ElectraFly ElectraFlyer

ElectraFlyer
ElectraFly
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A.
www.electrafly.com

ElectraFly’s ElectraFlyer is a single person hybrid electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) multicopter that will be used as a hover or personal flying device.

The ElecraFlyer has four horizontal electrically powered propellers above the passenger’s head. They do not have enough vertical thrust to lift the 34 kg vehicle and its additional payload. It also employs a small jet turbine engine that produces 27 kgs of thrusts downward when hovering and pitches partially aft for flight mode. The turbine reduces the weight the propellers need to lift. The engine can also help recharge the flight batteries. The ElectraFlyer also has four wings for lift that can pitch to point upward in hover mode to reduce their impact on the propeller’s down wash. The vehicle hovers with its nose pitched 20 degrees above ground. When it goes into flight mode it is oriented level to the ground, reducing the pitch to drag penalty many vehicles experience. It can be piloted remotely or with two joysticks.

The vehicle will have multiple applications including military transport, sports flying for short hops (the company can envision luxury yacht owners flying it to shore) and cargo.

The Electraflyer was successfully flight tested while unmanned in August 2018. It has a Memorandum of Understanding to test the vehicle at Utah’s Unmanned Aircraft System test site with a manned test is planned the first half of 2019.

Resources:

• Company website
• Article: New take on personal flying, AOPA News
• Video: Interdrone 2018 | Interviews | Electrafly and their flying bike, September 7, 2018
• Video: Roswell Flight Test Crew Video, September 13, 2018
• Article: Single-person Multicopter Touted As Soldier Transport , Aviation Week, December 12, 2018
• Article: ElectraFly and Utah Association to Collaborate on 3D Parts, evtol.news, June 12, 2020