Like everyone else across the UK, the Sky Hopper project has had to deal with Covid. For us, during our design and early build this was in fact not too difficult, but as we moved into the full platform integration, where the team has to work together. Things became more complicated; we have a dispersed team across multiple disciplines.
However, we have persevered, and in some senses the extended time period of the build has helped us improve our outcomes. We now have two production versions of the Sky Hopper platform in the final stages of their build. The first ACD165-001 will, we hope, be allowed to fly this Spring 2022. The second ACD165-002 will follow on. The latter model is more easily manufacturable, and will be lighter and more powerful. As always, step by step innovation is our methodology.
The rigours of what we are trying to do, are matched by the rigours of the regulatory eco-system within which we have to work. One reason why we have been so quiet over the past six months is that our entire design and fabrication process has had to be codified into an overall Safety Management System. That in turn informs the approach we will be making shortly to the CAA to make our Operational Safety Case. Obviously, our early need is for some highly codified and detailed test flights.