Munich-based Skyroads has begun equipping its advanced air mobility flight test site at Augsburg Airport, 7km outside the third largest city in Bavaria.
Following suitability testing, the test site will serve Skyroads and other project partners as a large-scale real-life laboratory for further industrial and academic research and testing of AAM and associated innovative infrastructure. The project is co-funded by the Free State of Bavaria.
The test field is intended to help improve common data communication technologies in aviation so that the open, automated and interoperable Skyroads flight control system can also be operated safely in metropolitan regions.
Skyroads enables operators of fleets, ground infrastructure and vertiports (take-off and landing areas for AAM aircraft) as well as aircraft manufacturers to test their vehicles and infrastructures at an early stage of development. The company also provides support with the test flight application procedures, facilitating approval by authorities. The partners include Supernal, which is the AAM division of the Korean Hyundai Group, Flix, and the Technical University of Munich. Hybrid-Airplane Technologies, FlyNow Aviation, Horyzn, Blueflite, Amazilia Aerospace and Manta Aircraft are also involved.
The company is validating and verifying its system architecture and service approach at Augsburg Airport. At the same time, it is creating a safety report and supporting the development of future certification processes by collecting and evaluating operational experience. The Technical University of Munich is investigating the effects of innovative air traffic on the environment, especially with regard to visibility and noise. The aim is to provide local authorities with a simulation tool that can be used to predict the impact of future air traffic and support informed decision-making.
For Skyroads and Augsburg Airport, the next step is to design and establish an operating agreement that regulates the operation of test and demonstration flights without disrupting conventional air traffic or causing disruption to local people.
Image: Skyroads
