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Doroni Aerospace H1 (technology demonstrator)

Doroni H1 passenger eVTOL technology demonstrator aircraft in flight

 

H1 (technology demonstrator)
Doroni Aerospace
Coral Springs, Florida, USA
www.doroni.io

Founder and CEO Doron Merdinger started the Doroni company in 2016 because he believes the technology is now here to make the future of traveling clean and wheelless. Merdinger from the start, wants his electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to be available to purchase by the consumer, businesses and governments. "Why limit the future?," says Merdinger, "Allow everyone to buy these (aircraft)." As of March 2024, Doroni has raised close to $6 million (USA) with over 430 pre-order requests.

The two most important goals for the company is passenger safety and durability of the aircraft. Safety is achieved by having multiple redundancies built into the aircraft, from multiple propellers and avionics, various anti-collision sensors and to a whole aircraft ballistic parachute. While today's conventional aircraft are overly complicated, durability is achieved by greatly reducing the amount of moving parts, keeping the aircraft simplified, using a modular design for easier maintenance and using off-the-shelf components

Additional and important goals for the aircraft will be its ability to function in a variety of climates and windy conditions, to make the aircraft very easy to fly (simpler than driving a car), provide fast advanced air mobility (AAM), make the aircraft affordable to everyone and have no exhaust pollution. The H1 eVTOL aircraft will have multiple ways for controlling the aircraft including piloting, remote controlled piloting and further into the future, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for autonomous flight.

Instead of using a helicopter or airplane fuselage and then add multiple small electrically powered propellers, the company decided to start with a clean sheet design for their aircraft. The Doroni H1 eVTOL aircraft is not a helicopter or an airplane, it is a new type of aircraft. Doroni has taken the best of all aircraft, designed the aircraft to be as least complicated as possible which increases the safety of the aircraft, reduces with weight of the aircraft, reduces with cost of manufacturing the aircraft, reduces the price of the aircraft and reduces maintenance costs for the aircraft.

The company states their aircraft will be easy to operate and to fly it, the pilot will only need a simple piloting certification which requires a driver's license and a student pilot certificate for Light Sport Aircraft. Its a smart vehicle with advanced electronics such as Wi-Fi enabled, GPS, laser, cameras, barometer and accelerometer. Doroni has estimated they will be test flying the full scale H1 aircraft in 2024.

On June 10, 2021, Space Florida and the Florida Venture Forum announced that Doroni won the 2nd Place prize of $15,000.00 USD at the all-virtual sixth annual 2021 Aerospace Innovation and Tech Forum. Twenty presenting companies were selected from a pool of more than 84+ applicants by a committee of active Florida venture capital investors. Space Florida provided the Accelerating Innovation prize money totaling $100,000.00 USD.

H1 passenger eVTOL technology demonstrator aircraft
The H1 is a two passenger eVTOL open framed technology demonstrator aircraft. The aircraft can be flown remotely or flown by a test pilot. The aircraft was completed in the beginning of 2023. The first tethered flight was in February 2023 and took place the the company's Florida warehouse. The first crewed flight was on July 3, 2023 which took place inside an aircraft hangar. The FAA tail number for the technology demonstrator is N441DA and is listed as an experimental aircraft.

The technology demonstrator has eight propellers, two pair stacked and located on the four corners of the aircraft. The aircraft has eight electric motors and is powered by battery packs. The aircraft has an open framed airframe with an enclosed cockpit. The cockpit has a front window and has no doors. The landing gear is fixed quadricycle wheeled landing gear.

The company received its Special Airworthiness Certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on October 26, 2023 allowing the company to conduct outdoor flights.

H1 technology demonstrator parked in hangar, rear view

H1 technology demonstrator parked in hangar, rear view

Specifications:

  • Aircraft type: Passenger eVTOL technology demonstrator aircraft
  • Piloting: 1 pilot or remote controlled
  • Capacity: 1 passenger
  • Cruise speed:
  • Propellers: 8 propellers
  • Electric Motors: 8 electric motors
  • Power source: Battery packs
  • Fuselage: Open framed fuselage
  • Windows: Enclosed cockpit with a front window and no doors
  • Landing gear: Fixed quadricycle wheeled landing gear
  • Safety Features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP), provides safety through redundancy for its passengers and/or cargo. DEP means having multiple propellers and motors on the aircraft so if one or more motors or propellers fail, the other working motors and propellers can safely land the aircraft. The louvers on the ducted propellers are to keep the passengers and ground crew from being exposed to turning propellers. Also, the louvers are designed to help keep out flying objects from hitting the propellers. In addition, the aircraft also has multiple anti-collision sensors, safety emergency landing protocols, an energy dissipating body, redundant avionics systems, air bags and a whole aircraft parachute.

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