Can a C-130J Super Hercules be flown autonomously? Merlin Labs might have the answer

As pilot shortages continue and automation seems inevitable, the U.S. Air Force is partnering with a Boston-based technology company, Merlin Labs, to test using an autonomous co-pilot on its C-130J Super Hercules cargo transport plane.

The Economic Times

The technology is touted to be advanced auto-copilot, designed to take over the responsibilities of one crew member in flight while being supervised by a human pilot. Reportedly, the software can also steer and maintain an aircraft’s course in flight, even in turbulence and harsh weather.

Merlin’s avionics system uses GPS, inertial navigation systems, air data, and altitude and heading reference systems to establish an aircraft’s current position and altitude. The system performs actions using actuators connected to the plane, which are directed by the onboard flight computer.

The business case is relatively simple: in a world of increasing transportation costs and a global shortage of pilots, autonomy can help to ease the burden of cost on companies, and at the same time can increase safety for pilots themselves, who now have an always-on, alert, and intelligent robotic co-pilot within the airframe they’re already familiar with says Merlin Labs CEO Matthew George

Mathew George | Cargo Facts Symposium

According to George, the Merlin Pilot is “a box that goes into the aircraft”. Depending on the aircraft, a bunch of different interfaces allow the Merlin pilot and the Merlin intelligence to be able to go and control the aircraft surfaces. It is intended to steer the plane by skipping the physical interface and going directly to the electrical control and may not quite literally handle the yoke controlling roll, pitch, and yaw.

Given the fact that this technology is still in its infancy, the company is hiring human factors scientists to figure out the best relation between the Merlin pilot-in-a-box and a human overseer.

Representative | Thai Military and Asian Region

One particularly unique aspect of Merlin’s product is its use of speech recognition to interface with air traffic controllers. The system had to be trained on a range of accents and voice types to ensure it was genuinely robust and useful-says George. He was also quick to add that the human pilot would take over in instances where it would fail.

Philosophically, we believe that air traffic control needs to be able to interact with an autonomous aircraft. The system present-day is designed to be talked to just like a human pilot and will respond just like a human pilot, albeit with a slightly funny voice says George

However, the software would not be able to detect obstacles, such as birds in the sky or cars on a runway.

Merlin is working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States and the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as the first regulators for certifying its pilot.

In a world where pilots are becoming more scarce, we can enable pilots to be able to go perform other missions where human brains are even more needed. The Air Force, I think, has picked the C-130J as the first testbed for this because it’s the most ubiquitous transport aircraft out there. It is a really good platform to start to think about autonomy in the cockpit in a very real and practical wayGeorge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StoD5hPnCIg&t=91s

Reportedly, the company has previously said that it expects to see autonomous flights that can take off, navigate, land and converse with air traffic control as soon as 2023.

SOURCE(s)

COVER: 165th Airlift Wing

Airlines can't charge any additional fee for issuing a boarding pass at check-in counters in airports, the aviation ministry said on Thursday, July 21.

Airlines such as IndiGo, SpiceJet and Go First currently charge a fee of INR 200 if a passenger wants the boarding pass to be issued at the check-in counter.

"It has come to the notice of MoCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation) that airlines are charging an additional amount for issuing boarding passes from the passengers," the ministry said on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/MoCA_GoI/status/1550083907730563075

This additional amount is not by the instructions according to the provisions of Aircraft Rules, 1937, it said.

Given the above, the airlines are advised not to charge any additional amount for issuing boarding passes at the airport check-in counters, as the same cannot be considered within the 'tariff' as provided under Rule 135 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937.

Airlines asked not to charge additional fees for issuing a boarding pass at airports

On May 21, 2020, the ministry made it mandatory for passengers to do web check-in and get a boarding pass then itself.

With the new notification in place, while passengers are still encouraged to do web check-in and generate an electronic boarding pass on their phones if a passenger is required to print a boarding pass at the airport counter, the airlines cannot charge any additional amount.

However, at a time when record high jet fuel prices and record low rupee-US dollar exchange rate have forced airlines to steeply hike fares, this will mean only a marginal relief to only those domestic passengers who prefer to stand in serpentine airport queues to check in instead of doing so online.

On May 21, 2020, the ministry made it mandatory for passengers to do web check-in and get a boarding pass then itself.

High jet fuel prices and a falling rupee have affected the recovery in air traffic that was being witnessed post Omicron wave.

However, on May 9, 2022, the ministry issued an order stating that airlines should encourage, facilitate and guide the passengers in doing "timely web check-in and bag tag printing" and "minimise or avoid" imposing penal charges on passengers who have not done web check-in.

The ministry said the practice of airlines charging an additional fee for issuing boarding passes at airport check-in counters is not by the May 9 order.

The market share of Indian airlines in the Indian aviation sector has seen a shift over the last year as the competition has heated up in a scenario of less demand and more supply.

While the domestic civil aviation traffic crossed the pre-pandemic levels of around 4 lakh daily air passengers, the numbers have not been able to hold. Currently, the traffic is holding at around 70 to 75% of the pre-pandemic levels.

With new players like Akasa Air and Jet Airways 2.0 ready to start operations, there is a cutthroat competition to gain the top spot in the market share of Indian aviation.

The market share of Indian airlines in the Indian aviation sector has seen a shift over the last year as the competition has heated up in a scenario of less demand and more supply.

In this background, the airlines in India, whether full-service or low-cost carriers have tried to engage as many passengers as possible to develop a decent revenue environment.

In terms of fleet size among Indian airlines, IndiGo leads with 283 airplanes, followed by Air India at 116 aircraft, SpiceJet at 87 aircraft, Go FIRST at 57 planes, Vistara at 56 aircraft, AirAsia India at 28 planes and Alliance Air at 19 aircraft.

Vistara, the joint venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata Group, has emerged as an outperformer in the race as its market share has risen to 9.4% in June as compared to 8.6% in May 2022 and 7.2% in June 2021. This is Vistara’s second-best performance as the highest market share for the airline was at 9.7%, which was secured in February 2022.

Vistara is on verge of overtaking SpiceJet to gain the top spot in the market share of Indian aviation

SpiceJet, which witnessed a spike in technical snags over the last two months, saw a drop in market share in June to 9.5% from 10% in May. On a yearly comparison, the airline had a market share of 9% in June 2021.

IndiGo, the largest Indian carrier, has shown an increase in its market share in June at 56.9%, up from 55.6% in May 2022 and also rising on year from 54.7% in June 2021.

ALSO READ - Global airline executives believe that only Tatas can revive and increase the market share of Air India

For the other Tata airline, Air India, the ride has been rather bumpy in terms of market share. While the airline has seen a bit of an increase in market share from 7.2% in May to 7.5% in June, the drop has been significant as compared to 10.2% in January 2022 and 10.6% as of December 2021.

Airlines in India, whether full-service or low-cost carriers have tried to engage as many passengers as possible to develop a decent revenue environment.

The third airline under the Tata umbrella, AirAsia India, witnessed a drop in its market share to 5.6% in June from 6% in May. However, on a yearly comparison, the airline has shown an improvement in market share from 3.4% in June 2021.

ALSO READ - Go First grounds over a fifth of its fleet due to delayed deliveries of engines by Pratt & Whitney

Go First, the airline which is struggling to utilise its full fleet size due to delays in engine deliveries for its A320neos, also saw an impact in market share. It fell to 9.5% in June from 11.1% in May 2022. However, the share has increased from 8.3% in June 2021.

(With Inputs from CNBC TV18)

In an effort to strengthen India's regional connectivity, Star Air, the aviation vertical of Sanjay Ghodawat Group, announced the regional carrier has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) for two Embraer E175 aircraft with Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC), one of the largest Regional Aircraft Lessors in the world.

The deal was announced during a press event organized by Embraer at the Farnborough International Airshow, UK, in presence of senior officials from Embraer and Star Air.

With unparalleled potential, India's regional sectors are one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world. Star Air is striving to establish a fleet of Embraer aircraft that will improve regional connectivity.

Star Air to lease 2 Embraer E175 aircraft from Nordic Aviation Capital

Offering the right capacity at affordable fares, Star Air pledges to support the growing demand across India as the airline prepares for the Ministry of Civil Aviation's plans to build 100 airports.

Eager to welcome the E175 to the Indian skies, the E175 has no middle seats and provides best-in-class legroom with comfortable seating arrangements.

"After witnessing a strong recovery in air travel, we are excited to partner with Embraer as we constantly aim at Connecting Real India and make travel accessible, reliable, and affordable. As the fastest-growing Indian regional airline, we are excited to touch new horizons and explore the skies with great vigour. The E175 aircraft will not only add flexibility and efficiency to our network but will also strengthen our customer relations as we provide them with an unparalleled flying experience." Shrenik Ghodawat, Director, Star Air

With a flying range of 2,200 nautical miles, Star Air is set to fly longer, faster, and smoother. Currently operating in 18 destinations across India, the airline is all geared up to grow and expand its regional presence.

As part of the statement, Star Air has also announced that pending the signing of the lease agreement, the airline is confident of starting E175 operations by November 2022.

The deal was announced during a press event organized by Embraer at the Farnborough International Airshow, UK, in presence of senior officials from Embraer and Star Air.

Currently, the airline operates scheduled flights using its 5 ERJ-145 in addition to a handful of Airbus Helicopters to connect 18 Indian destinations focusing mainly on tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

These include Ahmedabad, Ajmer (Kishangarh), Bengaluru, Belagavi, Delhi (Hindon), Hubballi, Indore, Jodhpur, Kalaburagi, Mumbai, Nashik, Surat, Tirupati, Jamnagar, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Bhuj and Bidar.

Star Air’s E145s can carry 50 passengers in a 1-2 all-economy seating configuration. All five airframes have been operated by other airlines in the past and are nearly 16.5 years old on average.

Star Air’s E145s can carry 50 passengers in a 1-2 all-economy seating configuration.

The E175 is also the most sold E-jet with orders at 840 E175s at the end of 2021. Of these 693 have been delivered and a backlog of 147 remained as of December 31, 2021. The E175 has a range of 4074kms.

Sanjay Ghodawat Group (SGG) is a prominent Indian business conglomerate that has a presence in various high-value business verticals. Aviation, Consumer Products, Education, Energy, Mining, Realty, Retail, and Textiles are some of its key business domains.

If Star Air’s deal goes through, NAC will have signed a second Indian airline customer. The regional aircraft lessor has leased nine DHC Dash 8-Q400 aircraft to low-cost airline SpiceJet.

Star Air is an Indian regional airline that started operations in 2019 with Banglore’s Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) as its hub.

Deliveries to SpiceJet started in late 2016 and continued for about a year. All but one of the nine airframes have been listed as active.

Days leading up to the 2022 Farnborough International Airshow have been quite good for Nordic Aviation Capital. The lessor made deals for 15 airframes in one week, a month after its exit from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

Star Air is an Indian regional airline that started operations in 2019 with Banglore’s Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) as its hub.

The airline has been consistently carrying about 20,000 passengers per month.

The carrier operates flights under the Indian government’s UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik or ‘Let the common citizens of the country fly’) scheme, wherein operators are incentivized by the government to connect under-served regional airports.

The airline has been consistently carrying about 20,000 passengers per month. The airline made a loss of INR 18.7 crore in FY20-21, while it had lost INR 36.6 crore in FY19-20 as per data submitted in the parliament. The airline will have to work with the regulator to work on the operational side to add a new type to its Air Operating Certificate (AOC).

The Airbus A330 MRTT has become the world’s first tanker to be certified for automatic air-to-air refuelling (A3R) boom operations in daylight following a successful campaign in collaboration with the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF).

Airbus

This capability, certified by the Spanish National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA),  is part of the new SMART MRTT developed by Airbus.

According to the press release by Airbus, the A3R system requires no additional equipment on the receiver aircraft and is intended to reduce air refuelling operator (ARO) workload, improve safety and optimise the rate of air-to-air refuelling (AAR) transfer in operational conditions to enable air superiority.

The certification of the A3R capability is the result of a successful journey that started in 2018 with the world’s first automated contact with a boom system in a joint operation with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Since then, we’ve achieved more aeronautical “world firsts” thanks to the support of our customers, especially with the key participation of our partner the RSAF, a launch customer and the first operator to benefit from this game-changing capability. The A330 MRTT continues to increase its technological advantage with superior air refuelling capabilities,” said Jean-Brice Dumont, Head of Military Air Systems at Airbus Defence and SpaceAirbus

The collaboration between Airbus and the RSAF for the development of the SMART MRTT featured the use of an RSAF A330 MRT for the development, flight test campaign and certification of the A3R.

Additionally, enhanced maintenance capabilities have been developed, allowing faster resolution of ground tasks, while providing the means for maximising the efficient use of spare parts.

Apparently, this is not the end of it all for the evolution of the A330 MRTT. Airbus, through its subsidiary Airbus UpNext, has launched Auto’Mate, a demonstrator that will develop, adapt, mature, integrate and evaluate technologies enabling Autonomous Assets Air-to-Air Refuelling (A4R) and Autonomous Formation Flight (AF2) operations. Auto’Mate will focus on automating the receiver aircraft’s tasks, which requires a set of new technologies that are the pillars of the UpNext Auto’Mate demonstrator.

 Auto´Mate is the first UpNext demonstrator to be launched, developed and concluded in Spain.

The set of technologies developed in the Airbus Auto’Mate demonstrator will enable a disruptive step forward in the autonomy level of current Air-to-Air Refuelling (AAR) operations and will be tested in flight during 2023 with a final end-to-end demonstration in mid-2024, using in both cases an A310 as the Tanker Refuelling Flight Test Bed and DT-25 Target Drones as receiver aircraft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXMdg1fdMQ4

Additionally, these technologies would also focus on reducing crew fatigue and training costs, improving safety and efficiency, and pioneering Unmanned Air-to-Air Refuelling operations (including Unmanned-to-Unmanned AAR operations), a highly demanded capability for future defence scenarios.

SOURCE

COVER: Airbus

A passenger on an IndiGo Patna-Delhi flight 6E-2126 on Thursday, July 21 claimed that there was a bomb on board, which later turned out to be a hoax, sources said.

The flight, which was scheduled to depart at 8:20 PM, had to be grounded following the hoax threat. All the passengers were safely evacuated. The plane was searched and nothing was found, a source said.

IndiGo aircraft halted at Patna airport after a hoax bomb call

A bomb squad and police personnel checked the aircraft and declared it safe. The man's bag was also checked and no bomb was found.

The passenger who spread the hoax was detained by the local authorities. The plane is expected to leave for Delhi with passengers on Friday morning, sources said.IndiGo did not respond to PTI's request for a statement on the matter.

ALSO READ - Go First aircraft halted in Srinagar after hoax bomb call

In April, Go First aircraft halted in Srinagar after hoax bomb call

In April, a Go First plane, which was scheduled to go to Delhi, has been halted in Srinagar and is being searched following a telephone call warning about a bomb inside the aircraft, officials said.

ALSO READ - Former airport employee busted for making a hoax bomb threat at Bengaluru Airport

Earlier in Mat, Panic prevailed at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, after an anonymous caller rang the Bengaluru city police helpline (112) around 3:50 AM and informed that a bag carrying explosives had been placed on the airport premises.