How three groundbreaking projects set up Embry-Riddle to take on urban air mobility.
ELECTRIFYING THE THIRD REVOLUTION
in Aircraft Propulsion
Urban air mobility (UAM) is both an exciting and, for some, a daunting emerging area in technology and business. I have never in my lifetime seen the flow of what is fast becoming billions of dollars in non-aerospace investment capital into an aircraft industry. At Embry-Riddle we are investigating the underlying physics of what the media calls “flying cars” with directed research that started over a decade ago. We are working to sort out the myths from the reality. We have seen our version of market bubbles; unmanned aircraft systems, for example, have not met all of the market hype. We have noted the failures — most famously seen in the Vertical Flight Society’s “Wheel of Misfortune,” which shows countless orphaned VTOL projects. Yet there is reason for optimism in this transformative technology currently under development at the Eagle Flight Research Center. Electrified aircraft propulsion is the third revolution in aircraft propulsion since jet engines and early gasoline engines. It will enable both more environmentally friendly commuter aircraft and transformative mobility in urban settings.
Dr. Anderson is a commercial pilot,
aerospace engineering professor and director of the Eagle Flight Research Center at Embry-Riddle, where he led the development of the world’s first manned piston gas/ electric hybrid aircraft program and supervises the R&D for new vehicle concepts, advanced flight controls and novel certification strategies.
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