The International Forum for Aviation Research (IFAR) met at the end of November for the 9th time.  This annual IFAR Summit took place in Moscow, on the occasion of the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Zhukovsky Central AeroHydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI).

IFAR, a global network platform uniting 26 aeronautical research organisations, is dealing with challenges that exceed national borders such as emissions, noise, safety, security and efficient operations.

The rapid pace of technological and disruptive developments, coupled with the diversity of business challenges facing the aeronautical community was reflected the IFAR summit program. The main technical topics were Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and Hybrid Electrical Propulsion. Urban Air Mobility is aimed at exploring development of low altitude flying systems for manned and unmanned aircraft in urban environments. During the summit the participating members focused on usability, safety, integration into airspace and technical challenges related to these novel (manned or unmanned) aircraft. The second theme Hybrid Electrical Propulsion directly deals with sustainability of aviation which is of great importance to the climate challenges the world is facing.

In addition to technical issues, the global aviation leaders also exchanged thoughts on Human Resources related topics such as ‘Attracting young people to aeronautics” and ‘Empowering early career employees’.

The next IFAR Summit will take place in September 2019 in Amsterdam, on the occasion of the NLR 100th anniversary.

For more information: www.ifar.aero