Nowadays, almost all General Aviation piston-powered aircrafts are powered by Avgas fuel. For decades, piston engines like Lycoming and Continental were allowed to burn only this type of fuel, which is characterized by high-octane values, very low vapor pressure indexes and high costs because of its poor production quantity, tracked and certified production and high performances. The “compression ignition” engine can provide a fuel consumption reduction from 30% to 50% compared to Avgas engine. An additional benefit of the replacement of Avgas piston engine with a diesel engine is obtained due to the reduced fuel price. This “compression ignition” piston engines are able and certified to operate with kerosene and/or Jet fuels, so their use is justified in areas, such as Europe, Africa, Russia, China and many others, where aviation gasoline (Avgas, also known as 100LL) cost is significantly higher than jet fuels. Therefore the objective of this project is to demonstrate the feasibility of an efficient “diesel” engine installation on a FAR/EASA Part23, 9 to 11 seats twin engine aircraft configuration and reduce as much as possible the related increase in drag, respect to a conventional engine, by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in the design phase. In order to achieve this goal the SR460, a six-cylinders, air/oil-cooled turbo-diesel engine produced by SMA, will be used as reference and installed on the TECNAM P2012 TRAVELLER aircraft. The main advantages are reported as following: • The average fuel consumption will be of around 45kg/hr/engine against an average of 130kg/hr of a turboprop engine; • P2012 will be the first twin engine aircraft available in both "Avgas" and "kerosene" capable variants; • P2012 with SR460 will have a very competitive acquisition cost, comparable to the same-passengers’ capability of the single engine turboprop.

The H3PS starts in a completely new, challenging and probably never seen before revolution in General Aviation (GA). The main driver behind the H3PS project is to develop a new, greener propulsion system (a parallel hybrid powertrain) to pioneer one of the aviation industry’s solutions in reducing the environmental impact of air travel. The propulsion system to be designed and developed within the project will be suitable for powering four-seat GA aircraft, a market segment which employs today piston-powered engines, where the leading engine manufacturers are providing components whose basic technology, although constantly updated and reliable, is now over 50 years old and, in most cases, still needs leaded fuels to operate. The objective of the project is to put the basis for the development, manufacturing and in-flight test of a parallel hybrid powertrain for General Aviation by the involvement of three European GA market leaders: an aircraft manufacturer (TECNAM), an aircraft engines manufacturer (ROTAX) and an electric motors manufacturer (Rolls-Royce). The H3PS project objective is to fly a GA aircraft with the parallel hybrid powertrain demonstrating the challenging advantages of the configuration but also its high scalability level. “Breakthrough” concept will be achieved by demonstrating the feasibility of a power scalability for up to 11 seats airplanes. The main impact of the project will be related to the introduction of a really marketable solution to bring GA in the hybrid vehicles arena. Hybrid solution is today the most realistic intermediate way to step from gasoline operated powerplants to full electric systems offering the same performances, comparable initial acquisition costs and weights but featuring a more-than-acceptable cost saving in operations. The H3PS project will contribute to the main EU challenges in transportation sector, particularly leadership position of its aeronautics industry and reliable and sustainable air transport system.

COLOSSUS paves the way for future European aviation products and services which are designed in a truly holistic approach and to thus provide a major contribution to the digital transformation of aviation and air transportation in order to enable European competitiveness in a key industrial sector. The expected outcomes of COLOSSUS provide Europe’s aviation sector with the platform to develop new and breakthrough product and technology in a holistic system-of-systems approach. Main technical objectives of COLOSSUS are: (1) To create a Transformative Digital Collaborative (TDC) Framework that allows European aviation to perform research, technology development and innovation in a holistic system-of-systems approach. The TDC Framework shall support modelling, analysis, optimisation and evaluation of complex products and services under consideration of real-world conditions. (2) To expand and test the capabilities and performance of the TDC Framework with two Use Cases, both of which address needs identified in the Work Programme and thus possess a value of their own: Use Case 1: Creating a business model for sustainable 4D-intermodal mobility and evaluating the concept for performance, competitiveness, environmental impact and life cycle footprint. Use Case 2: Developing an integrated fast-response approach for preventing, detecting and fighting wildfires by combining latest developments in the fields of aircraft design and technology, automation, AI and digitalisation. (3) To perform conceptual studies for two products which could be transverse technology enablers for multi-modal mobility and affordable decarbonisation of aviation: a multi-role seaplane with hybrid propulsion and a product for eVTOL-based advanced air mobility of passengers and goods.

An aircraft that can transport between approximately 30 and 100 passengers, and is intended for short and medium haul flights can be considered to be a Regional Aircraft. The challenge is to improve the passenger experience so that regional aircraft offer a comparable level of inflight comfort, free from noise and vibration, with a comfort level comparable or better than today’s modern jets and with a reliability of service well beyond today’s service into small and regional airports. The global strategy of the REG IADP is to integrate and validate, at a/c level, advanced technologies for regional and multi-missions aircraft, so as to drastically de-risk their integration on future products. The goal is to accelerate the innovation enabling regional and multi-missions vehicle products and services that will bring significantly environmental and socio-economic benefits as soon as they are technically and economically viable.

An aircraft that can transport between approximately 100-130 passengers, and is intended for short and medium haul flights can be considered to be a Regional Aircraft. The challenge is to improve the passenger experience so that regional aircraft offer a comparable level of inflight comfort, free from noise and vibration, with a comfort level comparable or better than today’s modern jets and with a reliability of service well beyond today’s service into small and regional airports.