ELECTRIC, ULTRA-SHORT TAKE-OFF

Electra Aero is an aircraft of the next generation. With this aircraft it will be able to transport even more load and people than ever. Our partner is trying to build clean, quiet and hybrid-electric aircraft. Their vision is to use them on small runways in urban areas. 

4 FREEDOMS OF THE FUTURE AIR MOBILITY

1. No runways

This eSTOL (ultra short take-off and landing) is able to land from small places (ultra short runways needed) like soccer fields, rooftops, parking lots and many more. Thanks to this, no runways are needed and the use of this aircraft broaden.

2. No crowds

Because Electra Aero is hybrid-electric aircraft, its possibilities of use are wide. As a plus, it offers clean, quick and mainly traffic-free way to transport people and loads to final destinations. It doesn’t matter if it’s a quick-turn urban trip during rush hours or long regional trips, Electra Aero is always ready to use.

3. No charging

Electra Aero has a build-in battery which is charging while you fly. This means, you do not need to wait on the ground to recharge it.

4. No noise

The electric propulsion system, which MGM COMPRO supplied to our partner, will get you to your final destination without being loud.

MGM COMPRO FULFILLED DEMANDING REQUIREMENTS of electra aero

The Electra Aero project required very complex solutions. We provide multiple important components such as our REB50 and RET60 electric motors and our high voltage motor controller.

To learn more about this project, we recommend you to read this article or visit their official website.

Paracell Products is a company which is specialized in the electric paramotors. Firstly, they started to manufacture it for their own use. Lately, their friends, neighbours, colleagues and customers required their products. After this, they became ambassadors and also sellers of the electric paramotors. They created „Paracell“ because they believe that the electric flight is the future of pilots. 

MGM COMPRO SUPPLIES E-PROPULSION TECHNOLOGY for paracell paramotors

Our collaboration with Paracell Products is exiting, as they occur in a very specific market segment in which they have to pay attention to requirements yet at the same time they have to meet safety rules. In this branch our partner has to create products made-to-measure to give it a sense for their clients and their specific requirements.

Our partners know these facts and they are trying to do it differently. In our collaboration, we accommodated their needs and supplied 15kW electric motors and 15kW motor controller as we pay attention to the safety and needs of future customers, yet at the same time we don’t want to sacrifice in the performance of the product.

Paracell Products do this professionally, they have rich experiences and got their own know-how. Because of this, they deliver their serial product to their customers which you can buy right away. 

MGM COMPRO is proud to be part of this project. To see how it flies, checkout the video below.

WHO IS CYCLOTECH?

Cyclotech is an Austrian company which concentrates on reserach and development. They’re trying to transform the Voith Schneider propeller (VSP) into a revolutionary and first-rate propulsion system. It’s called Cyclogyro rotor and will be used for the aviation industry.

“Our vision is to combine the benefits of rotary and fixed-wing concepts by bringing togerther vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), fast and efficient forward flight and extremely high maneuverability.” – cyclotech.at

MGM COMPRO’S COOPERATION WITH CYCLOTECH

We are really happy about the cooperation with Cyclotech because we see a great potential in what they are doing as well as what they are trying to achieve in the future. MGM COMPRO is so proud to be a part of it.

All components are still in the process of developing and the project is in the scale mode process which means they are verificating the basic hypotheses, technical solutions and gradually getting to the result. MGM COMPRO delivered the technology for our partner. To be specific, we delivered them our 17kW electric propulsion system and our battery system as well.

Their idea of autonomous taxi cars flying in the air is fascinating as it will be super beneficial for highly populated areas to decrease the use of ground public transport as well as to decrease the pollution of air. Because of this idea, they’re moving the branch further and we would like to speak highly of them.

If you would like to learn more about this fascinating project, click on the Cyclotech website or checkout the video below.

WHO IS BEE APPLIANCE?

It’s a team of  developers manufacturing capabilities of an industry drone. They are trying to help the industry with the development of VTOL crafts. They’re located in Beilngries, Germany.

BEE appliance accompanies the industry in the revolution of commuting and smart logistics on a global scale. – beeappliance.com

What’s interesting about BEE appliance is the fact that they have built a rough and innovative electric driven, load-carrying vertical take-off and landing  aircraft.

THE REFERENCE UNIT

They are trying to make a rough VTOL transport which will be autonomous. It’s predetermined for use in the infrastractures which connect road and air transport at the same time. They are particular about being easy to use, being simple and cost-efficient, but at the same time they want to use the most advanced technologies. 

COOPERATION WITH MGM COMPRO

MGM COMPRO and BEE appliance have been cooperating together. To be specific, MGM COMPRO provided REX30 and HBC280120 for our partner. We did an atypical firmware adjustments according to our partner specifications. It wasn’t easy at all, however we managed to deal with that, even though it was a big challenge. In the upshot, BEE appliance was contented with our work.

The system we prepared for our partner is fully functional and they are continuing with their tests. If you would like to see how it goes so far or want to read more about it, you can check it on their website.

To see our work and how astonishing it flies, checkout the video below. We are really happy about this cooperation with BEE appliance and we are ready to fulfil the partner’s future demands.

It feels like yesterday when we were proudly showing the successful self-launch of the GP 14 VELO. The glider was praised for its improved parameters and declared ready for the new 13.5 meter FAI racing class. Three years later, GP GLIDERS announced the next generation of their product: GP 15 JETA.

Vision with GP 15 JETA

The company declares that “its design represents natural evolution of flawless 13,5 m wingspan GP 14 VELO platform, utilizing very similar, sleek fuselages available in two sizes – REGULAR and SPORT. The former is pilot’s comfort oriented and can accommodate individuals up to 200 cm (6’7”) tall and 115 kg (254 lb) heavy. The latter is tighter thus more performance focused. The wing and tailplane are newly optimized designs and are also interchangeable with 13,5 m set derived from GP 14 VELO.” Aside of that, the glider is powered by improved battery system, which got significantly improved as well as the glider’s safety.

MGM COMPRO’s concern was of course development of the electric propulsion system, which we assigned to a great part of our both electrical and mechanical engineering team. The result of our work in cooperation with GP GLIDERS team is a product called Retractable Electric Self-Launching System, serving in spite of the glider and enhancing its abilities. One of the biggest advantages is the system’s subtleness – the system can be deployed in as little as three seconds and can be completely hidden inside the fuselage by simple toggle of a switch for free flight and gliding.

The whole MGM COMPRO team is very proud to be a part of this exciting journey for so many years. We hope that JETA will celebrate as many successes as its predecessors and we are thrilled to be a part of the next generations development. Congratulations!

Since 2017 we’ve been a member of Pure-Flight, four-company consortium with a goal of electric propulsion systems realisation. The greatest part of our cooperation is ΦNIX, light sport aircraft with over 2,5 hour flight range. The aircraft went through many test phases and since 2018 it flew for over 150 hours.

Successful in extreme conditions with ΦNIX

ΦNIX has celebrated huge success at several expos including AERO Friedrichshafen and its features were discussed by experts around the world. Its performance was tested in various climates including the arctic one – ΦNIX successfully landed even on the frozen lake.

MGM COMPRO took responsibility for airplane’s electric propulsion unit that allows it to fly effectively with zero emissions. Our team has been in close cooperation with the whole Pure-Flight consortium to fine-tune every detail of the aircraft’s propulsion system and we can say that it is ready to enter the serial production phase.

Swedish investors interested

In October, ΦNIX was presented at Green Flyway test arena in Sweden, where it attracted attention thanks to its ecological profile and supreme features. Number of Swedish aeroclubs and other companies showed interest in the electric aircraft and there are expected many more. Sweden heavily subsidizes electric aviation in its program to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.

The whole team of MGM COMPRO is ready for transition to the serial production phase and we are looking forward to further cooperation with the whole consortium. We can’t wait to see what trajectory is ΦNIX heading further.

Recent years and decades have brought a significant interest increase in the cultivation and maintenance of public space, and it is this fact that Czech start-up Zebra Group took advantage of. The company has set the goal of becoming a carmaker specializing in utility vehicles for a wide range of applications, from the cleaning of roads, through winter maintenance, to even the service of industrial areas.

ZEBRA: SUCCESSFUL COMMERCIAL VEHICLES WITH GREAT UTILITY

After six years on the market, Zebra Group cars are supplied to the market for a great number of construction companies, municipalities and technical services, thanks to constant development and improvement. It was this desire to move forward that inspired the company to design a new – purely electric – model elZebra. It was announced at the end of 2018 and entered the market in August this year.

The electric car can be driven with a passenger car driver’s license and in addition to the natural benefits of the electric motor, such as zero emissions and the absence of noise, it also has many other key features. Probably the most surprising of them is the price – being comparable to the diesel version and in combination with the much lower maintenance costs makes the elZebra not only a more environmentally friendly but also a more economical version. A very pleasant benefit is also the long battery life: the largest battery system has a capacity of 64.5 kWh and thus brings a trouble-free range for the entire usual 8.5-hour shift.

MGM COMPRO HELPED BY TUNING OF THE PROPULSION UNIT

The MGM COMPRO team has a long history in support of electrical conversion in many industries, so we did not hesitate when Zebra asked us to cooperate. Our teams worked together to supply and integrate our speed controllers. We then also helped to fine-tune the entire system, especially in the area concerning the propulsion unit, which is essential for the entire car’s operation.

However, the whole project is merely on square one – Zebra Group recently announced the development of a 4×4 version, having these two electric motors also on the front axle. This project will continue to be a great challenge for our engineers and our entire team will be happy to further participate.

On July 27, 2020, Dufour Aerospace announced that their engineering team finished initial phase of flight testing of their VTOL technology demonstrator aircraft. Over the course of 550 test flights, expanding the flight envelope incrementally, Dufour have demonstrated a high degree of stability and control in all conditions, including transitions from hover to cruise and back again.

AIRCRAFT OF GREAT POTENTIAL, that’s dufour’s vision

Although the projects is still under development, it could already show its possibilities. Felix Rubin, lead engineer for aerodynamics, commented, “At larger scales, slipstream airflows over tilting wings become more turbulent and harder to predict, and care is needed to ensure that the aircraft remains stable during transition. With this large-scale unmanned aircraft, we’ve now been able to demonstrate that we can achieve that stability at high Reynolds numbers.”

“The goal for us ultimately is to develop a vehicle that is a helicopter replacement, particularly for medical transport,” said Jasmine Kent, chief technology officer of the project. “We believe there is a big opportunity in the market for an aircraft that can do medical transfer flights faster and much more cheaply than a helicopter.” She then declared Dufour aims to begin manufacturing a full-sized experimental VTOL prototype next year, with flight testing to begin with a human test pilot by 2022, if “there are no hiccups along the way.”

SPECS OF AERO 2

• 320km/h speed cruise
• Hover Performance at 2’000m/M at ISA +20 Deg C.
• 2 seats
• optional piloted
• hybrid or fully electric
• range 800km in hybrid mode and 120km in full electric mode
• low noise profile and low downwash profile makes it best in class for Urban Air
• Transport and operation in populated areas

MGM COMPRO INCLUDED IN DEVELOPMENT

We are proud that altogether with Dufour Aerospace team we are on the right way to tune the system towards the full scale prototype. Except complex motor management we talk about electric motor possibilities and battery pack design for the final stage of the project.

MGM COMPRO is excited for the cooperation in this next phase. We strongly believe in the potential of the whole project and look forward to the challenges that await us.

Assignment of RAeS for the year 2020:

Imagine this: “A hurricane has just swept across the Caribbean island of Dominica, destroying almost all buildings and blocking most roads. Those injured need to be taken to hospitals on neighbouring islands. A vertical take-off, electric aircraft is needed to evacuate them, preferably to those islands that are not already overwhelmed with medical cases. So achievable range is of the essence.”

Terrifying, but completely realistic. Also, it is this year’s RAeS International General Aviation Design Competition assignment scenario. The main task is to develop the aircraft that accomodates a pilot, attendant and strecher case to help with medical evacuation from the affected area. As said, vertical take-off and landing is required.

Competition rules

Entries are invited for this competition from under- and post-graduate engineering students, professionals and amateur aircraft designers. You may enter as an individual or a team – RAeS particularly encourages entries from teams of engineering students.

The entries will be judged by a team of professional aeronautical engineers from the RAeS and the LAA. The winners will be announced at the RAeS GA Group’s Light Aircraft Design Conference in November 2020. Points will be awarded with equal weighting for the mission range achieved and the quality of the design (including innovation and the Design Report). Winners will be announced, and prizes awarded, at the RAeS Light Aircraft Design Conference. This year’s conference will take place on Monday 16 November at No.4 Hamilton Place, London, W1J 7BQ.

Further information about the competition can be found on RAeS’s website.

We’re thrilled to hear that even in challenging times like nowadays, research and development of new technologies is still heavily supported. The reason for our excitement is Phase 2 of UKRI’s Future Flight Challenge, competition aiming to revolutionise the way people, goods and services fly and position the United Kingdom as a world leader in aviation products. Funded by £125 million from the UK government via Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and expecting £175 million from industry in Phase 1, this event is one of the most funded we’ve seen recently.

The United Kingdom has been at the forefront of aviation for more than 100 years and is still an obvious leader in this sector. As MGM COMPRO, we can only confirm this fact – we had the honor to be active in thriving British market for many years. Recently, we’ve visited several expos and other interesting events like Advanced Engineering or Vertical Flight Expo, and those have been crucial opportunities to improve our technological point of view and to orientate in UK’s environment. We’re confident to say that we’ve established in the thriving British market and are ready to cooperate on major technological challenges just like Future Flight Challenge.

Future Flight Challenge rules

Kicking off its Phase 1 in September 2019, Future Flight Challenge invited a wide range of participants to come forward with ideas. In November, Future Flight Challenge director Gary Cutts told eVTOL.com that UKRI was seeing a strong early response to the initiative, which is backed by £125 million from the UK government. On May 11, 2020, the second phase opened, promising another £30 million for projects with integrated aviation systems and vehicle technologies that enable new classes of electric or autonomous aircraft.

The competition has two branches: a “fast track” strand to encourage smaller businesses and not-aviation sector organizations to apply, and a “large consortia” strand for specialised companies aiming to “undertake significant and ambitious projects that strive to integrate technologies and systems.” For both strands, projects can last between six and 18 months, with all projects required to end by March 30, 2022. Lead organizations must be UK-registered businesses and carry out their project work in the UK.

UKRI is seeking both “development” projects leading to specific use case demonstrations, and “enabling” projects, which will expand national capabilities in areas such as testing facilities, data infrastructure, and aviation system simulations. According to its statement of scope, the agency aims to fund “a portfolio of projects, across a variety of technologies, markets, technological maturities, and research categories.”

Brilliant start of the new decade

The goal of this year’s BOOT 2020 was to compile last decade and start the new one successfully. And they did in a massive way: more than 250,000 visitors from 106 countries were able to visit 17 exhibition halls with almost 2,000 exhibitors. In 9 pompous days, they could explore many boats and yachts, they could try canoeing and fishing and even more extreme watersports, including surfing and more.

For the watersports industry, BOOT Düsseldorf 2020 represents a milestone on the road to success. Jürgen Tracht, Director of the German Marine Federation said: “New decisions need to be taken at the beginning of the year in both private and professional water sports fields. The wide range of different options available at boot offers not only trade representatives but also water sports fans the biggest possible choice. Nowhere else in the world exist such a large selection of sailing yachts and motorboats.”

Meeting everybody we could at boot 2020

BOOT 2020 tends to be an essential event for the whole marine applications market, and MGM COMPRO took the opportunity to be a part of it. We successfully exchanged knowledge with our numerous partners and focused mainly on marine electro-mobility, which is the base of our business.

We can fearlessly say that the pioneering era of marine e-mobility is over. The market successfully moved into a new age: many of our partners progressed tremendously with their electric applications and several companies start to implement electric propulsion on a daily basis.

We look forward to seeing more progress in marine e-mobility, specifically on BOOT 2021, which we’ll gladly participate again.

Stabilization of helicopter cargo became one of the most crucial topics not only in US Army and we appreciate that they try its best to beat this problem.

The success of Vita Inclinata

The Load Stability System – Litter Attachment – produced by our partner Vita Inclinata Technologies completed initial fight trials in Fort Collins. We are really proud to be a part of this process: MGM COMPRO helped to supply this project with various components and we’re ready to continue in supporting this important project.

“The system tested today demonstrates a glimpse of what a self-stabilizing rescue litter can provide for the first responder community: hands off, simple, safe, and efficient extractions in hazardous environments. However, this demonstration is just the beginning. Moving ahead we are refining the solution by reducing the size and weight, while strengthening the autonomous stabilization capability.” CTO of Vita Inclinata, Derek Sikora said.

What is Hood Tech’s VTOL? 

Hood Tech’s next generation Flying Launch and recovery System (FLARES 2.0) this month demonstrated flight operations from a 200 foot forest  clearing, surrounded by 60-140 foot trees. A fixed-wing UAV was launched into flight and  recovered from flight, both operations occurring above the tree-tops.

“We selected the test site specifically for its challenging topography, with obstacles in all directions” stated Hood Tech Test Engineer, Cory Roeseler, “That clearing is too small for traditional fixed-wing UAV launch and  recovery methods. It is nicely surrounded by tall trees. VTOL was needed, and we were pleased with the way FLARES performed. We launched and recovered a clean aircraft, fully-capable of its original design intent, not a hideous contraption overloaded with VTOL claptrap.”

FLARES released the fixed wing aircraft into wing borne flight high above the tree-tops. Zero modifications were imposed upon the fixed wing aircraft for this vertical launch, since the FLARES system engages the aircraft with grippers at the wing roots.

Capture of the aircraft was accomplished via the “skyhook method,” also above the tree tops. From that capture height, the aircraft was lowered to the ground undamaged. The entire FLARES system was transported to the site as a partial load of a ½-ton pickup truck and setup by a crew of two in under an hour.

One of the biggest

Aviation Forum is an international trade fair for the aerospace industry and it is showing the latest products and services to land-and air-based applications. Besides the fair high quality lectures and guided tours takes place that deal with numerous topics in the aviation industry.

The visitors who are decision-makers from companies in the industry and managers of the suppliers for the most part, can inform on these conferences on the latest trends and solutions for their sector and take the opportunity to develop new business.

The Aviation Forum takes place annually, and in November it happened for the 9th time.

Making contact

MGM COMPRO took the opportunity of one of the biggest aerospace events to make many interesting contacts from various fields of aviation industry. Drone and e-VTOL field is a very fresh and new market, and we were eager to hear some insight from various companies creating range of solutions across the market.

Events like Aviation Forum are crucial for us. Not only we can connect ourselves with many interesting businesses, but we can also make sure that electric propulsion systems are the right way to go.

Britain’s biggest venue

Advanced Engineering takes place in Birmingham every autumn, this year’s date was October 30 – 31. The venue offers a wide portfolio of manufacturing fields, including composites engineering, connected manufacturing or (of course) aero engineering. It is considered being the busiest technology conference in the United Kingdom, with over 550 exhibitors, spanning industries from composites to automotive – there is something here for everyone.

It was an extremely busy two days, with a 5% rise in visitor attendance reflecting the resilience and momentum behind the UK’s advanced manufacturing sectors, even in the most challenging of climates.

Peak of industry

We can say with certainty that the title and the content of this venue correspond perfectly. Advanced Engineering shows a real peak of industrial engineering from around the world, and we are very proud that we were a part of it. As a part of Czech exposition, we had the opportunity to show the best of our business – not only to experts but also to many visitors of the event. It is very important to say that we could be a part of this goliath event only thanks to CzechTrade, major Czech trade support agency.

MGM COMPRO is very happy with results of this venue and we’re looking forward to attend for many more years.

One of the biggest

Europe’s largest vertical flight exhibition – Vertical Flight Expo & Conference, formerly known as Helitech International – was set to open its doors from 5 to 7 November, offering international operators the chance to stay abreast of the latest industry trends and source the latest technology for their vertical flight missions. The event returned in partnership with the British Helicopter Association (BHA) under a new guise and moves to the world-famous aviation hub, Farnborough International, for the first time.

Renowned for its insightful conference programme, the Vertical Flight Expo welcomed many of the industry’s foremost thought leaders to share their knowledge of topics including the latest market trends, UAV-Helicopter operations, firefighting and SAR missions, as well as regulation updates.

Electric aviation isn’t for pioneers anymore

In our presentation to aviation experts from around the world, we tried to address the main topics of our business; we strongly believe in electric aviation solutions, such as e-VTOL applications. The target audience was very receptive of our message and the discussion after our presentation was also very captive and fruitful.

MGM COMPRO is grateful to be one of the electric aviation pioneers promoting this branch of the industry, and we can certainly say that electric aviation isn’t a topic of future anymore. It is becoming one of the most discussed topics of the industry and we’re really glad to be a part of it.

Breathtaking numbers about maks

MAKS MOSCOW is International Aviation and Space Salon taking place on Zhukovsky airport. This year, it’s been visited by more than 500 000 exhibitors and guests, including The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

During the exhibition there were held about 90 conferences, seminars, round tables, strategic sessions, which were attended by more than 2000 specialists. A number of scientific events organized by TsAGI, VIAM and GosNIIAS institutes were held within the framework of MAKS-2019 at external sites. For the third time, the Eurasian Aerospace Congress was held, organized by the Eurasian Aerospace Cluster Partnership and the Government of Samara Region. The event gathered over 700 delegates.

One of the few

MGM COMPRO is very proud to be one of only eight Czech companies exhibiting their products on MAKS. We showed to the public our solutions in the field of electric propulsion systems and speciality electronics used in the aviation sector.

The high interest in our products and development services is a very strong motivation to come up with even more advanced solutions in the future.

Largest in the world

At its 53rd edition, held from 17 to 23 June 2019, the Paris Air Show confirmed once again its status as the world’s largest aerospace event.

Undeniable showcase for the aeronautics and telecommunications industry and its actors, the Paris Air Show once again encountered a real success and welcomed a record number of Exhibitors with more than 2,450 companies present. A place ideal for  opportunities and meetings, it was as ever an extraordinary platform for trade, with over $140 billions’ worth of orders placed.

Professionals in the sector and the general public came in droves, with 316 000 Visitors and 2700 journalists attending during the week. They discovered numerous areas and events, including the Careers Plane and the Paris Air Lab, a space devoted to research, innovation and forward thinking.

Visitors could also admire the 140 aircraft on Show, 36 of which on flying displays. Lastly, the event  consolidated its international dimension, with over 300 Official Delegations present, and visits from France’s President and the great majority of the French government.

Presenting with pride

MGM COMPRO had the honor to be a part of the whole thing. Topics of our presentations were obvious – we believe in electric aviation using our complex propulsion systems in various applications such as e-VTOLs, LSA, drones and others.

Paris’ audience was very welcoming and receptive to messages of us and our partners. It is very interesting to see electric propulsion becoming one of the primary topics of aviation worldwide and this year’s Paris Air Show really proved that.

It was our honor and pleasure to witness this event and MGM COMPRO really look forward to next venues.