Honeywell To Transform Transportation Vertical Aerospace Partners User Manual

VERTICALAEROSPACE PARTNERSWITH HONEYWELL

TOTRANSFORM

TRANSPORTATION

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 Honeywell 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 society,” 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 fly- by-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 Cervenka. “We did extensive due diligence before selecting Honeywell.”

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