CityAirbus

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CityAirbus
Model that was shown at the Paris Air Show in June 2017
Type: Electric aircraft , for vertical takeoff and landing as an air taxi
Design country:

multinational

Manufacturer:

Airbus Helicopters , Siemens

First flight:

3rd May 2019

Commissioning:

planned for 2025

The City Airbus is a multinational project of Airbus Helicopters and Siemens ( drive ) to the development of electrically powered aircraft that controls itself and can takeoff and land vertically.

history

CityAirbus expands existing other Airbus flight mobility initiatives in the urban area, which are also referred to as Urban Air Mobility (UAM).

In 2015, a feasibility study for CityAirbus confirmed the operating costs of the construction and compliance with the safety requirements. The full test of the drive train with the counter-rotating twin propellers was completed in October 2017. Following commercial approval by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), targeted for 2023, commercial use is planned for 2025.

The Iron Bird, a fully electronic ground test stand , was completed in Taufkirchen (near Munich) in December 2017 . It is used to test the drive components, the flight controls and the dynamic load on the airframe . The first components for the flight demonstrator have already been manufactured by Airbus Helicopters.

In March 2019, Airbus presented the CityAirbus model to the public on Ingolstadt's town hall square . The first unmanned flight took place on May 3, 2019 in Donauwörth. Further test flights are to take place near Manching , near Ingolstadt in 2020 . Manned flights are planned from 2025.

construction

The drive of the eight-rotor helicopter (multicopter) is housed in four fixed drive pods, each with two counter-rotating coaxial propellers with a diameter of 2.80 m. The lower propeller of each nacelle has a casing , while the upper one rotates freely in the air flow. This design was chosen with a view to low air resistance, which would be significantly higher with a complete covering. The fixed propellers are directly driven by eight Siemens SP200D electric motors. As usual with multicopters, the flight is controlled by changing the speed of individual propellers. The design of the system contributes to safety and to a low acoustic footprint. The CityAirbus is to carry four passengers, initially with a pilot , later controlled autonomously. The entire system is developed in Donauwörth , the electric drive system in Ottobrunn .

The overall system includes a ground station that monitors the flights with an air traffic management system (air traffic management / control). Since there are currently no aviation law regulations for this connection, these are being developed together with the licensing authorities.

Technical specifications

Siemens direct drive electric motor for the CityAirbus project
Parameter Data (as of March 2019)
crew 1 pilot (provisional)
Passengers 4th
payload 250 kg
Max. Takeoff mass > 1600 kg
length 8 m
span 8 m
Service ceiling 500 m
Cruising speed 120 km / h
Range Test demonstrator 15 km, later 50–60 km
Flight duration Max. 15 minutes
Engines 8 Siemens SP200D electric motors with 100 kW each
Energy storage 110 kWh
Noise level about 70 dB

use

At the beginning of 2019, the manufacturer planned a usage concept in the area of Urban Air Mobility that uses the CityAirbus on fixed routes so that the traffic jam is not simply shifted into the air or takes place there in parallel. This is more like a shuttle than a taxi concept.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Clemens von Frentz: Airbus develops air taxi. aktiv-online, March 1, 2019, accessed on March 11, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Friedrich Listz: Your Sneak Preview Of The Future - Urban Air Mobility: urban transport in three dimensions. innovationorigins, December 23, 2018, accessed March 11, 2019 .
  3. ^ Julia Hetz: The Future of Mobility, CityAirbus - Siemens presents Drive System for Air Taxi. Siemens, April 25, 2018, accessed on March 11, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Jürgen Stüber: Airbus attacks air taxi startups Lilium and Volocopter. gruenderszene.de, December 20, 2017, accessed on February 29, 2020 .
  5. ↑ a b c News Team: CityAirbus air taxi is presented - Andreas Scheuer and Dorothee Bär show prototype. Donaukurier, March 9, 2019, accessed on March 5, 2019 .
  6. ^ Dan Parsons: City Airbus eVTOL Prototype Makes First Flight in Germany. aviationtoday, May 6, 2019, accessed on May 6, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Airbus wants to start test flights with a new air taxi in 2020. Handelsblatt, December 3, 2019, accessed on February 26, 2020 .
  8. ↑ futurezone / MB: There is still room for improvement: air taxi hops at the first take-off. futurezone, May 6, 2019, accessed January 4, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Description on verticalmag.com (accessed on March 13, 2019)
  10. ↑ a b dpa: Airbus starts air taxi model project in Ingolstadt. Zeit, March 11, 2019, accessed March 11, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Airbus CityAirbus. Electric VTOL News, accessed March 11, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Marius Bebesel, Liane von Billerbeck: INTERVIEW: transport of the future - With the air taxi to the next appointment. Deutschlandfunk, Forschungs aktuell, April 26, 2018, accessed on March 11, 2019 .