Geely, as well as Google and Tencent, are also investing in the acquisition of flying car enterprises.
Roland Berger research report predicts that by 2025, there will be 3000 "flying cars" in the world for air taxi, airport shuttle and intercity flight services, and by 2050, this number will reach 98000. Morgan Stanley predicts that by 2040, the global urban air traffic market will reach US $1 trillion and eventually reach US $9 trillion.
Urban air traffic can play a special role in tourism, medical rescue, fire fighting, emergency rescue and public safety. In the past, most operations in these fields were completed by helicopters.
"Compared with helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles have lower production and operation costs.
”A person from a flying car start-up told reporters that the operating cost of the helicopter is 30000 ~ 50000 yuan per hour, and one or two pilots should be equipped. The annual cost of a pilot is about Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co.Ltd(600000) yuan.
Xu Huaxiang said that the operating cost of unmanned aerial vehicles is less than one fifth of that of expensive helicopters. The built-in "fail safe" system of Yihang autopilot aircraft can detect whether the aircraft fails by itself, while helicopters mainly rely on ground staff for inspection, and the maintenance cost is much higher.
In the view of insiders, the design of unmanned aerial vehicle has multiple power redundancy and backup, which is more safe. "Yihang's aircraft has 16 propellers, which allows 3 ~ 4 propellers to fail. At the same time, there are multiple backups of navigation system and avionics system." Xu Huaxiang said.
An expert in the field of aviation safety told reporters: "helicopters may have the worst safety among all aircraft. Generally, there is only one propeller. Once it fails, it is easy to have an accident, and the reliability of a single engine will be poor." In addition, it is difficult for helicopters to reach the ultra-low altitude and high-density flight in cities.
Unmanned aerial vehicles can be isolated by electronic fence, set fixed routes and fly according to the preset routes. "The low altitude flight over the city must realize autopilot. To fly and land more accurately, we can't rely on the judgment of the pilot." The aforementioned flying car start-up said.
In the eyes of capital, unmanned aerial vehicles with higher safety redundancy and more intelligence (autopilot) may innovate urban air transport in the future. At present, in terms of manned and unmanned technical routes, Europe and the United States are more advanced in the airworthiness certification of manned evtol, while China has taken a big step in the airworthiness certification of unmanned aircraft.
can you overtake in a curve
Whether the breakthrough opened by the Civil Aviation Administration of China can enable China's unmanned aerial vehicles to overtake in curves is a matter of concern to the industry. In this regard, Xu Huaxiang told reporters: "only after eh216-s successfully completes the airworthiness certification can it announce the realization of curve overtaking."
"From the perspective of technology and product research and development, China's unmanned aerial vehicle is a leader, but due to the previous almost blank global airworthiness standards and commercial operation of evtol, the development of the industry is limited. This time, the Civil Aviation Administration of China took the lead in launching the special conditions, which has laid a solid foundation for the future airworthiness certification of unmanned aerial vehicles and their real introduction to the market." Xu Huaxiang said.
The above-mentioned aviation industry insiders believe that the flexibility of CAAC in the supervision of unmanned aerial vehicles is more conducive to the development of the industry. However, the provisions of the special conditions are more principled and still need more verification to ensure safety.
In foreign countries, the supervision of unmanned aerial vehicles is more strict, and local flight permits must be obtained. According to insiders, at present, most of the flying automobile enterprises obtain temporary flight test permits abroad, and only one flight is allowed.
Yihang said that its unmanned aircraft has been exported to Japan, South Korea and other countries, and has obtained the long-term valid flight license issued by the Austrian civil aviation authority and the long-term valid operation license issued by the Norwegian civil aviation authority, which means that Yihang unmanned aircraft can carry out flight test work in the specified areas of Austria and Norway.
In China, regulation allows enterprises to try first in some special application scenarios. It is understood that Yihang can carry out air tour or short-distance air traffic trial operation at the established operation points in Guangzhou, Hezhou, Shenzhen, Zhaoqing, Sanya and other cities. "At present, Yihang's unmanned aircraft can be used for trial operation in the form of science popularization, and has not yet started flight operation for commercial purposes." Xu Huaxiang said.
This is also reflected in the regulatory requirements of the Civil Aviation Administration of China. The special conditions specify that the aircraft is expected to fly in low altitude isolated airspace, which is mainly used for commercial passenger carrying operation in urban air traffic environment.
A person familiar with the airworthiness certification system told reporters that if Yihang wants to fly at high frequency in the urban air, the safety level must reach the level of civil aircraft. Autopilot is not a new technology in the aviation industry, but unmanned aircraft do not have the ability to deal with complex faults, which is also the reason why the European and American airworthiness authorities are cautious about unmanned aircraft. They cannot prove that aircraft without pilots are safe enough.
Yihang said that by the end of November 2021, Yihang 216 series autopilot aircraft had completed more than 20000 safety test flights, with flight footprints in 11 countries around the world. Yihang and CAAC reached a consensus on Airworthiness Certification and successively carried out trial operation in accordance with the basic principle of "combination of examination and operation".
The above-mentioned people familiar with the airworthiness certification system said that airworthiness certification is a very complex and systematic procedure. How to find a balance between public safety and industry development is an important responsibility of the Civil Aviation Administration.
