Rainer Groh

Tag: Airbus

  • Podcast Ep. #20 – Airbus Engineer Oliver Family on the E-Fan X Demonstrator

    Oliver Family is the Overall Aircraft Design Leader of the Airbus E-Fan X demonstrator. The E-Fan X is a hybrid-electric technology demonstrator being developed by Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Siemens based on a British Aerospace 146 regional airliner. The driver behind the E-Fan X demonstrator is that current aircraft designs have converged to a near-optimum, and with existing technologies, it is difficult to meet the stringent sustainability goals in terms of CO2/NOX emissions and reductions in noise. New technologies, such as electrification, are therefore required to achieve these goals.

    As we have seen on other episodes of the podcast, electrification of aircraft is currently a hot topic with new start-up companies promising to disrupt and revolutionise the regional aircraft market. In this environment, one may assume that incumbents like Airbus are too slow to react to a changing technology landscape. As you will hear in this episode, nothing could be further from the truth. The E-Fan X project is structured as a separate entity within Airbus with the explicit mission of challenging Airbus’ legacy business. As you will hear, the consequences of integrating an electric propulsion system on a regional aircraft run much deeper than mere calculations about battery power density and battery longevity. In fact, it’s the secondary effects that we rarely think, hear and read about, such as thermal management of batteries; the interaction between pilots and new control systems; and the challenges of new certification protocols, that are especially challenging. So in this episode, Oliver and I discuss:

    • what exactly the E-Fan X demonstrator aims to achieve
    • the main technical and economic challenges of electric aircraft
    • and how electrification widens the design envelope for engineers

    Selected Links from the Episode

  • Podcast Ep. #3 – Airbus Senior Expert Ian Lane on the A350, Innovation in Aerospace, and Diversity in Engineering

    “You could say: What could we possibly do next? You look back at history and say: All the shelves must be full now! We must have the capabilities to do everything we need. And yet, we still go on…It’s your generation that is going to Mars. So please, can you get on with it and do it, because I want to enjoy it from the augmented reality that other engineers are going to produce.” — Ian Lane

    This episode features Ian Lane, Senior Expert in Composite Analysis for Airbus UK. Ian has more than 40 years of experience in the aerospace industry and his career has taken him from British Hovercraft to British Aerospace, Westland Helicopters and finally to his current role at Airbus. On top of this broad aerospace background, Ian’s specialty are modern composite airframes and he was the lead stress engineer on the Airbus A400M and Airbus A350. Ian is also a Visiting Professor in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bristol, and a great example of an industry leader who knows how to inspire the next generation of young engineers. Indeed, Ian is actively involved with the Airbus Fly Your Ideas campaign, and a regular attendee at many international research conferences.

    In this episode Ian and I discuss:

    • his career progression from apprentice to Senior Expert at Airbus
    • the incredible safety record of the aerospace industry
    • why the demise of Concorde wasn’t a step backwards
    • how Airbus fosters innovation and out-of-the-box thinking
    • why inclusion and diversity in engineering are so important
    • and much, much more

    Selected Links from the Episode