Category Filtering: 'vertiflite'
In conjunction with this year’s Transformative Vertical Flight (TVF2022) meeting, an exclusive opportunity for attendees to see six experimental eVTOL aircraft was held on Friday morning, Jan. 28 at the nearby Hiller Aviation Museum at San Carlos Airport.
Transformative Vertical Flight (TVF) 2022 was held Jan. 25–27, with some 375 participants in San Jose, California, and another 200 attendees online, in the first hybrid event organized by VFS.
Joby Aviation has made significant strides in its efforts to demonstrate the capabilities of its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft with the US Air Force and advance its civil certification with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The company has been pushing the boundaries in terms of aircraft performance, experiencing the highs of record-setting highs and the lows of losing its first pre-production aircraft in an accident.
In January, the US Air Force selected 11 companies to proceed with the conceptual development of a high-speed vertical takeoff and landing (HSVTOL) aircraft. Initiated in the spring of 2021 as the High-Speed VTOL Challenge, the effort is a collaboration between AFWERX, the Air Force’s innovation hub, and US Special Operations Command (SOCOM).
Both the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) industry and the drone industry are experiencing a talent crisis. According to DroneAnalyst’s “2021 Drone Market Sector Report,” pilots are at a premium. A 2020 VFS study indicated that 10,000 additional engineers will be needed over the next decade in vertical flight to meet the simultaneous demands of ramping up development of military rotorcraft and electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The current talent pool is simply not large enough to meet these demands.
This series addresses the uses of terminology that drift toward becoming routine expressions or idioms — or already are — but are misleading or erroneous. Last issue’s “Coming to Terms” column on the definition of the word “rotor” generated a significant amount of discussion. The article was featured on the VFS eVTOL.news website and e-newsletter, with several thoughtful comments posted the first day, followed by emails to the author and Vertiflite.
The H2eVTOL Council is now comprised of almost 200 senior engineers and leaders from eVTOL developers, professional societies, universities and government agencies, with the goal to help mobilize the global aerospace community and adjacent industries toward the transformation of air mobility, powered by hydrogen.
The 2021 clicks are in and the results speak to the breadth and depth of the detailed stories published on eVTOL.news. Here are the top 10 feature articles published in 2021.
Over the last two years, Skyworks has posted a steady stream of news regarding its gyroplane products, investments and partnerships, a clear indication that this industry veteran is serious about penetrating the AAM sector.
I’ve been appalled to hear and see some of the gender bias — even today, in the 2020s! — in our industry. As a white man, it’s been easy to think that civilized society has transcended some of the more puerile behavior, but listening more to women tell these stories as a common occurrence has been a wakeup call.
