Leo Flight LX1-R (technology demonstrator)

(Photo credit: Leo Flight Corporation)

LX1-R (technology demonstrator)
Leo Flight Corporation
Anderson, Indiana, USA
www.leoflight.com

Based in the USA, Pete Bitar and Carlos Salaff partnered together in the spring of 2021 and founded the company Leo Flight Corporation (formerly Urban eVTOL, LLC). The joint-venture is from Bitar's company Electric Jet Aircraft and Salaff's company SALAFF Automotive to design and manufacture electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) flying cars for advanced air mobility (AAM). The company is looking for investors.

Bitar is an avid VTOL and eVTOL inventor with over 14 patents to his name, has won multiple aerospace awards and has owned five companies throughout his career. His last two companies were AirBuoyant, LLC and Electric Jet Aircraft. Salaff is an automotive designer working with futuristic concept and production cars when at Mazda, including the Nagare, Furai, Mazda 3 and MX-5. He has won multiple design awards, has always had an interest in aerospace and outer space, and recently designed a Space Age inspired mobile office and lounge called the Pod Van.

LX1-R crewed eVTOL aircraft (technology demonstrator)
The LX1-R is a crewed eVTOL technology demonstrator aircraft than has been successfully flown by a test pilot. The technology demonstrator is a working prototype built to test the concept, avionics, components, materials, aerodynamics and collects flight test data and to help move the aircraft forward to the eventual goal of manufacturing a production aircraft. Technology demonstrators do not necessarily have to look like anything like the planned production aircraft. 

The company built two technology demonstrators. The first demonstrator had a framed square roll bar and was remotely piloted. The second demonstrator had a test pilot flying the aircraft and without a roll bar. Both demonstrators had an open cockpit. Both demonstrators had 60 electric ducted fans (EDFs), 60 electric motors and were powered by batteries. The fuselage is made from carbon fiber composite to give the aircraft a high strength to low weight ratio. Both demonstrators land on the bottom of the fuselage. 

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: Crewed eVTOL aircraft (technology demonstrator)
• Piloting: 1 pilot
• Cruise speed: Unknown
• Propellers: 60 EDFs (15 per quadrant). EDF = Electric ducted fan.
• Electric motors: 60 electric motors
• Power source: Batteries
• Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite with an open framed fuselage
• Size of fuselage: 6.5 ft (1.98 m) x 6.5 ft (1.98 m)
• Cockpit: Open cockpit
• Landing gear: Sits on the bottom of its fuselage
• Safety features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP) uses multiple propellers or electric ducted fans, each powered by electric motors, to increase safety through redundancy. If one or more components fail, the remaining ones can still ensure a safe landing. There are also redundancies of critical components in the sub-systems of the aircraft providing safety through redundancy. Having multiple redundant systems on any aircraft decreases having any single point of failure. The aircraft has no moving surfaces or tilting parts when transitioning from vertical to forward flight and the reverse which increases safety by reducing complexity.

Company Insights:

• LEO Flight Wikipedia

Resources:

• LEO Flight Corporation website
• LEO Flight Corporation Instagram
• LEO Flight YouTube
• LEO Flight TikTok
• LEO Flight LinkedIn
• Video: How It Works | Testing Propeller-Free Electric Jet Tech for LEO JetBike, LEO Flight, Nov. 18, 2025
• Article: Electric solo jetbike hovers as personal air vehicle for pilots without license, Architectural Wise Magazine, Nov. 2025
• Article and Video: Electric solo jetbike hovers as personal air vehicle for pilots without license, Design Boom, Nov. 27, 2025