The Vertical Space

Today we revisit the topic of batteries with Venkat Viswanathan,  Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.  As someone who relatively recently started his journey in electric aviation, Venkat is massively inspired by the challenge and opportunity of electrifying aviation. We sat down to discuss why he is optimistic about 1,000 Wh/kg energy density at the battery pack level becoming commercially available in the next 10-15 years, a goal that many of his fellow battery experts find tough to believe. However, this is not a “boring” lesson in battery chemistry. We talked about what it takes to commercialize new battery chemistries and who will carry the burden of funding new R&D to improve battery energy and power densities now that there is no incentive to pursue such efforts by the automotive industry. Listen also how Venkat describes the AND problem, which stands for the challenge for batteries to achieve both high energy density and also high power density, and how hybrid batteries with different chemistries might help solve this challenge. We also talked about the differences between batteries for VTOL vs CTOL aircraft, about the different and sometimes conflicting requirements for different types of aircraft and missions, about innovation in non-destructive diagnostics to figure out power and energy remaining, and also about how generative AI can accelerate the development of new battery chemistries. 

Today we introduce the maritime world to AAM -  with a conversation with Billy Thalheimer, CEO and Co-Founder of Regent. We’ve been hearing such positive news about Regent – as I’m sure you’ve heard as well. But what makes Regent so darn attractive? They’re not just getting orders for their aircraft – as many are – but they’re getting firm orders.  First – Billy makes it clear that Regent is addressing a multi-modal coastal transportation opportunity – with a novel vehicle – the sea glider.  Listen to the use-case. The technology. The range with existing battery technologies – and why. But listen to the challenges that others don’t have as well. A terrific conversation around the maritime certification with the Coast Guard and other organizations around the world vs. the FAA and other aviation regulators. They’ve seemingly minimized some of the more obvious risks that others have in AAM – FAA certification, landing infrastructure, air traffic control and congestion, range for electric aviation, size of vehicle and its passenger comfort, and so on. Bill expresses skepticism on whether or not some of the current AAM vehicles will actually hit their projected timelines – given what they said they would accomplish 5 years ago – and what has accomplished since – and the herculean feats, as Billy says, that some of them have to pull off to meet their objectives. Love the gut punches. And, like many of our guests, Billy is thoughtful, smart, visionary and leader. Listen to his advice to other business leaders and innovators, what he learned from working as an intern with Jeff Bezos at Blue Origin, and how he leads his team today. And what technologies he thinks you should be focusing on. 

Our guest today is Brian Yutko, Chief Executive Officer at Wisk, a California-based advanced air mobility company developing a fully autonomous electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxi. “Demystifying autonomy” is a fitting title for the insightful and fascinating conversation we had with Brian. He thoughtfully argues that autonomous electric flight for small aircraft, the likes of Wisk’s eVTOL, will become a commercial reality much sooner than most people think, only a few years from now. Of course, when making such a bold statement that most would push back on, definitions and details matter, and in the case of Wisk, the concept of operations involves flying on an IFR flight plan in extremely controlled scenarios using very high levels of integrity and assurance in the underlying systems, both on-board and on the ground. Listen to Brian explain the state of technology as well as the systems engineering and product development standing in the way of this ambitious goal. We also discussed a few myths and misconceptions that exist in the industry, namely that the value of autonomy is in eliminating pilot cost, or that the future is either piloted or autonomous. This has been such an insights-packed conversation that it’s tough to summarize it. If you’re interested in autonomous flight, the systems architecture that will support it, certification pathways for autonomous flight, sustainable flight, or just what it’s like to build a business in advanced air mobility – you don’t want to miss this episode. 

Eric Allison, Joby's Head of Product, discusses Joby Aviation's focus on minimizing aircraft noise, market strategies, certification processes, autonomous operations, and pricing strategies. The conversation delves into the importance of intentional design for noise reduction in electric planes, challenges in urban air mobility, and the revolutionizing impact of air taxis on transportation systems.

An in-depth discussion on UTM with Chris Kucera, co-founder of OneSky, discussing the fascinating and complex world of UAS traffic management, or UTM.  UTM is a rapidly evolving area – it’s done differently throughout the world with various degrees of application and value. Listen to what UTM is, how its formulated, its value, when its needed, and when its not.  Those of you who can understand the complexity and value of UTM will not only be better equipped to deploy, realize value from, and invest in UTM providers, but will better operate your OEM and service businesses going forward. Listen to the importance of operators sharing information, including positional and surveillance information – and the integration and synthesis of this information, and how essential this information sharing is to an effective, safe system.  Listen to the different types of UTM service providers and how UTM is deployed and by whom – and how they’re deployed in the US and throughout the world, and an important discussion of the EU’s U-space.   We cover what data is needed for different parts of the UTM process where Chris explains the data, its source, value, and application.  It’s great hearing how OneSky started, it’s unique advantages, and how they expect to provide value and make money in the years to come.  We thank Chris for a terrific discussion! 

Welcome to our conversation with Svilen Rangelov, Co-Founder and CEO of Dronamics, a business with the goal to change how the world moves goods.We start with a discussion around the broader drone/UAS market and then the cargo drone delivery market – including use-cases and early demand, challenges and opportunities, and the overall landscape. Then we talk about Dronamics, the problems they’re solving for customers near and long term with their middle mile solutions. Listen to how Svilen believes they’ll be providing a better and less expensive solution than today’s alternatives, especially with their initial focus on underserved markets. We also discuss his challenges and opportunities and why middle mile vs. last mile solutions, where last mile are where many others are focused. We also discuss their vehicle, the Black Swan, and how they plan to be an OEM, an operator, and manager of droneports. Listen to the really interesting requirements and capabilities of the droneports, the costs and challenges, and how they believe these droneports are an essential part of their competitive advantage and customer value. Svilen also discusses his conversations with logistics companies and their focus on cost. We also discuss his work with European regulators and the regulatory approvals, including for design verification. Many thanks to Svilen and Dronamics for a substantial discussion!

Today’s topic is the exciting world of pilot training innovation, an area that has become a high priority to militaries and airlines around the world given the pilot shortage that the industry is grappling with.  Helping us examine this topic is Ryan Riley, a retired USAF F-16 fighter pilot who most recently led Pilot Training Next, an initiative that leveraged advanced training technologies and learning methods to cut the USAF pilot training in half. Ryan also currently happens to be going through training with a major U.S. airline which we also discuss in our conversation.  The USAF is short approximately 2,000 pilots, which is about a third more than its annual theoretical capacity to produce pilots. At the same time, major airlines are accelerating their pilot hiring and are signaling concern about insufficient pilot supply. This has sparked a wave of flight training innovation to solve two major pain points: training time and throughput. Ryan walked us through the current Air Force pilot training pipeline, what prompted urgency to revisit the decade old training formula, what innovations the Air Force experimented with, and what the outcomes were. We talked about the pros and cons of mixed reality and synthetic training, and the importance of student-centric and distributed learning in both military and civil training environments.Naturally, we also discussed the controversial topic of the 1,500 hour rule, the related hours versus competencies dilemma, single pilot operations, and then extrapolated the discussion to autonomous systems, and how novel concepts in flight training might help the industry think through building trust in autonomous wingmen or virtual copilots. And to stay true to our roots, Ryan highlights what remaining pain points exist for innovators to go and solve.Ryan recently retired from the USAF where he flew F-16s, both operationally as a fighter pilot with multiple combat deployments as well as a Thunderbird pilot. In addition to flying, Ryan’s career included a number of leadership roles including deputy division chief 19th Air Force, Chief of Offense at the 613 Air Operations Center, contingency and crisis action planner, Pacific Air Forces lead technology integrator, and most recently Detachment 24 Commander leading Pilot Training Next. 

How often do you get to have a conversation with Bob Pearce, the Associate Administrator for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate? Well, you do today – and you’ll really enjoy the talk. Bob discusses how NASA synthesizes a picture of the future, in collaboration with thought leaders, and helps to remove the challenges to make that future happen. We take a dive into sustainability, the importance of getting to net zero, and the three strategies to achieving a fully sustainable aviation system. Bob discusses where NASA will and won’t get involved in AAM – including how NASA is helping to facilitate a safe, high density air traffic system. We discuss what drove the creation of the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) 20 plus years ago – why it didn’t work then, but why AAM may work today – including the level of automation we have today and what can evolve in the coming years – including the timeline for potentially fully remote pilots – to increase the level of AAM affordability.We discuss UTM and Sky for All – what it is and NASA’s role and timeline – and again the role of automation given the density of traffic that will be coming. Bob then discusses the sustainable flight demonstrator – why and how it was created it – and the cost-sharing partnership with Boeing – and he also discusses some of the questions that have evolved since that recent announcement. Given Bob’s role with NextGen, we had had to ask about the successes and disappointments of NextGen – and his selection of one standout program. Finally, listen to Bob’s recommendations and advice to innovators.Many thanks to Bob for joining us on The Vertical Space. 

Our guest today is Charlton Evans, founder and CEO of End State Solutions, a firm focused on certification and airworthiness for drones and other forms of advanced air mobility. Given some of the recent milestones and rumors about drone regulations in the United States, we thought you would appreciate a discussion on the hot topics in FAA drone regulations from a true subject matter expert, whose firm recently helped Matternet receive the industry’s first drone type certification. We covered a lot of ground with Charlton, starting with the first unmanned aircraft type certifications in the restricted category in 2013 and ways in which those operations failed to properly address the needs of the oil&gas industry at the time. We then followed regulatory and industry milestones to present day, discovering along the way the remaining challenges and opportunities facing the drone industry.Charlton assigns responsibility to both the FAA and the industry for the state of commercial drone adoption among enterprises. Since 2013, there have been fewer champions within the FAA doing the heavy lift to tackle advanced air mobility and drive integration of drones into the national airspace system – resulting in a natural bureaucratic filter to innovation at the FAA.  At the same time, the industry is still notorious for not coming to the table with fully developed products and concepts of operations. The gap between rigorous safety-centric FAA processes and the spirit of rapid innovation borrowed from the tech world still exists but is definitely closing as both the industry and regulators gain more experience from ongoing projects and initial operations. There is a ton of insights from this deep dive with Charlton, but let us highlight a few: you’ll hear what Charlton means by “any change is a change” or “ there is no certification by obvious”, how the FAA needs to get more comfortable with an appropriate assessment of risk, what three things type certification applicants need to bring to the table, how appropriate the durability & reliability type certification process really is, the black hole of 21.17(b) certification, in what ways drones and Light Sport Aircraft are similar, opportunities for innovation, and of course advice for entrepreneurs. As mentioned, Charlton Evans is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of End State Solutions, a firm focused on certification and airworthiness for AAM, drone delivery, HAPS and RPAS. Charlton was a Harrier Pilot and Tactical Air Controller in the Marine Corps and still flies for business and pleasure as a commercial pilot. Charlton has led several successful civil and military drone certifications as well as historic BVLOS flight operations. Recently End State Solutions assisted with the FAA type certification of the Matternet M2 delivery drone. Charlton also led historic linear infrastructure and disaster response flights with the type certified ScanEagle UAS that resulted in the induction of ScanEagle N202SE into the Smithsonian Institute in 2016. Today End State Solutions is considered a trusted advisor by both industry and FAA, engaged across the spectrum of Type, Production, Operational approvals as well as regulatory affairs – building relationships that build trust and products that are trusted through certificationWe hope you’ll enjoy the conversation as much as we did!

Enjoy this important discussion with Admiral Mike Rogers. Admiral Rogers served 37 years in the United States Navy, rising to the rank of four star Admiral and served as Commander, U.S. Cyber Command and Director, National Security Agency.  We open our conversation with a geostrategic perspective of the world. Mike  discusses what the next conflict may look like, how we can prepare for that conflict, and what technology may become more important. Also what we’ll have to prepare for – and potentially tolerate – from future conflicts. Mike’s discussion of Ukraine is equally fascinating and how it has characteristics of the first World War. We discuss the use of unmanned vehicles and their impact on the war.  And listen to what technology, aviation, and AAM is important for the future.We discuss how scale, speed, and efficiency are what we’ll need today and in the future – and how industry has to help us get off the few exquisite platforms of today – given the needs of the future. And how the private sector has an important role with innovation for future warfighting needs. Of course we discuss cyber – the threats – how it’s changing – how common cyber events are - and what industry can be doing relating to cyber. We also discuss cyber and the war in Ukraine – and how to integrate the capabilities of the government and the private sector – to build resilience.Thank you Admiral Mike Rogers for an excellent conversation.