Hi-Fly Cargo

Cargo
Hi-Fly
Malobykovo, Belgorod Oblast, Russia
www.hi-fly.ru

Founded in December 2020, Hi-Fly is in the business of designing and manufacturing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) passenger and cargo aircraft. Hi-Fly is an branch of the Biruch Innovation Center company. The Biruch Innovation Center is both a scientific and social innovations company. Hi-Fly's purpose is to improve the quality of people's lives providing them with fast air transportation, ultimately providing more personal time in their lives. With too many cars on the road causing traffic delays, the company foresees local air travel to be the only way to solve the massive amount of time it takes to use ground vehicles to drive to work, shop and drive for leisure activities. 

Passenger and cargo aircraft are being developed simultaneously. Each aircraft has its own unique clean-sheet design. The passenger aircraft is a multicopter design and the cargo aircraft has ducted rotating propellers with a high gull-wing.

Current and future flight goals:

• First flight of prototype: June 2021
• Flying prototype in different weather conditions: November 2021
• Achieve payload of 120 kg: 2022
• Achieve flight range of 40 km: 2023
• Achieve 120 of flight duration: 2024
• Production aircraft: 2028

The Hi-Fly Cargo drone is short to medium range heavy-lift cargo drone that can be remotely piloted and in the future, will be capable of autonomous flight. The payload of the aircraft is 220 kg (485 lb), has an estimated cruise speed of 300 km/h (186 mph) and has a range of 600 km (373 miles). The aircraft has eight propellers, eight electric motors, one high gull-wing and fixed skid type landing gear.

The wing on the aircraft greatly improves the range of the drone making the Hi-Fly Cargo more valuable than eVTOL aircraft without wings. There are four permanently installed VTOL-only propellers which are integrated into the gull-wing. There are also four ducted propellers attached to the lower four corners of the fuselage and each of these propellers rotate for forward, reverse and VTOL flight. Each rotating propellers can turn independently of each other and all propellers turn at different speeds, providing precision maneuvering in calm and gusty wind conditions.

According to the company, the aircraft has been designed to help fly cargo for last mile cargo delivery and for hard to reach areas. With that said, the cargo drone could easily be used for urban to urban cargo delivery, rural to rural deliveries, and cargo deliveries between urban and rural areas.

The first Hi-Fly prototype flight took place in June 2021 and its first weather flights took place in November 2021. The company expects to start serial production of the cargo aircraft in 2028.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: eVTOL cargo multicopter
• Piloting: Remote or autonomous (no pilots, no passengers)
• Cruise speed: 300 km/h (186 mph)
• Range: 600 km (373 miles)
• Flight time: Unknown
• Cruise altitude: Unknown
• Maximum payload: 220 kg (485 lb)
• Propellers: 8 propellers
• Electric motors: 8 electric motors
• Power source: Batteries
• Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite
• Wings: 1 high gull-wing
• Landing gear: Fixed skid landing gear
• Safety features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP), provides safety through redundancy for its passengers and/or cargo. DEP means having multiple propellers (or ducted fans) and motors on the aircraft so if one or more propellers (ducted fans) or motors fail, the other working propellers (or ducted fans) and motors can safely land the aircraft. There are also redundancies in the sub-systems of the aircraft.

Resources:

• Hi-Fly website
• Biruch website
• Hi-Fly YouTube Channel
• Video: Hi-Fly development process, Hi-Fly, Dec. 9, 2021
• Video: First flight of Hi-Fly, Hi-Fly, Dec. 9, 2021
• Video: Hi-Fly air taxi testing (November 2021), Hi-Fly, Feb. 10, 2022
• Video: About the Hi-Fly project, Hi-Fly, Feb. 20, 2022
• Video: We invite you to the Hi Fly team!, Hi-Fly, Feb. 25, 2022
• Article: The Russian cargo drone Hi-Fly Cargo has been tested – it can quickly transport up to 120 kg for 20 km, Aroged, Apr. 11, 2022
• Article: Presented Russian drone for the delivery of people and goods Hi-Fly S700, DigitNews, July 7, 2022