Companies Create Strategy For Safety Systems for UAVs, Air Taxis and Advance Air Mobility

In a recent “virtual” signing ceremony, US based Aviation Safety Resources, Inc. (ASR) and Germany's AUTOFLUG GmbH signed a cooperation agreement in which the companies agreed on a long-term collaboration aimed at enhancing aviation safety.

The agreements’ scope contains bundling capabilities and competencies in the development and commercialization of integrated emergency-recovery-and-rescue systems with focus on eVTOL for the Urban/Advanced Air Mobility (U/AAM) market. The characteristics of eVTOL pose major challenges for potential overall rescue systems: They must be lightweight, deploy rapidly and operate reliably during the critical phases of take-off and landing where the vehicle has no forward speed and cannot “glide”. The goal is to provide a holistic rescue system by combining and aligning individual safety components such as aircraft emergency parachute recovery systems, crash-resistant seat and harness systems, cabin structure and landing gear to ensure maximum safety for occupants and people on the ground. The system significantly lowers fatality risks and thus increases public acceptance which is critical for any airborne vehicle used to transport goods and people in an urban environment.

The team at ASR has been working for many years on the safe recovery of aircraft in the event of an in-flight emergency. This primarily involves emergency recovery using parachute systems that bring aircraft safely to the ground in a condition that is non-injurious to the occupants.

AUTOFLUG has extensive experience in development of occupant safety solutions. These include crash-resistant safety seating systems for airplanes, helicopters and eVTOL vehicles that protect aircraft occupants to survive in the event of a crash landing with forces of up to 30Gs.

“Our goal is to provide a fully integrated safety solution. It’s not a question of whether accidents will occur in this developing AAM market, but how serious they will be. Fatalities, especially in the early stages will not only have an extremely negative impact on public acceptance, but can also set back the development of the entire market by years and devastate aircraft manufacturers and operators alike,” explains Larry Williams, president and CEO of ASR.

“By combining the design and engineering skills of ASR and AUTOFLUG, this creates a virtual dream team as we all speak the same technical language and our product development goals are extremely well aligned,” Williams continued.

"Many manufacturers currently choose not to install a parachute recovery system in their eVTOL because it increases the aircraft's weight at the expense of range or payload," says Martin Kroell, managing partner at AUTOFLUG. "Yet numerous studies show that passengers are concerned about the safety of an air taxi and would only board knowing there was an overall rescue system installed in the event something happens in-flight. With our integrated safety system, it will eventually be possible to save weight without sacrificing safety. This will make it easier for our customers to decide on installing such a system and ultimately give them a market advantage," says Kroell.

“We look forward to working together and we see it as a great opportunity for both companies to develop and market products with a great positive impact on the aviation industry. This alliance allows us to effectively evaluate current and future projects and puts us in a strong position to compete globally. We will focus on exploring and developing future products to address the realities of growing customer and market demands" both CEOs emphasized in unison after signing the agreement.

FMI: www.aviationsafetyresources.com, www.autoflug.com