Page 24 - World Airnews Magazine December 2019 Edition

NEWS BUSINESS JETS

THE TIP OF THE NEW GET READY FOR

AEROSPACE BOOM THIS WEARABLE

HEAD UP DISPLAY

By Woodrow Bellamy III
Photo supplied by Thales

Reaction Engines has demonstrated its precooler chilling air

in Mach 5 conditions in less than 1/20th of a second tions and an extended virtual head down or outside the cockpit, they’ll still see the
display constantly within the pilot’s direct runway and be able to start their approach
successfully operate at temperatures of hales plans to bring its experience line of vision. to be straight aligned with the centre line
or heat exchanger which can take the air 420ᵒC (~788ᵒF) – matching the thermal con- Tin providing helmet mounted Other TopMax features include visual- of the runway.”
Doyon said over the last year nearly 200

magine a hypersonic passenger aircraft down to minus 150 degrees centigrade in ditions corresponding to Mach 3.3 flight. display technology for military pilots to isation of cross wind headings, synthetic pilots had tried out the TopMax, some in
runway, extended visual centreline and a
less than a 20th of a second.
Ithat would cut the journey ti me between But this technology wouldn’t just be the business jet market with the newly three-dimensional display of traffic. There full flight simulators and other in-flight. He

These ultra-lightweight “heat exchangers”

London and New York to around two hours. would enable aircraft to fly over five times applicable to hypersonic flight. upgraded version of TopMax - the first is also off-axis symbology and, if the aircraft said some civilian pilots trying out TopMax

At Mach 5, or five times the speed of the speed of sound in the atmosphere. The precooler technology, developed by wearable head up display which is on is equipped to feed ADS-B In traffic to the were “reluctant to put something on their

sound, the aircraft would complete a trip Thus the SABRE – Synergetic Air-Breathing Reaction Engines, would significantly enhance track to receive a technical standard HUD, the pilot can also see other aircraft in head” and the new version is the fourth

across the Atlantic in around 120 min- Rocket Engine – was born. The Sabre engine the performance of existing jet engine tech- order (TSO) and certification for business nearby airspace. design iteration of TopMax. However,

utes. Mach 5 is more than twice as fast as “breathes” air to make 20 per cent of the nology, along with applications in automotive, jet operations. Synthetic vision system imagery is also none said it was too bothersome to wear

the cruising speed of Concorde and over journey to orbit, before switching to rocket aerospace, energy and industrial processes. The initial version of TopMax was first visible on the HUD, and it can be coupled while flying.

50% faster than the SR-71 Blackbird – the mode to complete the trip. Reaction Engines has attracted development introduced at the 2016 National Business with any available enhanced vision system Thales will need to work through some

world’s fastest jet-engine powered aircraft. Last week, Reaction Engines passed a funding from the British government, the U.S. Aviation Association (NBAA) Business Avia- camera as well. regulatory challenges to get TopMax certi-

A flight across the Pacific would take significant milestone. It successfully tested Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency tion Conference and Exhibition (BACE), “By wearing the device, we move away fied and ready to start shipping to custom-

roughly three hours. Flight times from Lon- its innovative precooler at airflow tempera- (DARPA) and the European Space Agency. It’s and Thales has kept its capabilities rela- from the standard limitation of the head up ers, as currently the FAA does not actually

don to Sydney could be 80% shorter. Who ture conditions representing Mach 5. also raised over £100m from public and pri- tively the same. However, the form factor display with a fixed combiner in front of us. have a technical standard order (TSO) for

needs Elon Musk? The ground-based test at the Colorado Air vate sources and has secured investment from and ergonomics of the design has been We developed a small ship set for it. All you wearable HUDs, so the very criteria for that

Reaching these speeds would require and Space Port in the US, saw the precooler BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Boeing’s venture significantly improved since then based on need is the headset and a small computer must be developed and met first.
an aircraft engine that has capital arm HorizonX. pilot feedback. that is about the size of an iPhone to enable The French manufacturer has partnered

never previously existed. Reaction is expected to During this year’s NBAA BACE a group of the functionality,” said Yanik Doyon, Thales with StandardAero in an effort to work

But last week, the world got start building and testing a Thales test pilots and engineers provided director of sales for TopMax. toward certification of TopMax for the

a glimpse of a new future demonstrator engine next interested parties with a demonstration of One of the unique features of TopMax Bombardier Challenger 350, with other
via a project which has been year. the upgraded version of TopMax. It weighs is also how it will display and raise pilot aircraft models planned in the future.

germinating for 30 years. The success of Reaction just over one pound, features an optional awareness about important flight environ- FAA certification for TopMax is expect-

Reaction Engines was Engines to date is a sign that visor and the feel of the headset is not as ment information, such as how close they ed by the end of next year, according to

founded in 1989 by three the ‘AerospaceTech’ sector bulky or heavy as the previous version. are to an upcoming runway or what the Doyon.
propulsion engineers from is now booming. It is most Once on the headset becomes an intui- aircraft’s heading is if they happen to look “Certification is ongoing. We’ve defined

Rolls Royce: Alan Bond, Rich- certainly not alone. tive system providing the pilot with effec- to their left or right. what needs to be done with the FAA. We

ard Varvill and John Scott Last month, Boeing and the tively all of the same information–such Doyon said Thales envisions pilots mainly feel that heads up display-like technol-

Scott. Their idea was that in UK government launched a as flight path vector, airspeed, altitude, wearing TopMax during the takeoff, ap- ogy is going to become pretty much

order for an engine to reach £2m accelerator program to attitude and waypoints - out ahead as proach and landing phases of flight. standard on almost every new business

hypersonic speeds, the air look for new innovations in one would see on a head down primary “Head up displays, have a synthetic jet. TopMax is more than just a HUD and

going into it would have to this area. Boeing’s HorizonX flight display. runway, but only when you're aligned with we’re confident we have something that

be rapidly cooled, otherwise is backing the initiative. Q Thales recommends placing the HUD in the runway, which sort of defeats the pur- is ready to disrupt the business jet indus-
the engine would melt. front of the pilot’s dominant eye and the pose,” Doyon said. try,” Doyon said. Q

Reaction’s breakthrough Article courtesy https:// information remains fixed- a 360-degree “On TopMax, if the pilot looks to their left Article courtesy: https://www.aviation-

was inventing a “precooler” techcrunch.com view of unlimited terrain, cueing func- today.com/

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