• 27 Apr 2025 07:55 AM
• 0

CycloTech Begins Test Flights With BlackBird

On April 3, CycloTech GmbH disclosed the first flight of its BlackBird demonstrator aircraft as the start of a campaign to test its 360-degree thrust vectoring CycloRotor propulsion. The company, founded in 2004 in Austria as IAT 21, launched the BlackBird project in April 2024, assembled the demonstrator within 10 months and completed ground tests prior to the first flight test on March 27.

The BlackBird has six CycloRotors, which are a series of propeller blades mounted on both ends to rotating disks, forming what could be called a bladed cylinder. Each propeller can continuously change its angle or pitch, while the blades tilt gradually into the wind or tilt back to flat depending on their rotation. This design is aimed at high-precision flight in all directions.