In August, the team continued with the ground test campaign on the DarkAero 1 prototype. Further drop test cases were explored as well as proof load tests on the horizontal stabilizer and empennage. In parallel, a number of other major projects continued in the background. These included contract projects being fulfilled through DarkAero Services and training the growing team.

DarkAero 1 Ground Testing
This year the team has been advancing through remaining ground tests on the DarkAero 1 prototype prior to transitioning into flight testing. Most recently, efforts have centered on tests to prove that the landing gear and airframe can handle not only typical landing loads but also edge case landing conditions. To date, the team has conducted over 50 drop tests of the airframe onto the landing gear at varying heights and landing attitudes. 

These tests have followed a pattern of dropping from incrementally higher heights, measuring the loads on the airframe, and inspecting the structures for damage each time. As loads have increased, the shock size, shock pressure, and tire pressure were iterated on to narrow in on the best parameters to minimize any loads transmitted to the airframe and occupants. Through testing, several structures were identified that required modification to increase their margins to handle worst-case landing conditions. 

Last month, the main landing gear trailing links were updated to increase their strength and stiffness after testing revealed deficiencies in the original design. After the design was revised, new links were CNC machined in-house. These were installed, and then drop testing continued to validate the changes and confirm that airframe loads were minimized and airframe degradation was not being observed.

Rigorous testing has been an important part of developing an aircraft like the DarkAero 1, where the airframe structures are optimized for a specific mission but still need to be engineered to handle a wide range of flight conditions. Although calculations, simulations, and small scale tests were conducted to drive the design of the DarkAero 1, there has been no substitute for the data and validation obtained through large-scale physical tests. This cycle of testing is also critical in terms of safety. Every aircraft has structural limits, and the limits for the DarkAero 1 are being established in a controlled environment on the ground rather than in the air when the stakes are higher and people are on board. 

From here, the main landing gear will be evaluated in a nose high attitude. Side loads and braking loads will also be applied to the gear to close out the landing gear drop testing campaign.

In parallel, proof-loading has begun on the empennage and tail structures to confirm they can withstand aerodynamic loads beyond what they will encounter through flight maneuvers and in-flight gusts. This work has included loading the horizontal stabilizer in both positive and negative g-loading conditions. In September, tests will proceed on the vertical stabilizer to simulate edge case side loads.

DarkAero Services
In the background, work at DarkAero has extended well beyond the prototype aircraft. To bring a new product like an aircraft to market, a “valley of death” must be crossed. This involves surviving the capital intensive development phase of the product before it can be sold profitably at scale. Completion of the first prototype is often mistaken as the valley exit, while the larger challenge of scaling manufacturing for production gets ignored. This oversight may arise from observing successful software companies that have advanced from prototype to mass adoption relatively quickly, but for an aircraft company, scaling a prototype to reach the market is less straightforward. DarkAero has probably contributed to the narrow focus on prototype development as most of what has been discussed publicly is the prototype aircraft. This focus is apparent as the question asked most often by the public is “When will you fly the prototype?”, but the question asked within DarkAero is, “When will we ship kits?” This meant developing capability not just to design, build, and test the prototype, but also building the capacity to produce kits. 

By developing these skills and continuously improving manufacturing processes, DarkAero has become highly capable at engineering, manufacturing, and testing. This is true not only on the DarkAero 1, but really any vehicle where speed, range, efficiency, and manufacturability are key objectives. This has enabled the expansion of operations in the background as DarkAero has been quietly designing, building, and testing multiple aerospace vehicle platforms through its engineering services. This has been important for funding DarkAero 1 development, and also for building the capability to produce DarkAero 1 kits, allowing the “valley of death” to be crossed before the first kits are ever shipped while also eliminating the need for outside investment. 

Growth of the Team
One of the most important aspects of expanding capabilities at DarkAero is the growing team, which has tripled over the past year. Scaling the team and transferring knowledge and skills to new team members has presented a new set of challenges outside of what has been tackled in developing the DarkAero 1.

The importance of building a strong team has driven DarkAero to establish a rigorous hiring process and select individuals that have a solid work ethic, hands-on skills, and excitement for aerospace. 

Given that new team members come in with different skill levels and backgrounds, it was important to have a training process to replicate the quality standards that were maintained with the DarkAero 1 prototype. The groundwork for this was already laid with the DarkAero Aerospace Composites Courses that have been taught for the past three years. This provided a foundation for new employees to reference and shorten their learning curve. 

Building a strong team will remain just as important as the development of the DarkAero 1 as work progresses into manufacturing kits.

Looking Ahead
In September testing will continue, with efforts focused on remaining drop tests of the main landing gear as well as load tests on the vertical stabilizer and empennage.