Aerospace Ambition Podcast

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Episode 37 of the “Aerospace Ambition Podcast” featuring Carl Dietrich (Jump Aero) is out!

Talking Points

• Ambition & Emergency Response: Discussion on ambition and Jump Aero’s focus on a manned platform for emergency response, highlighting the unique value and use cases for first responders in ambulance deserts.
• Integration & Demand: Exploring the integration of Jump Aero’s eVTOLs into current systems and assessing demand across various emergency applications (EMS, firefighting, law enforcement).
• Regulatory Landscape: Overview of regulatory challenges at federal and local levels, with comparisons between US FAA and EU EASA standards for VTOL certification.
• eVTOL Design & Construction: Key challenges in building and certifying a manned eVTOL, including the complexity of constructing manned vs. unmanned platforms and cost considerations for prototypes.
• Future Tech & AI: Role of data-driven AI tools in Jump Aero’s operations, potential for autonomous response vehicles, and the future of aerial mobility through dual-use applications.

Guest

Carl Dietrich is the founder and President of Jump Aero, a company on the forefront of emergency response aviation.

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Episode 36 of the “Aerospace Ambition Podcast” featuring Dr Paul Hodgson (Aviation Impact Accelerator) is out!

Talking Points

• Aviation Impact Accelerator: Paul explains how they’re bridging academia and industry for a sustainable aviation future.
• Four Big Goals: We break down the report’s essential goals for aviation by 2025.
• Contrail Avoidance: Urgency around large-scale trials could help rapidly cut contrail climate impact.
• Living Labs: Can real-world trials with high flight participation reduce contrail uncertainty?
• Sustainable Fuel: We discuss the potential of truly scalable, cross-sector low-carbon fuel production.
• Energy Impact: Why policy must consider aviation’s effects on wider electricity grids and fuel sources.
• Additionality: Verifying SAF energy sourcing as renewable demand rises is crucial for climate goals.
• Policy Motivation: How should we balance incentives and penalties to drive sustainable aviation?

Guest

Dr. Paul Hodgson is the Technical Director of the Aviation Impact Accelerator or AIA. A chemical engineer by training, he joined the AIA in 2020, before which he completed an online MBA, and co-founded a hydrogen distribution start-up as CTO. Paul's earlier research—on carbon capture in cement/steel and innovations in biofuel production—has become increasingly relevant to climate-neutral aviation. He continues to teach process modeling and synthesis as a lecturer and Bye-Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge.

Relevant Studies

• Aviation Impact Accelerator, University of Cambrigde: Five Years to Chart a New Future for Aviation, September 2024 (https://report.aiazero.org/)
• Finlay Asher, Safe Landing, Expert Talk: ‘Five Years to Chart a New Future for Aviation,’ 03 October 2024 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28Z24ej4oSU)

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Episode 35 of the “Aerospace Ambition Podcast” featuring Professor Marc Stettler (Imperial College London) is out!

Talking Points

• Contrail Avoidance: From Theory to Practice: We dive into the evolution of non-CO2 climate effects in aviation and how recent advancements in science and technology are paving the way for the ambitious "Operation Blue Skies" by 2030.
• ⁠The Challenge of Predicting ISSRs: What makes identifying Ice Supersaturated Regions, where contrails form, so difficult? We explore the scientific and technological hurdles in creating a reliable contrail avoidance system.
• ⁠Aligning Aviation with the Paris Agreement: How should aviation’s climate targets be set to meet the 2050 temperature goals, and what changes in strategy and regulation are needed to achieve this?
• ⁠Fuel Burn vs. Climate Impact: Can contrail avoidance be justified despite a small increase in fuel consumption? We unpack a study’s findings on re-routing and discuss the trade-offs airlines face.
• ⁠Uncertainty Simplified: What does "uncertainty" really mean in the context of contrail detection and avoidance? Marc breaks it down in simple terms for everyone to understand.
• ⁠Living Labs for Airspace Trials: The report calls for large-scale "Airspace-Scale Living Labs" to test contrail avoidance systems. What will it take to make this a reality, and how can we ensure they generate useful data?
• ⁠Coordinating with Air Traffic Control: What challenges does the aviation industry need to overcome to implement contrail avoidance without disrupting air traffic management?

Guest

Professor Marc Stettler is a leading expert in transport and environment, directing the Transport & Environment Laboratory at Imperial College London. His research focuses on the climate and health impacts of transportation, with a particular emphasis on emissions and air quality across different modes of transport. With a background in physics, maths, and engineering, Marc’s insights bring a unique perspective to the challenges facing sustainable aviation.

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Episode 34 of the “Aerospace Ambition Podcast” featuring Marylin Bastin (EUROCONTROL) is out!

Talking Points

•⁠ ⁠EUROCONTROL's Mission: Discover the vital role EUROCONTROL plays in shaping the future of aviation, as they bridge the gap between industry leaders and policymakers in the push for greener skies.

•⁠ ⁠‘Sustainable’ Fuels Dilemma: Can the aviation sector achieve a balance between sustainability and the limited supply of biomass for alternative fuels? We explore the possibilities—and the tough choices ahead.

•⁠ ⁠The Energy Investment Hurdle: As society pivots away from fossil fuels, we dig into the financial challenge of meeting aviation's energy demands while striving for a cleaner, more sustainable future.

•⁠ ⁠Tackling Contrail Management: How do you roll out contrail management strategies across entire fleets or even regions? We unpack the logistical hurdles and the potential for impact.

•⁠ ⁠Growth vs. Sustainability: Aviation is currently built on increasing passenger numbers, but can sustainability be woven into the industry's DNA just as deeply as safety? We discuss how the sector can balance these seemingly opposing priorities.

Guest

Marylin Bastin is the head of aviation sustainability at EUROCONTROL. An engineer by training, she has worked in ATM for over 20 years: first in the Belgian ANSP (Skeyes) and since 2020 at EUROCONTROL. Her experience in the UN’s Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition (CEET) makes for an exciting discussion on energy's pivotal role in aviation's future. In our conversation, we dive into strategies and technologies that will help aviation move away from fossil kerosene.

Relevant Studies

1.⁠ ⁠“Flying on Electricity and Hydrogen in Europe” by the Alliance for Zero Emissions Aviation (AZEA) from June 2024

2.⁠ ⁠“Long-haul Flight Decarbonisation: When Can Cutting-Edge Energies & Technologies Make a Difference?” by EUROCONTROL (Think paper #21) from September 2023

3.⁠ ⁠“Five years to Chart a New Future for Aviation” by the University of Cambridge’s Aviation Impact Accelerator from September 2024

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Episode 33 of the “Aerospace Ambition Podcast” featuring Jörg Buxbaum (Deutsche Flugsicherung) is out!

Talking Points

• Do we need to hire more ATCOs to manage projected aviation growth, or is there another industry solution?
• What is our primary goal, considering the environment alongside safety, capacity, and cost?
• How does continuous descent operations complicate maintaining safe separation distances?
• How can AI systems enhance human performance through human-machine teaming?
• How will increased automation change the roles and responsibilities of air traffic controllers?
• What are the potential AI applications during a flight?
• In contrail management, what is a controversial opinion you hold?
• How do you balance efficient air traffic management with reducing contrail formation?
• What is your plan for providing contrail region data to your controllers?

Guest

Jörg Buxbaum works in the DFS research department. After graduating in aerospace engineering in 1997, he began his career at Frankfurt Airport and soon transitioned to air traffic control. He started as an assistant to the managing director of Technical Operations and subsequently held several leadership positions, including head of Frankfurt approach control. After a period with the FAA, i.e. the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, he returned to DFS in 2009 as a team leader at the DFS research center, where he is responsible for technical and operational future developments.

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Episode 32 of the “Aerospace Ambition Podcast” featuring Jonas Sperling (Lufthansa Systems) is out!

Talking Points

• What is Lufthansa Systems, and what role does it play in promoting sustainable aviation?
• What is the primary objective of the DKULT project, and what makes its approach unique?
• What role does Lufthansa Systems play in this project, and why do we need mathematicians and computer scientists in this?
• What is an optimizer? What needs to be optimized?
• How do airlines factor in the costs associated with avoiding contrails?
• Lufthansa Systems provides optimized routes but relies on climate data for accuracy. How do you ensure transparency with users regarding the quality and reliability of these optimal routes, given the dependency on climate data?
• What is the TF100 project about, and what role does Lufthansa Systems play in it?
• How do real-world trials enhance our understanding compared to simulations?
• How do you see the balance between operator initiated and VS. ANSP-managed contrail avoidance?

Guest

Jonas Sperling has had a deep ambition in aviation for a long time. He began his journey with Lufthansa Systems in 2019 as a dual student in Applied Informatics and has since become a full-time software engineer, contributing significantly to the D-KULT project, where he's been working on integrating climate costs into flight optimization processes.

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Episode 31 of the “Aerospace Ambition Podcast” featuring Andrew Chen (RMI) is out!

Talking Points

• What does your research reveal that was previously unknown?

• Why has the Contrail Impact Taskforce gone for a 100-pages PDF report and who was this intended to reach?

• Should researchers take a more active role in communicating the importance of the problem on platforms beyond research papers?

• If the measurement of the climate impact, as opposed to modelling of this effect, is still a todo, how do we know that we need to act already?

• How do you respond to stakeholders claiming that even four trials the certainty is not enough?

• What does the statement about the inescapability of GWP100 in climate impact accounting mean, and shouldn’t we advocate for more ambitious metrics given its limitations and the urgency of climate goals?

• Why does the report not make a clear recommendation regarding the scope of the aviation MRV for non-CO2 effects?

• Given that CORSIA currently focuses on CO2, have we reached a point where the science and forecasting of contrails and their radiative forcing is advanced enough to consider a future version of CORSIA that includes non-CO2 effects like contrails?

Guest

Andrew Chen is the principal for aviation decarbonization at RMI, where he leads the aviation team’s efforts to accelerate the transition to net-zero air transport. With over 15 years of experience in sustainability strategy, environmental impact assessment, and emissions management, Andrew is a passionate and experienced leader in the field of decarbonization.

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Episode 30 of the “Aerospace Ambition Podcast” featuring Prof. Paul Williams (University of Reading) is out!

Talking Points

• What caused turbulence on the Singapore Airlines flight in May?

• How does climate change affect aviation?

• What is clear-air turbulence (CAT) and can it be predicted?

• What is the relationship between clear-air-turbulance regions and ISSRs? Is there the risk to avoid • one thing and divert into another?

• How have your algorithms reduced severe CAT events?

• Will turbulence change how people view aviation?

Guest

Paul Williams is Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Reading. Educated in physics to PhD level at Oxford, he specialises in atmospheric turbulence, jet streams, numerical modelling, and climate change. He co-developed an award-winning aviation turbulence forecasting algorithm that is now being used operationally, and he has pioneered research into the effects of climate change on turbulence. He has published two books and over 70 scientific papers in leading journals, including Nature. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and the Royal Meteorological Society, and he is a consultant to Guinness World Records on extreme atmospheric events.

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Episode 29 of the “Aerospace Ambition Podcast” featuring Dr Vincent Meijer (TU Delft) is out!

Talking Points

• What's it like working with Steven Barrett?

• How does your research contribute to legislation on non-CO2 effects?

• How do uncertainties impact the contrail prediction pipeline?

• Can ground cameras enhance contrail prediction accuracy?

• How does the water budget affect persistent warming contrails?

Guest

Dr Vincent Meijer recently completed his PhD at the Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, under Prof. Steven Barrett. His research focused on remote sensing of contrails and improving contrail forecasting. Vincent is now an Assistant Professor at Delft University of Technology in the Aircraft Noise and Climate Effects group within the hashtag#Aerospace hashtag#Engineering faculty. He is also involved in EU projects like BeCoM (Better Contrail Mitigation).

Resources

• Meijer, Vincent R; "Satellite-based Analysis and Forecast Evaluation of Aviation Contrails.”; PhD thesis; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2024: https://lnkd.in/dXW-rMJP

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Episode 28 of the “Aerospace Ambition Podcast” featuring Eóghain Mitchison (easyJet) is out!

Talking Points

• What is the MRV, and why is it important to make aviation more sustainable?

• What should be the scope of the MRV for non-CO2 effects, and why?

• How do you perceive lobbying activities around contrail management?

• How much of a fuel penalty would easyJet be willing to pay? 

• Does easyJet measure, report and verify already?

• Who would suffer the most from a reduction in scope?

Guest

Eóghain Mitchison is a Senior Policy Manager at easyJet. He represents easyJet in discussions with the EU and national governments on technical aspects of government policy, with a focus on climate regulations. His recent work has been centered on the 'Fit for 55' package of climate legislations, including the EU SAFs mandate (ReFuelEU) and the revision of the EU ETS.