Honeywell To Transform Transportation Vertical Aerospace Partners User Manual

VERTICAL AEROSPACE
PARTNERS WITH

HONEY WELL

TO TRANSFORM
TR ANSPOR TATION

Honeywell’s flight systems
are helping make urban air
mobility (UAM) a reality.

Case Study

MICHAEL CERVENKA, CEO,
VERTICAL AEROSPACE LTD.

“Urban air mobility represents

the biggest disruption aviation
has seen since the dawn of
the jet age in the 1960s. The
combination of Honeywell’s
compact fly-by-wire control
systems and electrification
is opening up a whole new
opportunity for transportation.”

OVERVIEW

Founded in 2016 by Stephen Fitzpatrick, who runs the carbon-kicking
energy supplier OVO, Vertical Aerospace is a British manufacturer
of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

With a vision towards easing urban congestion and decarbonizing

air travel, Vertical Aerospace is using the best technology from the
aviation, energy and automotive industries to revolutionize how
people fly.

Making air travel personal, on-demand
and carbon-free requires partners with
the know-how and can-do attitude to
realize the future. Vertical Aerospace
partnered with Honey well Aerospace
for its Compact Fly-By-Wire system,
and its ability to achieve the standards
and safety integrity levels required to
certify aircraft for commercial use.

Since its inception in 2016, Vertical
Aerospace has grown to more than
110 world-class engineers and
technical experts. The company
will fly its first passenger model in
2021, and hopes to certify a vehicle
by late 2023 or early 2024.

BACKGROUND

Energy entrepreneur Stephen Fitzpatrick
got the idea for Vertical Aerospace
when he was stuck in traffic one day.
Thinking that there had to be a better
way to get around, he decided to disrupt
aviation by combining the pace and
agility of auto racing with the rigor and
safety-first culture of aerospace.

Vertical Aerospace was born in
2016, with the idea of producing
fully-electric aircraft for urban
environments to reduce ground
congestion and create a foundation
for the decarbonization of aviation.

“We want something that actually
can make a real impact on societ y,”
says Michael Cervenka, CEO at
Vertical Aerospace. “For me, [that
means] having a vehicle that is really
easy to fly and really easy to operate.”

To remove responsibility from the pilot –
and to ultimately create a completely
autonomous flying vehicle – company
executives knew they had to find a fly­by-wire system – a system that replaces
manual flight controls with an electronic
interface – that was lightweight
and technologically advanced.

“In the technology we’re developing,
the pilot really isn’t flying the vehicle,”
Cervenka says. “Instead, he’s telling
a series of computers what he wants
the vehicle to do, where to go and what
to avoid. The computer actually
controls all of the different systems
on the vehicle to make the pilot’s
directions happen reliably and safely.”

Because fly-by-wire is a critical ingredient
in the success of Vertical Aerospace’s
enterprise, company executives
searched far and wide to find the right
system. “We looked at all the different
potential suppliers in the market,”
recalls Cer venka. “We did extensive due
diligence before selecting Honeywell.”

3 | aerospace.honeywell.com | To Transform Transpor tation Vertical Aerospace Partners with Honey well