• 11 Sep 2021 05:08 PM
• 0

Dufour Spreads its Wings

Dufour Aerospace, based in Visp, Switzerland, unveiled the latest iteration of its aEro 3 eVTOL tiltwing design. The company was founded in 2017 after building its electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) aEro 1 design. Its initial aEro 2 electric tiltwing concept featured a pair of electric propellers. This was followed by a subscale technology demonstrator with four propellers on the wing and ducted tail fan nozzles for yaw and pitch control; the latest version, which was unveiled in August, has six. The sleek new design now has an H-tail instead of the previous conventional tail with a large ventral fin, as well as counter-rotating, stacked, vertical-thrust tail propellers for low-speed pitch control. The company plans to commercialize its aEro 2 design as a drone.