VTOL On Demand Mobility

TomcatViP said:
Yes. No vertical Takeoffs and landings here. Notice that both pilots are wearing ventral parachutes.
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Given that ingress/egress appears to be through the cargo compartment, it's hard to see why they bothered with the chutes. (see video at the link)

U.S. Air Force Completes First Crewed Flight of ALIA eVTOL Aircraft

Last week, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) reached a significant milestone: it completed the first crewed flight of an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. This successful demonstration takes USAF one step closer to integrating manned eVTOLs into various future missions.
www.autoevolution.com
 
alberchico said:

NTSB: Joby Aviation Air Taxi Prototype ‘Substantially Damaged’ in Crash

A National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report says Joby’s electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft ‘experienced a component failure.’
www.flyingmag.com

NTSB: Joby experienced a ‘component failure’ during February crash

Joby Aviation’s first full-scale eVTOL prototype experienced a “component failure” that resulted in “substantial damage” when it crashed last month.
evtol.com
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"component failure"

eVTOL's were always promoted as less complex than "the helicopter". That might be true in some cases, but definitely isn't the case for tiltrotors with multiple rotors and variable pitch contol. And not to forget, tiltrotors need conventional flight control surfaces as well. A lot can go wrong in such a system, on hardware and software side. Certifying authorities require single- failure-tolerance btw.
 
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FedEx Plans to Test Autonomous Drone Cargo Delivery with Elroy Air

MEMPHIS, TN., March 30, 2022 – FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and the world’s largest express transportation company, is teaming up with California Bay Area-based Elroy Air, the company building the first end-to-end autonomous vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aerial...
newsroom.fedex.com

Elroy Air unveils its autonomous vertical take off and landing cargo plane, the Chaparral

Designed to autonomously deliver cargo in challenging terrain
www.theverge.com

Well at least there's some steady progress being made in the world of delivery drones. Whether the economics ultimately work out is another question. I would imagine for certain items like priority overnight deliveries that command a premium this evtol could work out for FedEx. This machine could be utilized as part of a premium service for priority packages that miss the cutoff time and need to be shipped out that night no matter what.
 
At last some no BS battery costings for the aviation sector…

“High battery costs are another factor that could prove limiting over the next decade or so…..Tecnam believes aviation battery costs are likely to remain high for the next 10 years, ……Aviation battery cost are about $1,312 (€1,200) per kilowatt hour compared with about $132 (€130) for cars”

“Tecnam measures battery life in months not years for the very high utilisation operators.”

 
IMOHO (and late 2017 analysis), this would not be the case. Electricity, as an energy source, is promised to be the battle ground of speculation. Once the higher segment of the market would have fall-in, everything will be done to provide cheap access to EV for the average Joe.
You do not have to expect a stagnant entry price for efficient battery. No more that you had for electric home heater, AC, stoves etc...

Then, once EV have become a commodity on the market, aviation batteries prices will crumble with plenty of affordable derivatives offered to GA airplane manufacturers and E-S/VTOL.
 
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I have an idea and I'm looking for investors. The concept is an amazing breakthrough. Energy is stored in carbon nanotubes and propulsion is provided by flagella. At a micro scale, flagella are more efficient that blades and while their small size may seem like a limitation, many thousands acting in concert could provide feasible lift for a couple of passengers. Moreover, the technology is simple and modular, allowing large matrices of lift units to be produced relatively simply. Massive integration would ensure redundancy. A 3-D printing technique similar to weaving would be used due to the thread-like nature of all the components, allowing made-to measure manufacturing and customization (such as colourful patterns etc.).

The eVTOL would strongly resemble a carpet...
 
Rhinocrates said:
I have an idea and I'm looking for investors. The concept is an amazing breakthrough. Energy is stored in carbon nanotubes and propulsion is provided by flagella. At a micro scale, flagella are more efficient that blades and while their small size may seem like a limitation, many thousands acting in concert could provide feasible lift for a couple of passengers. Moreover, the technology is simple and modular, allowing large matrices of lift units to be produced relatively simply. Massive integration would ensure redundancy. A 3-D printing technique similar to weaving would be used due to the thread-like nature of all the components, allowing made-to measure manufacturing and customization (such as colourful patterns etc.).

The eVTOL would strongly resemble a carpet...
Click to expand...
Sounds like a candidate for Shark Tank for sure...
 
Information remains scarce, but it looks like a Turkish eVTOL prototype, possibly developed for the military, will soon fly for the first time.

View: https://twitter.com/defensehere_tr/status/1512165606354739200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1512165606354739200%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdefence.pk%2Fpdf%2Fthreads%2Fturkish-unmanned-vehicle-programs.344046%2Fpage-173
 
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The Battery That Flies

A new aircraft being built in Vermont has no need for jet fuel. It can take off and land without a runway. Amazon and the Air Force are both betting on it. So who will be in the cockpit?
www.nytimes.com

A good profile of the Beta ALIA Evtol project.
 

Wild heavy-lift cargo UAV debuts @AUVSI, uses gyrocopter principle for lift

There's a new drone in town. At least if the town is Orlando, and you're @AUVSI's XPONENTIAL show. Check out Aergility's ATLIS.
dronedj.com

An interesting hybrid concept that could prove useful for military operators but might be too expensive and complex for civil cargo companies. Getting approval for this beast to fly over populated areas is going to be a major challenge.
 
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View: https://mobile.twitter.com/jonostrower/status/1523820588761944064


Looks like the FAA is planning to do a U-turn when it comes to the way these aircraft will be certified, which could cause further delays and uncertainty. Not to mention potentially spooking investors.


View: https://mobile.twitter.com/elanhead/status/1523866993929203713
 
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Let's not forget that the Aerospace industry didn't begin with the FAA but the later was a result of the former reaching maturity.
Any regulating agency would have to wait what's in the submitted papers to order slight changes, redirection or open a new category when necessary.

We can only conclude that the late change is a reaction on what the industry has opened up so far and that it wasn't comforting them with their say.

Most of the EV industry proud themselves of being a step ahead of all others, including national R&D programs like the X-57 from NASA. It is an inherent risk that such event surface. No sane investment or capital should then be at risk.
 
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FAA ‘Modifying’ Approach to eVTOL Certification - FLYING Magazine

In a move that the FAA says will not “add delay” to completing type certification, the agency says it is “modifying its regulatory approach” to certificating electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
www.flyingmag.com

This article with no paywall summarizes the main points. So it looks like no major disruptions to certification schedules are anticipated.
 

Faith in batteries

aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org

This article is a few months old, but it explains in great detail the coming reckoning as eVTOL start ups start to realize the serious limitations that current lithium batteries have as well as all the strict regulatory requirements that have to be met regarding battery safety. Not to mention that many companies have completely unrealistic timelines regarding certification and ignore the operational realities of scheduled flights, such as diversions due to weather or delays when coming in to land which will put them in a tight spot with the limited range of these aircraft.
 

From the No-Surprise File: FAA Switches Up On Electric Aircraft Certification

The FAA is signaling that multi-rotors will be certified as special category aircraft, not airplanes that are a little different.
www.avweb.com

I particularly like this quote:

"When a manufacturer says an electric aircraft will be certified by some date, just blot that out. Think about applying an industrial bag of salt and you’ll be about right."

I agree with this. The Boeing Max debacle really screwed it up for all these new entrants be making the FAA much more cautious and hesitant when it comes to certification of any new advanced aircraft.
 
Pipipistrel manufacturing site to be moved in Italy?! How so? Where? Did I read it right?!
 
TomcatViP said:
Pipipistrel manufacturing site to be moved in Italy?! How so? Where? Did I read it right?!
Click to expand...
Pipipistrel has had an Italian plant in Savogna D ‘Isonzo Italy for years, it builds most of their export-market aircraft. He's talking about spreading production of the aircraft in the article there .
 

An electric aircraft just completed a journey of 1,403 miles

Made by Beta Technologies, the aircraft is called Alia. The electric flying machine stopped seven times during its multi-day journey westward.
www.popsci.com

Even though the flight was conducted as a conventional aircraft with no transition to vertical flight, it's still an impressive achievement nontheless.
 
Notice however that all landings and takeoffs were conventional... It's also usual for a record airplane to replace cargo space and load with extra fuel (batteries here). So, this is not in anyway a significant development regarding their design. Neither it is a show of marksmanship given their logistical means. You have teens and broke students that regularly setup raids across an entire nation or continent by themselves with their own money.
 
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To add to what @TomcatViP said, this is a bit misleading. The owners are saying:

"I think that with this type of flight, at a very high level, we change the image of what electric aviation is,” he says. “It’s not an aircraft that’s hopping within a city; it’s not flying test flights around a range, unmanned; it’s you put a couple pilots in it, you put some cargo in it, and you go halfway across the country.”

The normal payload of four passengers was likely replaced with equivalent amount of batteries, the normal drag associated with the stopped rotors isn't there as the picture shows they were faired. Takeoff and landing were in CTOL mode. It's a stunt. What matters is the performance in its intended use. But i get it, they need the buzz to get investment.
Eh, at least they are not making us go through the mental gymnastics required to swallow Lillium's claims that they fly 'an electric jet' and that they have achieved 'wing transition' - whatever that means!
 


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