On Aug. 21, the city council of Marina, California, gave its approval for Joby Aviation to move into two buildings at the Marina Municipal Airport where, according to the Monterey County Weekly, “ they will set about designing and building prototypes of small, electric planes that take off and land vertically, travel faster and more quietly than a helicopter and, according to Joby, do it more safely.”
On July 12, Opener shocked the world by announcing that its BlackFly was the first US- and Canadian-qualified fixed-wing ultralight eVTOL. The company showed stunning video and off-the-charts performance. Here’s the inside story.
On Oct. 5, 2011, Canadian engineer and entrepreneur Marcus Leng flew an eight-rotor tandem-wing electric aircraft from the front yard of his house and became convinced that electric vertical flight had a great future. This aircraft — initially dubbed the “SkyKar Rebel” — was apparently the world’s first fixed-wing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) flight (see www.evtol.news/evtol-timeline).
Uber Elevate has announced five shortlisted finalist countries that could be home to the first international Uber Air City within the next five years. Additionally, Uber Elevate has announced plans to experiment with drone delivery for Uber Eats, and demonstrated how potential Uber Air routes in Asia-Pacific cities could benefit, and complement, local transportation systems.
Vertiflite attended the world’s largest annual gathering of aviation enthusiasts in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to report on the latest developments in vertical flight for the experimental and general aviation market.
The Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual AirVenture fly-in and convention in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was a showcase for conventional rotorcraft and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, with no fewer than eight prototype eVTOL aircraft displayed by five innovative companies and more than 50 rotorcraft showcased by manufacturers, operators and collectors.
One of the reasons why members of the nascent helicopter community decided in early 1943 to establish the American Helicopter Society was because they didn’t feel that they were being taken seriously by the aviation establishment.
Bell filed for a patent entitled “Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) Aircraft” on Jan. 2, 2018, and it was published July 26, 2018. Aviation Week’s Graham Warwick noted (in "Does Patent Application Reveal Bell’s eVTOL Design?, The Weekly Of Business Aviation, Aug. 13, 2018) that it “may provide clues to Bell’s design for [its eVTOL] air taxi.”
Urban Aeronautics has launched full-scale development of its CityHawk hybrid-electric VTOL (see Vertiflite, Jan/Feb 2018). The vehicle will be developed at Urban’s subsidiary, Metro Skyways Ltd, with first manned flights in 2021–22, followed by full certification to US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) FAR Part 27 requirements
Florida-based VerdeGo Aero has refocused its efforts from developing its PAT200 tandem tiltwing eVTOL aircraft towards developing powertrain and controls solutions. The company announced on Aug. 1 that it was launching its Integrated Distributed Electric Propulsion (IDEP) systems to be a supplier for other eVTOL developers.
Workhorse Group has posted video of its SureFly hybrid-electric two-seat eVTOL conducting multiple free flights. In a video posted on YouTube on Aug. 6, 2018, entitled "SureFly 8-2-2018 Flight Test Reel", the aircraft is seen rising up on multiple hovers to a skid height of approximately 10-20 ft (3-6 m) for several seconds at a time, apparently at the Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The CAFE Foundation held its 2018 Electric Aircraft Symposium at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh's Alumni Welcome and Conference Center on Saturday and Sunday July 21-22, 2018, in conjunction with the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA. The title of the CAFE EAS was "The Future of Flight: Electric Aviation Technologies and Opportunities."
