Little Company Could Make Big Flight Milestone

A small engineering firm in Costa Mesa is a step closer to bringing the first battery-powered helicopter to market.

Tier 1 Engineering is finalizing a contract with Silver Spring, Md.-based Lung Biotechnology PBC to produce an electrically powered semiautonomous rotorcraft to deliver human organs for transplant recipients.

“There’s been no full-scale helicopter like this that’s flown electronically,” said Tier 1 founder Glen Dromgoole. “This is the first of its kind.”

The company, established in 2009 with a specialization in aircraft composite structures, aims to develop within two years an operational helicopter powered by 11 connected lithium polymer batteries.

The contract, valued in the low millions, and the scope of the work would usher in a new era for Tier 1, whose annual revenue is about $1 million.

It employs eight at its 2,000-square-foot headquarters, where it handles consulting work, testing, design, tooling and small production runs of 30 to 100 parts for a customer base that includes global players such as Zodiac Aerospace in France and smaller regional suppliers like Covina-based Composites Horizons.

“We haven’t done anything on this scale before,” said Dromgoole, a mechanical engineer by trade who’s done contract engineering for the likes of Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Gulfstream in his 20-year career.

The company’s modified Robinson R44 aircraft, purchased last year from a local dealer at John Wayne Airport, passed a key test late last month, recording five minutes of cruise flight time at a 400-foot altitude with a peak speed of 80 knots at Los Alamitos Army Airfield.

The test run proved the concept, which has evaded aviators for years.

Electrical and aerospace engineer Pascal Chretien made flight history in 2011 when he developed the first untethered electric-powered helicopter.

The aircraft, essentially a shell with no side panels, hovered 3 feet off the ground for two minutes.

French automobile and parts designer Solution F launched a project called Firefly in the late 2000s with a Sikorsky helicopter, though no news of that research and development effort has surfaced in six years.

It Was a Process

It took Tier 1 engineers about six months to design and integrate the helicopter’s subsystems, including adding 1,100 pounds of Brammo lithium polymer batteries, replacing a Lycoming engine with twin electric motors, and installing a control system by Rinehart Motion Systems. 

Tier 1 said it sought guidance and data specs on the popular four-seat aircraft from Torrance manufacturer Robinson Helicopter Co. but that the company declined to participate in the project.

It contracted Carl Zeiss Industrial Metrology LLC to capture geometric data of the Robinson 44 using a 3-D laser scanner that measures data points to about 1/100 of an inch. Tier 1 used the data to produce structural drawings of the airframe.

The company in March validated the motor control system and tested wire harnesses.

Its Melbourne office designed the engine mount and gear box, which was fabricated by New Zealand-based Autoflight.

The clutch and drive train were unchanged.

The Costa Mesa headquarters designed the battery support, one of the last components secured before final assembly began in April, primarily at a hangar at John Wayne Airport. The aircraft was assembled by July and weighed 2,500 pounds.

The Federal Aviation Administration granted Tier 1 a certificate for experimental flight before ground tests were conducted.

The entire testing process was carefully defined and documented: weeks of hovering a few feet off the ground; more tests of taxiing down the runway from 30 feet, hitting speeds of 40 knots, and then taking the aircraft 50 feet off the ground with more speed.

Ric Webb, founder of OC Helicopters, flew the five-minute flight on Sept. 21 at the Army airfield and in previous test missions. The flight drained about 20% of the aircraft’s battery power, matching the performance in bench tests.

The aircraft conducted about 20 test flights, logging more than 20 hours of flight time.

The technology could have applications in other sectors, according to Dromgoole, though Tier 1 isn’t exploring other commercial uses.

Precious Cargo

Lung Biotechnology, established in 1997, specializes in manufacturing artificial lungs and other organs for transplant. It has several initiatives under way to preserve organs and improve the volume of national transplants, which topped 30,000 last year for the first time in U.S. history, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

Lung transplants account for about 2,000 of transplants performed each year.

The company posts annual sales of $700 million generated from its prescription drug for pulmonary arterial hypertension, or high blood pressure in the arteries that stretch between the heart and lungs.

It announced a deal with Guangzhou, China-based EHang Holdings Ltd. in May to develop and purchase over the next 15 years up to 1,000 units of an autonomous drone capable of carrying a passenger more than 10 miles at speeds of up to 65 miles per hour. The technology, powered through a smartphone application, targets a variety of medical transportation emergencies. 

EHang debuted the 184drone in January at CES, the world’s largest technology trade show, which is held annually in Las Vegas.

The Tier 1 helicopter aims to carry two people and three manufactured organs with a payload of about 600 pounds for at least 150 minutes, including a 30-minute reserve.

The Tier 1 contract, which began in June 2015, will extend at least through 2017. Its end goal is the development of a more advanced prototype.

“We’re going to start to look at improving the performance, and look at better technology,” Dromgoole said.