VTOL On Demand Mobility

Mr.T said:
:cool:
Unique V-Tail design allows higher speed and improved safety - making Vertiia stand out from all other eVTOLS.
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Pretty much every eVTOL manufacturer has a claim along these lines for their project.

I'd note that this flight was not with the planned hydrogen fuel cells, but battery power, that's a major step short of their production standard vehicle, even by the normal standards of prototypes.
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1862726569040781505
View: https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1862726569040781505

...This is the government of Pingyin County, Jinan, Shandong Province who sold for 924 million yuan (approximately $130 million) a 30-year concession to operate and maintain its low-altitude economic projects to a company called Shandong Jinyu General Aviation Co., Ltd....

- https://guancha.cn/economy/2024_11_29_757212.shtml…
- http://finance.people.com.cn/n1/2024/1128/c1004-40370800.html…
- https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2024-11-29/doc-incxtzmi1711070.shtml
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New regulatory concept?
 
Low altitude economy is regarded as a big thing in China. Fortunately, they don't focus so much on VTOL and electric planes. There will be plenty conventional airports all over the country which enable short delivery times. Beeing a combustion engine designer, I will take part in this development and I'm going to China next year....
 
Mike Pryce said:
Lilium laid off 1000 staff last Friday. https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/...ays-off-almost-all-staff-german-media-reports

Now this https://lilium.com/newsroom-detail/lilium-achieves-breakthrough-in-investor-search
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Really not a good advert for the insolvency company KPMG who’s job it is to minimise investor losses by finding a buyer, before they fire all the staff.

I also noticed quite a few senior managers have already announced they’re starting in positions at new companies , …and no, the widespread public criticism of their leadership at Lillium has had zero effect on their ability to get similar posts elsewhere.

It seems that only 700 of the 1000 staff have been invited back, wonder what their new contracts will look like? I would suggest not a good strategy for hiring the ones with key knowledge.

Anyway I still expecting the first conforming certified production article to have a real world range of less than 10km.
 
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Isn't that more related to German electoral schedule? (see it as the German way to push the dust under the carpet).
 
All -

eSTOL aircraft such as the impending Electra Aero EL9 will be able to fly to/from metropolitan areas, by operating from areas like empty parking lots ( for example ), and already existing inter-city airports. That means they can serve many urban air mobility needs/missions that some might otherwise think would be the sole domain of eVTOLs.

eSTOL aircraft battery electric load demands do not include the drain on batteries that
eVTOLs exhibit during vertical portions of their flight profile.

On-balance, the path to certification of eSTOL aircraft is less complicated that of an eVTOL. Pilot training & certification is also simpler for eSTOL aircraft, as their is no pure vertical flight operations to cover ( hover, transition to/from vertical flight; auto-rotation
et al ).

Training for eVTOL aircraft pilots will problematic whenever the intended training and/or operational vehicle has been designed to accommodate just one single pilot.
The example Electra Aero EL9 is designed to have 2 pilot crew stations, but can be operated by one pilot using the craft’s inclusion of “ Safe Single Pilot “ technology.

Passenger acceptance of eSTOL aircraft should bepretty straight forward, as they more-closely resemble aircraft shapes the majority the public is already familiar with vs eVTOLs which tend to have unfamiliar and even exotic profiles, planforms; and shaping.


With regards,
357Mag
 
Sounds a bit hash, but why did they keep 1000 emboyees when all the development work was done and just the last bit of assembling and testing was lacking? When it was clear, that they were running out of money they did nothing to reduce the cash burn rate
 
The FAA measured downwash and outwash velocities in tests with three eVTOL designs. Max velocities of up to 100 mph were measured versus a safe velocity of 34.5mph.

Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Downwash and Outwash Surveys

Abstract As part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) effort to establish vertiport design guidance for facilities intended to accept powered lift and special class rotorcraft, it is of growing importance to determine the risk factors related to vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL)...
www.airporttech.tc.faa.gov
 
Reaper said:
Nobody posted about volocopter‘s insolvency?
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Meant to, forgot.

www.flightglobal.com

Volocopter enters insolvency following cash shortfall

Advanced air mobility developer Volocopter has entered insolvency proceedings, as it pledges to continue its quest for funding.
www.flightglobal.com www.flightglobal.com

TLDR: It's pretty much an exact repeat of Lillium, funding dried up, so they entered insolvency on the 26th December, a court appointed administrator now takes over, with the company saying they hope to have worked out a restructuring plan by the end of February.
 
Mike Pryce said:
The FAA measured downwash and outwash velocities in tests with three eVTOL designs. Max velocities of up to 100 mph were measured versus a safe velocity of 34.5mph.

Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Downwash and Outwash Surveys

Abstract As part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) effort to establish vertiport design guidance for facilities intended to accept powered lift and special class rotorcraft, it is of growing importance to determine the risk factors related to vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL)...
www.airporttech.tc.faa.gov
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To be fair Mike the downward velocity at 50ft was much lower, but sure right under the props is blowing a very hard gale.

Back in 2014 I went to Darpa for a conference and several of the folks leading these aircraft were there. No one seemed to be that concerned with higher disc loading as I recall.
 
Mike Pryce said:
The FAA measured downwash and outwash velocities in tests with three eVTOL designs. Max velocities of up to 100 mph were measured versus a safe velocity of 34.5mph.

Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Downwash and Outwash Surveys

Abstract As part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) effort to establish vertiport design guidance for facilities intended to accept powered lift and special class rotorcraft, it is of growing importance to determine the risk factors related to vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL)...
www.airporttech.tc.faa.gov
Click to expand...
And as a reminder of the risk that poses:
www.cornwalllive.com

Inquest reopens today into tragic helicopter death

Jean Langan died in an incident at Derriford Hospital
www.cornwalllive.com www.cornwalllive.com

TLDR: Elderly lady was blown over and suffered fatal head injuries in the carpark adjacent to the hospital helipad as a Coastguard S92 was landing. It's not just inside the 'vertiports' that there may be a risk.
 
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DWG said:
And as a reminder of the risk that poses:
www.cornwalllive.com

Inquest reopens today into tragic helicopter death

Jean Langan died in an incident at Derriford Hospital
www.cornwalllive.com www.cornwalllive.com

TLDR: Elderly lady was blown over and suffered fatal head injuries in the carpark adjacent to the hospital helipad as a Coastguard S92 was landing. It's not just inside the 'vertiports' that there may be a risk.
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As a result of that incident the CAA did a study of downwash risks for eVTOLs to broaden knowledge and to identify possible risks.

CAP2576: Understanding the downwash/outwash characteristics of eVTOL aircraft | Civil Aviation Authority

www.caa.co.uk www.caa.co.uk
A follow-up study, CAP 3075, will be out soon. It involved measurements of S92 downwash, associated simulations, and cross comparison between real data and simulated data for helicopters and eVTOLs.
 
Recent downwash articles in Flight and Aviation Week:

www.flightglobal.com

FAA study reveals hurricane-force levels of eVTOL downwash and outwash

Electric air taxis could generate downwash equivalent to a hurricane-force wind and which "surpass most of the air velocity safety thresholds" in guidance, according to research caried out by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
www.flightglobal.com www.flightglobal.com

FAA Underlines eVTOL Downwash Challenge For Vertiport Design | Aviation Week Network

The introduction of the downwash caution area (DCA) was the result of flight surveys of multiple prototype eVTOL aircraft for the FAA.
aviationweek.com aviationweek.com

On a personal note, having your work mentioned in these two is very cool!
 

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