MILESTONES IN INNOVATION
2010 Embry-Riddle begins research and design for NASA’s Green Flight Challenge, a national competition requiring an aircraft to fly 200 passenger miles per gallon of fuel at an average speed of 100 miles per hour.
2011 The university introduces the Eco Eagle , the world’s first parallel hybrid aircraft, a modified Stemme S-10. It was the only hybrid aircraft in NASA’s Green Flight Challenge and ranked among the top four aircraft out of 14 entries.
2013 Driven by the introduction of Congress’ Small Airplane Revitalization Act, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) accelerates its feedback on overhauling the FAA’s outdated airworthiness standards .
2015 A newly built electric octocopter UAV inspires researchers to rethink aerodynamic efficiency design leading them to build a VTOL in 2015.
The university’s Hybrid Electric Research
The university builds the Mark II , an electrically powered technology demonstrator that uses novel control algorithms and propeller mechanisms to transition between flight regimes for VTOL and horizontal flight.
Consortium is founded and attracts Airbus and Hartzell Aviation among the first of a growing membership.
2016 Faculty and students design a lightweight, battery-powered aircraft that promises clean and quiet flight. Outfitted with a fully electric propulsion system, the eSpirit of St. Louis is a Diamond HK-36 donated by Lockheed Martin Skunkworks.
Embry-Riddle becomes the first and only academic member of GAMA and continues to hold this distinction in 2020.
2017 The FAA introduces updated airworthiness standards (Code of Federal Regulations Part 23) that Embry-Riddle and GAMA helped influence. The revised rules pave the way for the innovations needed for UAM vehicle development.
2019 Building commences on the university’s first UAM , a personal air vehicle, known as PAV-ER, that features helicopter rotors with collective and cyclic pitch.
Spring 2020 Students and faculty complete a hybrid powerplant capable of delivering five times more electric power-to-weight than any existing battery system.
Fall 2020 The eSpirit of St. Louis (electrified HK-36) enters taxi testing and the PAV-ER vehicle undergoes a carbon fiber face lift for additional testing.
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