Aeronautics

Guiding concepts

The Electric Aircraft
The demand for air transport is on the rise. At the same time, there is an ever-increasing call from society at large to significantly reduce the impact of air transport on the environment and climate.
The Commercial Aircraft
Passenger numbers for global air travel have been rising steadily for many years. The number of passenger kilometres flown worldwide doubles every 15 years.
The Urban Air Mobility
Whether in urban or sparsely populated areas, new and highly automated types of aircraft are set to play an ever-increasing role in global passenger and cargo transport over the coming decades.
The Rescue Helicopter 2030
Future rescue helicopters are expected to be able to reach their destination quickly, safely, quietly and flexibly – around the clock, regardless of weather conditions and over long distances.
The Efficient Air Transport
The EU's vision for air transport, Flightpath 2050, sets out clear requirements. In future, 90 percent of all passenger journeys within Europe should take no more than four hours door to door.
The Virtual Product
At present, the development, testing and production of new aircraft designs is associated with such considerable timing and financial risks that a mere setback could threaten the existence of entire companies.

International networks

National and International Networking

DLR aeronautics research is networked at national, European and global levels. Together with government representatives as well as partners from industry and research, and involving extensive cooperation with trade associations and interest groups, DLR is working to help shape the air transport system of the future. It plays a leading role in many areas of aeronautics research, both nationally and internationally.

Research aircraft fleet

In action worldwide – flying for research

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) operates the largest civilian fleet of research aircraft and helicopters in Europe. These highly-modified aircraft are either themselves the subject of aeronautics research or are used to observe the Earth, the ocean surfaces and the atmosphere. The aircraft are stationed at DLR’s sites in Braunschweig and Oberpfaffenhofen. This facility provides scientific services for DLR flight experiments as well as for other national and international institutions, public authorities and industrial customers.

Dossier

The electrification of aviation
Electric flight opens up a new dimension in aviation and offers unprecedented opportunities for sustainable mobility in the future. DLR is one of the pioneers in the field of electric flight. It combines fundamental and application-oriented research in this field in a way that is unique in Europe.

News / Aeronautics

Infrastructure

Large-scale research facilities
The portfolio at DLR currently comprises some 180 large-scale research facilities at 15 locations, including the polar regions. DLR also makes its large-scale facilities available to partners from industry and academia as part of its cooperative research activities.

Jobs / Aeronautics

Course paper / final thesis

Analyzing power plant operating modes for a thermal storage system

Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, Stuttgart

Publication

Institutes and Facilities

Low Cost Monitor

Facts / Aeronautics

166,50,56,22

294

Aeronautics – Revenues 2019 (Data in million euro)
166,50,56,22

166

Fixed-wing aircraft research – Revenues 2019 (Data in million euro)
166,50,56,22

50

Propulsion systems – Revenues 2019 (Data in million euro)
166,50,56,22

56

Air Traffic Management and Flight Experiments – Revenues 2019 (Data in million euro)
166,50,56,22

22

Rotary-wing aircraft research – Revenues 2019 (Data in million euro)

Global air traffic

Aero­nau­tics Re­search at DLR

The Elec­tric Air­craft

The Com­mer­cial Air­craft

The Ur­ban Air Mo­bil­i­ty

The Res­cue He­li­copter 2030

The Ef­fi­cient Air Trans­port

The Vir­tu­al Prod­uct

Na­tion­al and In­ter­na­tion­al Net­work­ing

In ac­tion world­wide – fly­ing for re­search

The elec­tri­fi­ca­tion of avi­a­tion

Cus­tomis­ing in­di­vid­u­al flight routes for more cli­mate-friend­ly out­comes

Emis­sion-free elec­tric take-off

DLR con­ducts ground vi­bra­tion test on the Dornier 'Seast­ar' am­phibi­ous air­craft

Hu­man­i­tar­i­an aid with un­crewed air­craft and ar­ti­fi­cial in­tel­li­gence

Aug­ment­ed re­al­i­ty as­sists he­li­copter pi­lots with de­mand­ing flight ma­noeu­vres at sea

Project BALIS – DLR is de­vel­op­ing and test­ing fu­el cells in the megawatt range for air trans­port

Space re­search as­sists hu­man­i­tar­i­an aid ef­forts on Earth

DL­R­magazine 166 – Next stop: the fu­ture

Re­search ini­tia­tive pi­o­neers sus­tain­able flight

Air­craft noise mea­sured on the ground and on the air­craft syn­chronous­ly for the first time

Ger­many on course for cli­mate-neu­tral fly­ing

DLR cam­era ex­am­ines Arc­tic sea ice from the air as part of the MO­SA­iC ex­pe­di­tion

NASA and DLR study the trans­for­ma­tion of the air trans­port sys­tem

Glob­al air trans­port con­tributes 3.5 per­cent to glob­al warm­ing

'Ur­ban Ray' pack­age drone wins the NASA/DLR De­sign Chal­lenge 2020

DLR and MTU Aero En­gines study fu­el cell propul­sion sys­tem for avi­a­tion

New DLR in­sti­tutes will in­ves­ti­gate so­lar-chem­i­cal fu­els and the fu­ture of air trans­port

DLR anal­y­ses noise prop­er­ties of the new high-speed he­li­copter RAC­ER

LNAS pi­lot as­sis­tance sys­tem en­ables qui­eter and more fu­el-ef­fi­cient land­ing ap­proach­es

In­ter­ac­tion be­tween pi­lot and he­li­copter – de­tec­tion, eval­u­a­tion and avoid­ance of pi­lot in­duced os­cil­la­tions

Large-scale re­search fa­cil­i­ties

An­a­lyz­ing pow­er plant op­er­at­ing modes for a ther­mal stor­age sys­tem

White Pa­per: Ze­ro Emis­sion Avi­a­tion – Ger­man Avi­a­tion Re­search

Brochure: Demon­stra­tor Roadmap to­wards Ze­ro Emis­sion Avi­a­tion

In­sti­tute of Aeroe­las­tic­i­ty

In­sti­tute of Flight Sys­tems

In­sti­tute of Flight Guid­ance

In­sti­tute of Propul­sion Tech­nol­o­gy

In­sti­tute of Struc­tures and De­sign

Flight Ex­per­i­ments fa­cil­i­ty

In­sti­tute of Com­pos­ite Struc­tures and Adap­tive Sys­tems

In­sti­tute of Aero­dy­nam­ics and Flow Tech­nol­o­gy

In­sti­tute of Air Trans­port and Air­port Re­search

In­sti­tute of Main­te­nance, Re­pair and Over­haul

In­sti­tute of Air Trans­porta­tion Sys­tems

In­sti­tute of At­mo­spher­ic Physics

In­sti­tute of Soft­ware Meth­ods for Prod­uct Vir­tu­al­iza­tion

In­sti­tute of Sys­tem Ar­chi­tec­tures in Aero­nau­tics

In­sti­tute of Sys­tem Dy­nam­ics and Con­trol

In­sti­tute of Tech­ni­cal Physics

In­sti­tute of Test and Sim­u­la­tion for Gas Tur­bines

In­sti­tute of Com­bus­tion Tech­nol­o­gy

In­sti­tute of Ma­te­ri­als Re­search

Low-cost air­lines see widespread growth and a slight rise in prices in sum­mer 2018

Record num­ber of flights and mod­er­ate price ris­es fol­low­ing Air Berlin in­sol­ven­cy

Rapid ex­pan­sion of low-cost air­lines

DLR study on low cost air­lines: record sup­ply, ris­ing com­pe­ti­tion and falling prices

Trend check for low-cost air­lines – the long-haul busi­ness is tak­ing off

Aero­nau­tics – Rev­enues 2019 (Da­ta in mil­lion eu­ro)

Main menu

Chair of the DLR Ex­ec­u­tive Board is hon­oured with the Wom­en in Aerospace Eu­rope Out­stand­ing Achieve­ment Award 2020

8th In­dus­tri­al Days at the DLR site in Lam­pold­shausen

Pas­cale Ehren­fre­und takes of­fice as Pres­i­dent of the IAF

Space – ac­ces­si­bil­i­ty, diplo­ma­cy and co­op­er­a­tion

The DLR del­e­ga­tion dur­ing a vis­it to the JAXA Tsuku­ba Space Cen­tre on 31 Ju­ly 2019

Meck­len­burg-West­ern Pomera­nia and DLR wel­come Eu­ro­pean pol­i­cy-mak­ers to Brus­sels

Dust storms swirl at Mars' north pole

Aeronautics Research at DLR

The Electric Aircraft

The Commercial Aircraft

The Urban Air Mobility

The Rescue Helicopter 2030

The Efficient Air Transport

The Virtual Product

National and International Networking

In action worldwide – flying for research

The electrification of aviation

Customising individual flight routes for more climate-friendly outcomes

Emission-free electric take-off

DLR conducts ground vibration test on the Dornier 'Seastar' amphibious aircraft

Humanitarian aid with uncrewed aircraft and artificial intelligence

Augmented reality assists helicopter pilots with demanding flight manoeuvres at sea

Project BALIS – DLR is developing and testing fuel cells in the megawatt range for air transport

Space research assists humanitarian aid efforts on Earth

DLRmagazine 166 – Next stop: the future

Research initiative pioneers sustainable flight

Aircraft noise measured on the ground and on the aircraft synchronously for the first time

Germany on course for climate-neutral flying

DLR camera examines Arctic sea ice from the air as part of the MOSAiC expedition

NASA and DLR study the transformation of the air transport system

Global air transport contributes 3.5 percent to global warming

'Urban Ray' package drone wins the NASA/DLR Design Challenge 2020

DLR and MTU Aero Engines study fuel cell propulsion system for aviation

New DLR institutes will investigate solar-chemical fuels and the future of air transport

DLR analyses noise properties of the new high-speed helicopter RACER

LNAS pilot assistance system enables quieter and more fuel-efficient landing approaches

Interaction between pilot and helicopter – detection, evaluation and avoidance of pilot induced oscillations

Large-scale research facilities

Analyzing power plant operating modes for a thermal storage system

White Paper: Zero Emission Aviation – German Aviation Research

Brochure: Demonstrator Roadmap towards Zero Emission Aviation

Institute of Aeroelasticity

Institute of Flight Systems

Institute of Flight Guidance

Institute of Propulsion Technology

Institute of Structures and Design

Flight Experiments facility

Institute of Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems

Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology

Institute of Air Transport and Airport Research

Institute of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul

Institute of Air Transportation Systems

Institute of Atmospheric Physics

Institute of Software Methods for Product Virtualization

Institute of System Architectures in Aeronautics

Institute of System Dynamics and Control

Institute of Technical Physics

Institute of Test and Simulation for Gas Turbines

Institute of Combustion Technology

Institute of Materials Research

Low-cost airlines see widespread growth and a slight rise in prices in summer 2018

Record number of flights and moderate price rises following Air Berlin insolvency

Rapid expansion of low-cost airlines

DLR study on low cost airlines: record supply, rising competition and falling prices

Trend check for low-cost airlines – the long-haul business is taking off

Aeronautics – Revenues 2019 (Data in million euro)

Chair of the DLR Executive Board is honoured with the Women in Aerospace Europe Outstanding Achievement Award 2020

8th Industrial Days at the DLR site in Lampoldshausen

Pascale Ehrenfreund takes office as President of the IAF

Space – accessibility, diplomacy and cooperation

The DLR delegation during a visit to the JAXA Tsukuba Space Centre on 31 July 2019

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and DLR welcome European policy-makers to Brussels