Richard Noble has assembled a team of engineers to create a new kind of light aircraft, the Farnborough Fl, designed to open up a market for single-engined air taxis across the US and Europe. The project is gathering pace.
Since the Farnborough Air Show, new engineers have joined the team, and funds are coming in from supporters -- many of whom have discovered the project via its website -- at the rate of around [pound]120,000 a month.
At the same time, attention is turning towards the manufacturing requirements of the new aircraft, to meet a global market that could be in the tens of thousands, and talks are planned with two major manufacturers: not of aircraft, but of cars. takes up the story...
'WE HAD A fantastic Farnborough. We talked to everyone and got a terrific amount of interest from the industry. At the same time the funding off the internet really is growing, There are now 111 people who have made unsolicited donations, amounting to a total of [pound]460,000. And we are getting [pound]120,000 of new money every month. Not that this means we are rich. There is no City money in this, and no government money, either. But we now have 45 people on the payroll.
I will have to spend some more time in the US, talking to our suppliers over there about our concept and what we are doing. The idea of a single engined, propeller-driven aircraft is not a big thing in the states. In the US at the moment everyone is very focused on business jets, a market that's growing fast.
People are talking about a new class of small business jet, which is basically two small jet engines with a cabin in the middle, designed for the amateur pilot. But these 'biz.jets' are noisy little screamers, need a longer runway than our plane, and don't climb as fast. That's where the biz-jet concept runs into trouble.
Our propeller-driven aircraft is quieter, which is enormously helpful when you are dealing with local residents who are opposed to the reopening of their local rural airfield because of noise. That's why in the long run, our aircraft, which is as fast as these business jets, will be able to land in a lot of places where they cannot. In the market for air taxis, that is a crucial advantage.
The big engineering issue for us continues to be the design of the air intake, which is likely to cause some changes to the front end of the aircraft, as it passes around the front undercarriage.
As the aircraft is really one big spreadsheet, where every. thing affects everything else, this is likely to be a big job, and could take our air intake designer well into next year. But if we change too far from the standard design, the question is always how much more certification this will entail, even though it may look like a great engineering improvement.
This problem has not taken us by surprise. Our chief engineer Nigel Bamber says he always knew the air intake would be a bit of a drama, but it's only as we move into the more detailed engineering this becomes evident.
The team is growing. Since the Farnborough Air Show, where we got round to talk to as many people as possible, interest in the project has really taken off, and we are getting some extremely talented people involved, including senior guys from A3XX. Many find that their jobs on the overall concept of the aircraft have shifted into detail design, and hence their desire for a new challenge.
Our main vacancies at the moment are for a stress engineer with experience of composite structures, and a systems engineer who knows how to lay out fuel, hydraulics and oxygen systems for an aircraft.
We've also had more suppliers approaching us. The typical deal is that they get involved in some of the design work, and give us some of the first shipments free of charge, in return for getting their kit specified on the plane,
The team here is working hard, with a minimum of around 40 hours a week, and some people putting in 60. But the atmosphere is really buzzing, especially as more and more new people join. It remains a small team, with good feedback and communication. There's no politics, or any of the distractions that face larger organisations, and the management structure is very flat Nigel likens the atmosphere to that of a Formula One team-but without the money.
We are also starting to think about the operating system software. This is the system that will operate the aircraft booking and scheduling over the internet. For a network of air taxis the system will be a lot more complex than typical A to B to A charter flight logistics. This unique system must be developed from scratch, and Unisys is working with us.
It may seem like a long way ahead, but the manufacturing process needs to come into play now, as there could be design changes to be made to simplify that process. The Fl will be a composite structure, so we want to re-appraise the traditional build technique, which remains something of a craft skill.
We need to create a virtual production capability concurrently with the design of the aircraft, and we are going to talk to car manufacturers to see if we can share some of their expertise in this field.
Yes, that's car makers: they are the only ones who know how to do this best. They could also make some money out of it -- at a time when overproduction in the car industry is causing margin decline. It will be interesting to see what they make of it.'
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