January/February 2023 - 6

IN D U S T R Y INSP E C T IO N
Avio Aero Launches Hybrid Electric
Technology Demonstration Program
Avio Aero, part of the GE Aerospace business, has
launched a technology demonstration program
that advances development of hybrid electric
propulsion technologies for commercial aviation.
The AMBER demonstrator will study integration of
hybrid electric components - including a motor/
generator, power converters, and power transmission
systems - with fuel cells for rig testing in
the mid-2020s using Avio Aero's advanced Catalyst
turboprop engine.
www.AviationPros.com/21290120
Airbus Tests New Technologies
to Enhance Pilot Assistance
Airbus UpNext, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Airbus, has started testing new, on ground and
in-flight, pilot assistance technologies on an A3501000
test aircraft. Known as DragonFly, the technologies
being demonstrated include automated
emergency diversion in cruise, automatic landing
and taxi assistance and are aimed at evaluating
the feasibility and pertinence of further exploring
autonomous flight systems in support of safer and
more efficient operations.
www.AviationPros.com/21292265
Boeing Awarded NASA Sustainable
Flight Demonstrator Contract
NASA has selected Boeing and its industry team
Raytheon Technologies Completes First Engine Run
of Regional Hybrid-Electric Flight Demonstrator
Raytheon Technologies
announced the successful first
engine run of the company's
regional hybrid-electric flight
demonstrator, marking a key
milestone towards flight testing,
targeted to begin in 2024. The
propulsion system's initial
run took place at Pratt & Whitney's innovation facility in Longueuil,
Quebec and performed as expected. The system fully integrates a
1 MW electric motor developed by Collins Aerospace with a Pratt &
Whitney fuel-burning engine, specially adapted for hybrid-electric
operation. This powerplant technology will enable more efficient
engine performance during the different phases of flight, such as takeoff,
climb and cruise, reducing fuel burn and CO2 emissions by up to
30% compared to today's most advanced regional turboprop aircraft.
www.AviationPros.com/21290614
to lead the development and flight testing of a
full-scale Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW)
demonstrator airplane. The technologies demonstrated
and tested as part of the Sustainable Flight
Demonstrator (SFD) program will inform future
designs and could lead to breakthrough aerodynamics
and fuel efficiency gains.
www.AviationPros.com/21292986
NTSB Publishes Additional
Comments on Ethiopia's Final
Report on 737 MAX 8 Accident
The National Transportation Safety Board released
additional comments on the Ethiopian Aircraft
Accident Investigation Bureau's (EAIB's) final report
of the March 10, 2019, crash of Ethiopian Airlines
Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplane.
The new comments, provided to the EAIB's investigator
in charge, detail the NTSB's concerns about
several of the findings in the final accident report.
This is in addition to the comments the NTSB
made public on Dec. 27 on the EAIB's final accident
report, which detailed the investigation's insufficient
attention to the human performance aspects
of the accident.
The EAIB issued its final report without giving
the NTSB the opportunity to review new information
incorporated since the NTSB's last review and
provide comments ahead of the report's issuance,
as stipulated by the International Civil Aviation
Organization's Annex 13.
Although the NTSB agrees with the overall finding
in the EAIB report related to the role the
Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System
(MCAS) and related systems played in the accident,
the EAIB's report contains findings the NTSB said
are unsupported by evidence - for example, that
aircraft electrical problems caused erroneous angleof-attack
(AOA) output.
www.AviationPros.com/ 21293406
6 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023
AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY
http://www.AviationPros.com/21290120 http://www.AviationPros.com/21292986 http://www.AviationPros.com/21292265 http://www.AviationPros.com/21290614 http://www.AviationPros.com/21293406
January/February 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January/February 2023
