personal air vehicle

File:CarterPAV.jpg from 2014]]

A personal air vehicle (PAV) is a proposed class of passenger aircraft providing on-demand air transport.

The emergence of this alternative to traditional ground transport methods has been enabled by unmanned aerial vehicle technologies and electric propulsion.

Barriers include aviation safety, airworthiness, operating costs, usability, airspace integration, aircraft noise and emissions, tackled first by small UAS certification then experience.{{cite news |url= http://aviationweek.com/technology-milestones/problems-aerospace-still-has-solve |title= Problems Aerospace Still Has To Solve |date= May 6, 2016 |author= Graham Warwick |work= Aviation Week & Space Technology}}

Definition

There is no fully accepted definition as yet of a personal air vehicle (PAV). Typically it is understood to be an autonomous electric aircraft with point-to-point VTOL capability. It may or may not be treated as a single-seat autonomous electric vehicle, as distinguished from the multi-seat eVTOL.Connor Hoopes and Timothy T. Takahashi; "[https://labs.engineering.asu.edu/aircraft-design/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2023/03/ConnorT-PAV-CFR-Requirements-Limitations-AIAA-SciTech2023-final.pdf Developments in the Federal Regulation of Personal Air Vehicles]", Arizona State University, 2023. (Retrieved 11 July 2023). Note: Hoopes & Takashaki remark both "PAVs ... are intended for individual personal usage, accommodating only one passenger. The larger eVTOLs ... are intended for two to five passengers" and, by contrast, "the larger PAVs, those carrying more than one passenger". It is intended to provide flight convenience similar to the private car in terms of accessibility and ease of operation, while also offering the speed and routing efficiencies made possible by direct point-to-point flight. The PAV differs from conventional general aviation types in being usable by people with no pilot qualifications."[https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/233805/reporting Final Report Summary - PPLANE (Personal plane: assessment and validation of pioneering concepts for personal air transport systems)]", European Commission, 2013. (retrieved 3 July 2021)

Characteristics

=Autonomy=

Besides the fabrication of personal air vehicles, the creation of autonomous systems for PAVs is also being researched. First off, synthetic vision electronic flight instrument systems (EFIS) as Highway in the sky (HITS) makes it much easier to control aircraft.{{cite web|author=Harry Kraemer |url=http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/categories/military/Building-Highways-in-the-Sky_1197.html |title=Highway in the sky |publisher=Aviationtoday.com |date=2003-12-01 |access-date=2011-04-25}} Also, Phantom Works is working on designing a system that allows to automate PAVs. The PAVs are designated their own "lanes" in the sky, thereby ensuring the avoidance of possible collisions. In addition, the different PAVs are also capable of detecting each other and communicating with each other, further decreasing the risk of collisions.{{cite web|url=http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2004/july/ts_sf14.html |title=Boeing technical experts check the feasibility of Personal Air Vehicles |work=Boeing Frontiers |author=Gary Sanders |date=July 2004 }}

Issues

=Air traffic control=

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) infrastructure is not currently capable of handling the increase in aircraft traffic that would be generated by PAVs. The FAA plan to upgrade forms the Next Generation Air Transportation System, planned for 2025.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ainonline.com/issues/08_05/08_05_faaplans_12.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061017054439/http://www.ainonline.com/issues/08_05/08_05_faaplans_12.html|url-status=dead|title=FAA NGATS|archivedate=October 17, 2006}} An interim plan is to use smaller airports. Modeling by NASA and others have shown that PAVs using smaller community airports would not interfere with commercial traffic at larger airports. Currently there are over 10,000 public and private small airports in the United States that could be used for this type of transportation. This infrastructure is currently underutilized, used primarily by recreational aircraft.

=Noise=

Noise from PAVs could also upset communities if they operate near homes and businesses. Without lower noise levels that enable residential landings, any PAV must take off and land at an FAA-controlled airfield, where higher sound levels have been approved.

Studies have explored ways to make helicopters and aircraft less noisy, but noise levels remain high. In 2005 a simple method of reducing noise was identified: Keep aircraft at a higher altitude during landing. This is called a Continuous Descent Approach (CDA).{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2005/0710-reducing_airplane_noise.htm |title=Reducing Airplane Noise: Acoustical Engineers Find Simple Way to Reduce Airplane Noise |publisher=ScienceDaily |date=July 1, 2005}}

=Range=

Many proposed PAV aircraft are based on electric batteries, however they have low range due to the low specific energy of current batteries.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/story/alakai-flying-car-air-taxi-evtol-hydrogen/|title=Flying Car Startup Alaka'i Bets Hydrogen Outdoes Batteries|magazine=Wired|access-date=2020-01-20|language=en|issn=1059-1028}} This range may be insufficient to provide adequate safety margin to find a landing site in an emergency.

Fuel cell aircraft have been proposed as a solution to this issue, owing to the much higher specific energy of hydrogen.{{Cite web|url=https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-hydrogen-aircraft-idUKKCN1T0078|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530054004/https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-hydrogen-aircraft-idUKKCN1T0078|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 30, 2019|title=Hydrogen-powered flying vehicle touted as Southern California traffic tonic|date=2019-05-30|website=Reuters UK|access-date=2020-01-20}}

= Safety =

Urban flight safety is a well-known problem for regulators and industry. On May 16, 1977, the New York Airways accident of a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter shuttle from John F. Kennedy International Airport, which landed on the roof of the Pan Am Building (now MetLife Building) when a landing gear collapsed and a detached rotor blade killed several people on the helipad and one woman on Madison Avenue, ending that business for decades almost around the world. Current helicopter accident rates would be insufficient for urban mobility. The Sikorsky S-92's safety-focused design still allows one fatal accident per million flight hours. This rate would lead to 150 accidents per year for 50,000 eVTOLs flying 3,000 hours a year.

For Sikorsky Innovations, the emerging $30 billion urban air mobility market needs safety at least as good as FAR Part 29 governing over {{cvt|7,000|lb|t}} helicopters.

By May 2018, Sikorsky flew an S-76 120 hours with full point-to-point, real time autonomous flight and terrain avoidance the hard way, with Level A software and redundancy, with a safety pilot.{{cite news |url= https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2018-05-01/sikorsky-exec-stresses-urban-air-safety |title= Sikorsky Exec Stresses Urban Air Safety |author= Mark Huber |date= May 1, 2018 |work= AIN online}} Sikorsky Aircraft want to reach a vertical flight safety of one failure per 10 million hours on high-utilization platforms by combining current rotorcraft experience with advances in autonomous flight, airspace integration and electric propulsion.{{cite news |url= http://aviationweek.com/future-aerospace/reality-check-urban-evtol-safety-and-production |title= Reality Check for Urban eVTOL On Safety And Production |date= Jan 26, 2018 |author= Guy Norris |work= Aviation Week & Space Technology}}

History

NASA established the Personal Air Vehicle Sector Project in 2002, as part of their Vehicle Systems Program (VSP). This project was part of the NASA Vehicle Integration, Strategy, and Technology Assessment (VISTA) office, which also included sectors for Subsonic Transports, VTOL Aircraft, Supersonic Aircraft, and High Altitude Long Endurance Aircraft. The objective of each sector was to establish vehicle capability goals and the required technology investment strategies to achieve those breakthroughs.Mark D. Moore; "[https://cafe.foundation/v2/pdf_tech/NASA.Aeronautics/NasaPavTech.pdf NASA Personal Air Transportation Technologies]", NASA LAngley Research centre, 2006. (retrieved 3 July 2021)

The difference in vehicle characteristics between PAVs and existing General Aviation single engine piston aircraft was set out in 2003 at an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) conference.{{cite web |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20060005004.pdf |title=Innovation in Flight: Research of the NASA Langley Research Center on Revolutionary Advanced Concepts for Aeronautics |website=NASA |date=22 February 2005 }} Advanced concepts would be needed to dramatically enhance ease of use, safety, efficiency, field length performance, and affordability.

In 2006 the VSP was replaced by new NASA Aeronautics initiatives. PAV technology development efforts at NASA shifted to a prize-based investment, with NASA Centennial Challenge Prize funds of $250,000 being provided for a Personal Air Vehicle Challenge in 2007.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

=Studies=

The European Union is funding a 3-leg €4.2m study (under the Seventh Framework Programme) of technologies and impacts for PAVs; Human-aircraft interaction, Automation of aerial systems in cluttered environments, and Exploring the socio-technological environment.Czyzewski, Andrew. [http://www.theengineer.co.uk/1009125.article?cmptype=newsletter&cmpdate=240611&email=true Personal flying vehicles project aims to end road congestion] The Engineer (UK magazine), 22 June 2011. Accessed: 26 July 2011.[http://mycopter.eu/ myCopter] European Union, 2011. Accessed: 26 July 2011.

=PAV challenge=

NASA Langley has researched and prototyped the necessary PAV technologies and has dedicated the largest cash prize in the history of GA to the PAV that can demonstrate the best overall combination of performance. The PAV flight competition for this prize, known as the first annual PAV Challenge, was held Aug 4-12, 2007 and hosted the CAFE Foundation in Santa Rosa, California.{{Cite web|url=http://cafefoundation.org/v2/pav_home.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070307095341/http://cafefoundation.org/v2/pav_home.php|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 7, 2007|title=CAFE Foundation & The PAV Centennial Challenge|date=March 7, 2007}}

In 2008 the challenge was renamed as the General Aviation Technology Challenge.

The new prizes were:

The Community Noise Prize ($150,000)
The Green Prize ($50,000) (MPG)
The Aviation Safety Prize ($50,000) (Handling, eCFI)
The CAFE 400 Prize ($25,000) (Speed)
The Quietest LSA Prize ($10,000)

The winners were:

Community Noise Lambada N109UA $20,000
Green Prize no winner n/a
CAFE Safety Pipistrel N2471P $50,000
CAFE 400 Pipistrel N2471P $2,000
Quietest LSA Lambada N109UA $10,000
Shortest Takeoff Pipistrel N2471P $3,750
Best Angle of Climb Pipistrel N2471P $3,750
Best Glide Ratio at 100 MPH Flightdesign CTSW N135CT $3,750
Cabin Noise (tie) Lambada N109UA Pipistrel N2471P $3,750 ($1,875 each)

List of personal air vehicles

{{hatnote|The Date given should be either of the first manned flight or, if that has not taken place, of project cancellation.}}

|-

! Type

! Country

! Class

! Date

! No.

! Status

! Notes

|-

| Airbus A³ Vahana

| EU

| Convertiplane

| 2018

| 2

| Prototype

|

|-

| AM-20 eVTOL

| US

| Lift-plus-cruise

| 2019

| 1

| Prototype

| Under development

|-

| Boeing Passenger Air Vehicle

| US

| Rotorcraft

| 2019

| 1

| Prototype

|

|-

| Carter PAV

| US

| Rotorcraft

| 2011

| 2

| Prototype

|

|-

| Volocopter 2X

| Germany

| Rotorcraft

| 2016

| 2

| Prototype

| Prototypes were the VC1 and VC200.

|-

| Wisk Cora

| US

| Rotorcraft

| 2019

| 1

| Prototype

|

|-

| Xplorair PX200

| France

| Powered lift

|

| Project

| Hybrid jet powerplant

|-

|}

References

= Reports =

{{cite web |url= https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ang/offices/tc/library/jup/april2016/MIT/MIT_ICAT_Parker_Vascik.pdf |title= Operational Aspects of Aircraft-Based On-Demand Mobility |author= R. John Hansman, Parker D. Vascik |work= Joint University Program for Air Transportation |date= April 21, 2016}}
{{cite report |url= https://www.uber.com/elevate.pdf |title= Fast-Forwarding to a Future of On-Demand Urban Air Transportation |date= October 27, 2016 |publisher= Uber |work= Elevate}}
{{cite news |url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321715094 |title= A Study in Reducing the Cost of Vertical Flight with Electric Propulsion |author= Michael J. Duffy|display-authors=etal|publisher= The Boeing Company |date= May 2017}}
{{cite news |url= http://convex.mit.edu/publications/arthur_ondemand.pdf |title= A Vehicle Design and Optimization Model for On-Demand Aviation |author= Arthur Brown and Wesley L. Harris |publisher= Massachusetts Institute of Technology |date= January 2018}}

*Personal air vehicle

Category:2000s neologisms

Category:2003 neologisms

personal air vehicle

Definition

Characteristics

=Autonomy=

Issues

=Air traffic control=

=Noise=

=Range=

= Safety =

History

=Studies=

=PAV challenge=

List of personal air vehicles

See also

References

Further reading

= Reports =