AERO Friedrichshafen Highlights Sustainable Aviation

Sustainability was a major theme at AERO, the biggest general aviation show in Europe, which returned to the Messe Friedrichshafen exhibition complex in southern Germany on April 27-30, after a two-year pause caused by COVID-19.

A total of 633 exhibitors from 34 nations and 27,700 trade visitors from 75 nations participated in AERO, which has been held annually in the lakeside town on Lake Constance (the Bodensee), the birthplace of the Zeppelin airship in 1900 and, later, the Dornier aircraft company.

AERO hosted its first e-Flight Expo of electric aircraft in 2009 in co-operation with Flying Pages GmbH, but steady sector growth meant that innovative aircraft projects could be found throughout AERO 2022’s 11 large hangar-size exhibition halls, large foyers and static display covering 1,022,571 sq ft (95,000 m²).

VFS video-recorded presentations by 30 different speakers on sustainable aviation at AERO and conducting one-on-one video interviews with four different rotorcraft manufacturers and 10 different electric airplane and propulsion system companies. All the videos from AERO Friedrichshafen 2022 are being posted on the VFS YouTube AERO 2022 playlist.

This year was the first time VFS officially participated in AERO and the Society presented in a “Propulsion and Energy Source” panel discussion of the first day of the exhibition at the e-Flight Expo.

Bristell Energic trainer powered by H55 propulsion system

To highlight the theme, the exhibition created the AERO Sustainable Aviation Trail for the first time to highlight not just the exhibitors in the e-flight-expo in Hall A7, but a total of 75 companies and organizations showcasing technologies and topics such as alternative fuels (e.g. bio-fuel and power-to-liquid, PtL), lightweight construction and hybrid propulsion, as well as new and more efficient manufacturing technologies.

More than a dozen electric aircraft were on display at AERO, including the eMagic One eVTOL aircraft, and the record-setting hydrogen fuel-cell powered HY4 flight demonstrator operated by Stuttgart-based H2FLY (a spin-out from the German Aerospace Center, DLR) which set a new world record for hydrogen-powered passenger aircraft by flying a 67-nm (124-km) route between Stuttgart and Friedrichshafen in early April.
 

The H2FLY HY4 flight demonstrator

H2FLY Prof. Dr. Kallo

The European general aviation industry is getting very serious about electric aviation. 

Diamond Aircraft of Austria — the world’s third largest light aircraft maker by volume (after Cirrus and Cessna) — highlighted its new electric-powered DA40 (eDA40) targeted at the pilot training market. More than 2,300 all-composite DA40s have been delivered with gas or Jet-A / diesel engines since 1997.

On April 18, Textron Inc. (parent of Bell, Cessna and Beech) completed its acquisition of Slovenian electric aircraft pioneer Pipistrel, which forms the basis for the newly founded Textron e-Aviation division.

Rolls-Royce Electrical was formed earlier this year to spearhead the company’s work in electric propulsion systems for aviation. In 2019, Rolls-Royce bought Siemens’ aircraft propulsion business.

Several companies have also committed to develop hydrogen-electric fuel cell-powered aircraft including Flight Design and APUS Group in Germany, which displayed mock-ups of their respective two- and four-seat aircraft. 

VFS video-recorded presentations by 30 different speakers on sustainable aviation at AERO and conducting one-on-one video interviews with four different rotorcraft manufacturers and 10 different electric airplane and propulsion system companies. All the videos from AERO Friedrichshafen 2022 are being posted on the VFS YouTube AERO 2022 playlist.

Tecnam P2010

Tecnam P2010 with BRP-Rotax & Rolls Royce Parallel-hybrid powertrain