Changing the face of travel

by Howard Guy, CEO and Owner of Design Q Limited

In these uncertain times, industry slows down as customers hold back on major purchases. Travel itself has entered a time when, due to the global pandemic, the very thought presents anxiety.

As many take to the peripheral safety of the car instead of public transport, how long will it be before we can do the same in the sky?

At Design Q, we are entering our 24th year of designing diverse and exciting ways to be transported. The company has its roots in Automotive, with our lead designers having worked with brands like Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar, and Aston Martin.

For the last 20 years, Design Q has been involved in some significant Aerospace projects. It can count the ‘Fastest’, and the ‘Slowest’ projects in the sector among its design triumphs. The ‘Fastest’ is the Aerion Supersonic, which is currently still on the design studio monitors (drawing board in old money).

The company also designed the interior of the ‘Largest’ and ‘Slowest’ flying object in the world, Airlander, which opens a new era in slow, luxurious flight. The Airlander allows passengers to view jaw-dropping scenery from above as it floats over breathtaking landscapes.

Now Design Q can add the ‘Smallest’ project in the sector to the list of Fastest and Slowest. The company is working with Aurora & Boeing on their pilotless 2-seater E-VTOL.

Aurora approached Design Q in 2018 to understand how they could progress their program by way of creating a compelling customer user interface, while also enhancing their design.

The project moved along fairly rapidly but to this stage, it was fundamentally concerned with the flight engineering of such a vehicle. It had established a number of key factors, such as the overall size, weight, number of propellers and a cabin that could seat two to three people.

Design Q’s role was to investigate how customers could use/operate the service. It was also asked to challenge the way in which passengers would board and operate the new transport system. The project was code-named the ‘Glass Bird’ and we were asked to give it an exterior makeover and a new distinctive interior.

With no flight controls onboard Design Q had to imagine how a passenger would operate from A to B, typically a 20 to 50-mile journey into or out of a major city.

Starting with basic ergonomics and analysing the restrictions of boarding the vehicle, much work was done using a full size `Buck’. This is essentially a mock-up of the front section of the aircraft. This allowed users to board and then to exit, and allowed the designers to focus on how this could be done easily and safely, given that there are numerous rotors surrounding the entire craft.

This work also helped with making the decision on how big a door or doors could be and which entry and exit direction was easiest to achieve. Passengers with carry-on luggage up to a limit would be monitored and a request to Design Q to install a way of reading both passenger weight and luggage weight was made.

What was needed was an instant calculation that the scheduled flight could be safely carried out without risk, and a visual showing the range the craft has or has not with that particular weight and luggage on board.

How and where to store luggage was also an interesting challenge. Being able to bring it on easily, store and then access and leave after the flight was a major consideration, that ideally needed to be done in an easy seamless series of operations.

One of the most memorable days for me was the visit to Aurora’s Washington USA offices. A 2-day workshop and brainstorming session resulted in numerous ideas, and ideals. These included everything from the way in which customer recognition would automatically open the power-assisted door, down to the reassuring mechanical noise it would make as it closed and protected its valuable occupants. Then, the theatre of the reassuring welcome on the large video screen and the polite request to fasten your seatbelts. Once completed, it registers the all-clear for take-off and the safety video, then addresses the occupant/s by name.

The second part of the design brief was to actually design it. The excellent collaboration between our Chief Designer, Greg Shilton, and our Chief Engineer, James Philpotts, enabled us to design the structures and mechanical engineering in what was a very tight time frame. It resulted in the single door being integrated into the shape of the fuselage and becoming almost invisible when closed. Inside too, required a simple but fluid collection of materials and surfaces that give the interior a high quality, state-of-the-art ambience.

The goal was to not to be too technical or threatening. After all, it is not a fighter jet or a racing car, but more a ladies and gentleman’s flying carriage. This impression is critical to the psychological comfort and wellbeing of the passenger. In this, I think we have achieved our, and our clients’ expectations.

The third part of the project was to build it and build it to a visually accurate production representative model.

Read the full article here: https://issuu.com/bizavmedia/docs/bam016_winter_2020-2021/68?fr=sMzVmNTI3NzQ1NDc