The Thousand Foot View: Dufour Aerospace 2022 Year in Review

Peer through the fence at Dübendorf Airfield near Zurich, and you’ll spot all manner of aircraft and activity. Across the field, a Super Puma with a sling load. Or, a pair of bright yellow vintage Bücker Biplanes about to take off in formation flight. And, of course, a sleek all-white bird known as the Dufour Aerospace Aero2, in test flight.

In 2022, the latter became a familiar sight at Dübendorf. This past year, Dufour Aerospace opened its hangar there – a new center of innovation at the old airfield. It was just one of the milestones for this Swiss-based aerospace innovator – a banner year with gains made across design, technology and sales.

"Every step we took in 2022 is due to our team’s dedication," said Thomas Pfammatter, CEO of Dufour Aerospace. "We share a passion for this space and Dufour provides a unique opportunity to combine aerospace technology and software development – all with a view to a greener future for flight operations."

For her part, Jasmine Kent, Dufour’s Chief Technology Officer noted with excitement the consistent hum propellers in test flight. "This year, we've been able to do a lot of flight testing with the whole fleet, from our Aero mini – small test drones – to our full prototypes. We're grateful to our partners at Dübendorf Air Base, ETH Zürich and University of Zürich for helping us with the flight test programme," Kent said.

Kent said that Dufour implemented a simulation framework to support flight test, concept studies and contingencies. "The simulation has been a great support to flight tests. We can fly missions in simulation before flying on a real aircraft," Kent said. "It’s been very valuable for flight control law development, evaluating new arrangements of control surfaces and wing sizes, or even failure analysis."

The test flights began with hover tests and progressed into transition flights. Aero2 is intended to fly beyond visual line of sight – so called BVLOS operations – and so in October the first phase of BVLOS testing began. The successful trials between Dufour and Elsight demonstrated that safe and consistent BVLOS operations are possible. "The Elsight Halo is a connectivity solution that will help us get there," said CTO Kent. "There are many elements to safely operate an aircraft BVLOS – one is to have a solid connection link and Elsight Halo can help provide that." The trials involved monitoring a drone along the flight corridor, using air and ground sensors.

Other areas of development include testing the Aero1 propulsion system – valuable experience for the Aero3 manned aircraft – and bench tests of the hybrid-electric system that will be integrated into the flying prototype for Aero2.

"Looking forward to 2023, we are working on a new generation flight control system," Kent said. "That will represent an opportunity to offer much better automation of the system, and that's pretty exciting."

The technology team has grown from around 25 to 40 strong at year end, across software design and flight test. Notably, Daniel Bazzani joined as Lead Engineer for Flight Test, from Sikorsky Aircraft, and Pascal Salathé joined as Head of Prototype Assembly, from Swiss Air-Rescue Rega. Darren McDonald, joining from Collins Aerospace, supports the team as Head Quality Control & Production.

On the commercial front, Chief Commercial Officer Sascha Hardegger has been buoyed by the marketing and sales success in 2022. Commercial agreements were signed with several notable partners this year, including Savback Helicopters, V-STAR Powered Lift, Blueberry Aviation and RUAG. Savback Helicopters agreed to promote the Aero2 and Aero3 aircraft in Scandinavia. V-STAR Powered Lift Aviation for early access to the Aero2 for the Australian market. Blueberry Aviation will provide various services to Dufour, and will acquire 100 Aero2 and 100 Aero3. RUAG will provide engineering services to Dufour, with a long term view to develop, manufacture and maintain Dufour’s eVTOL aircraft and components.

"Each of these leaders immediately understood the Dufour Aerospace vision and promise, and we are thrilled to have them as partners," said Hardegger. "We continue to receive strong interest in both the Aero2 and the Aero3, evidenced not just from sales inquiries, but media coverage of our commercial developments leading to further interest in our work."

Enter Spright. The Gilbert, Arizona-based company is the drone division of Air Methods, one of the largest civilian helicopter operators in the world. In November, Spright and Dufour Aerospace announced the purchase of up to 140 Aero2 aircraft, believed to be the largest civilian drone purchase in U.S. history. The Spright-Dufour partnership kicked off in earnest in 2022, with the Dufour team visiting Arizona, and the Spright team visiting Dufour Aerospace.

"Working with Spright in 2022 was a highlight for our entire team. It focused our collective efforts and provided the marketplace with a vote of confidence in not just our design, but our team," said CEO Pfammatter. "That is something to be proud of, and bodes well for the future."

Indeed, it’s great flying conditions – all blue skies – for Dufour Aerospace in 2023.