UK aerospace manufacturer Vertical Aerospace has selected Honeywell to support its demonstrator aircraft programme.

The two companies have signed a letter of intent (LoI), under which Honeywell will supply flight deck technologies for the programme. These include multi-touch displays, avionics system controls, avionics software and the vehicle operating system.

Honeywell Aerospace UAS/UAM vice-president and general manager Stéphane Fymat said: “One of the most important outcomes of this programme will be the successful demonstration of simplified vehicle operations, which essentially is about making these aircraft more intuitive and flattening the learning curve to safely fly them.

Through the demonstrator programme, Vertical Aerospace seeks to gain an understanding of flight characteristics, system requirements and the flight deck user interface.

This will help in advancing its urban air mobility (UAM) vehicle development.

Vertical Aerospace CEO Michael Cervenka said: “Vertical is well advanced in the development of its next-generation, high-performance, passenger-carrying vehicle.

“We are excited at the prospect of broadening our already fantastic partnership with Honeywell, enabling our vehicles to leverage not only Honeywell’s state-of-the-art flight control systems but also to marry these with the very latest in intuitive and safe flight deck technologies.”

In July 2019, Vertical Aerospace partnered with Honeywell to use its fly-by-wire aircraft control systems for the planned electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.