A “lack of harmonisation” between European and US regulators presents a challenge to the advanced air mobility (AAM) industry, according to the UK chief engineer at Ampaire.
Speaking at the Royal Aeronautical Society’s President’s Summit 2023: Future of Flight in London, John Rees said the different approaches of EASA and the FAA risked delaying progress in the sector.
Regulator harmonisation
“There is a lack of harmonisation in terms of regulation,” he said. “The EASA approach is to look at a whole class of aircraft, while the FAA looks at specific aircraft.”
The Los Angeles-based company, formed in 2016, is aiming to develop electric aircraft with development work and testing underway in the US, UK and several other locations around the world.
The company has developed a platform of hybrid electric and electric propulsion technologies applicable across numerous aircraft types, starting with a Cessna 337 Skymaster.
Ampaire Alaska flight
Ampaire recently completed a 3,400-mile series of flights from Southern California to Alaska using the aircraft.
The flight was the first hybrid-electric aircraft deployment in Alaska, the first international hybrid-electric flight, and the first hybrid-electric aircraft to gain both FAA (USA) and TCCA (Canada) special airworthiness approvals.
It was also the furthest north any hybrid-electric aircraft has ever flown, enabled by the first-ever deployments of mobile electric aircraft chargers in Alaska and Canada.
Fully electric and larger aircraft
Rees said that while Ampaire’s initial work was focused on converting existing aircraft to hybrid electric power as part of a rapid, capital efficient approach to making commercial electric air travel a reality, this would transition to larger and fully-electric aircraft in the future.
“There will always be a place for hybrid, it will just move into larger aircraft with greater range,” he said.
“We are looking at fully electric, and we believe that requires clean sheet aircraft design.”
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