Honeywell Flight Test Center
Today was a great visit to Honeywell’s flight test center at Phoenix SkyHarbour Airport in Phoenix, Arizona. We were lucky to get an up close and personal tour of the testing site and all of the magic that happens behind the scenes to ensure safe flight.
We had a tour of Honeywell’s living lab… proudly set up inside an old airliner. Honeywell has branded its advanced aviation campaign slogan as “The Future is What We Make it” and this was showing loud and proud across the aircraft as it sat on the ramp at PHX in the gleaming sunshine. The aircraft itself had almost a dozen engineers working on various project’s workstations from inside the fuselage. Really wild! It really made my heart proud to see teams of legacy aviation specialists creating the technology needed to help solve the industry's toughest issues. What a sight to behold!
Honeywell is actively promoting future flight and advanced air mobility (AAM) through various initiatives and technological advancements. The onsite visit made that clear. The company established a dedicated AAM business unit that secured over $10 billion in contracts. Some new industry electric aircraft leaders such as Archer Aviation, Lilium, Pipistrel, Supernal, and Vertical Aerospace are partners with Honeywell. The teams here are truly helping to pave the way to and help us achieve many sustainable aviation goals.
We got to see technology in the making, as it was being tested in one of the hangers. This company has various product lines promoting the future such as next-generation avionics, lighter and more efficient cooling systems, and new autonomous landing capabilities . We were able to also get a peak behind the scenes where we saw digital route testing being performed using a helicopter.
I'm encouraged knowing that although we have challenges and hurdles to overcome in commercializing advanced flight, we also have the aviation industries best & brightest leading the charge. Decarbonizing the planet is an important step forward for humanity. Thank you to the wonderful team at Honeywell for hosting us and educating.
