The CEO of Heart Aerospace describes the development of a hybrid-electric 30-seat regional commercial aircraft. In the news, a near miss at Boston Logan between a landing Delta Air Lines flight and a departing American Airlines flight, NASA’s Advanced Aircraft Concepts for Environmental Sustainability 2050 (AACES) program, Canada’s purchase of F-35A fighters and possibly Saab Gripens, and Canada’s look at early-warning-radar planes.

Guest

Anders Forslund is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Heart Aerospace, formed to electrify short-haul regional aviation. Heart Aerospace is developing the ES-30, a hybrid-electric 30-seat regional commercial aircraft. Heart is currently in upstate New York, testing the X1 demonstrator aircraft, which the company says will be the largest electric aircraft ever to fly. The company is backed by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Ventures and Y Combinator, as well as operator/investors United Airlines and Air Canada.

Anders explains Heart Aerospace’s mission to lower the cost of air travel and how their clean-sheet Part 25 airliner will achieve about a 40% reduction in overall operating costs. The ES-30 will be an electric-motor-and-turboprop hybrid, while the full-scale X1 prototype is all-electric.

The X1 demonstrator has completed low-speed taxi testing at the company’s X1 flight-test base at Plattsburgh International Airport in upstate New York. First flight is expected shortly, with type certification planned for 2031.

Video: Heart X1 Completes Low-Speed Taxi Testing

https://youtu.be/5jkyKevsJNI?si=1xreSjh_gRcI6xu2

Anders tells us about the Heart team and how aerospace development has changed in the last decade. The company strives to manage uncertainty rather than minimize it, holds itself accountable, and sets falsifiable goals.

Before starting Heart, Anders was an aerospace researcher at Chalmers, where he was a driving force behind the Elise-Electric Aviation research project in Sweden, funded by the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova. He spent 2013-2014 at MIT, where his work on geometric variation of aerospace components was awarded the Charles M. Manly Memorial Medal. He is also a founding member of the Nordic Network for Electric Aviation.

Anders has a Ph.D. in Aerospace Product Development and a B.Sc. in Engineering Physics from Chalmers. He has a dual M.Sc. in Astronautics and Space Engineering from Cranfield University and Luleå University, as part of the SpaceMaster program. He is also a member of Prince Daniel’s Fellowship for young entrepreneurs.

Follow Heart Aerospace on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn.

Aviation News

Horrifying Near Miss at Boston Logan as Quick-Thinking Delta Air Pilots Go Around to Avoid Landing On Top of American Airlines Boeing 737

Delta Air Lines flight DL-2351, an Airbus A319 flying from Dallas, was landing at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), was cleared to land on runway 33L. Moments later, American Airlines flight AA-3161, a Boeing 737-800, was cleared to take off for Charlotte from intersecting runway 27. The pilots repeated the instruction back to the controller, and after about 40 seconds, started the takeoff.

As Delta flight 2351 was about to touch down, the pilots saw the American Airlines plane and executed a go-around. That was followed by the air traffic controller asking the American flight, “American, where are you going?”

Listen to the Incident Audio via @xJonNYC.

Electra reveals 100-seat hybrid-electric aircraft concept

Electra developed the concept under NASA’s Advanced Aircraft Concepts for Environmental Sustainability 2050 (AACES) program. NASA has commissioned industry and academia to “develop transformative aircraft designs, propulsion technologies, and sustainability solutions for commercial aviation by 2050.”

Electra’s large airliner concept features a wide “double-bubble” fuselage that generates lift. Propulsion comes from two turbofans under the wings that produce thrust and electricity, as well as three fans mounted on the top of the aft fuselage. Electra says those fans would “ingest and re-energise slower-moving air over the fuselage, a technique known as boundary layer ingestion.”

Other AACES participants include the Georgia Institute of Technology with the Liquefied Natural Gas Powered Athena Aircraft Concept, and JetZero with a hydrogen fueled blended wing body design.

Congress Questions Air Force’s Combat Rescue Readiness As HH-60W Helicopters Get Turned Into VIP Transports

The Senate Armed Services Committee filed S. 4784, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 (NDAA), which establishes funding levels and authorities for the U.S. military. The 66th annual NDAA supports a total of $1.15 trillion in FY 2027 funding for national defense.

In its re p ort [PDF], the Committee expresses concern “about combat search and rescue (CSAR) force structure in the Air Force. In recent years, the Air Force truncated the buy of HH-60Ws and has since transferred 26 HH-60Ws from units responsible for CSAR operatio...