News

Inside Joby’s Unicorn: Flight Tests and Patents Reveal New Details

• 22 Dec 2020 02:35 PM
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By Kenneth I. Swartz
Vertiflite, Jan/Feb 2021

Joby Transitions

• 22 Dec 2020 12:10 PM
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In the year since Joby Aviation saw its valuation pass the $1B mark — known as a unicorn — the company has become more public in its quest to become first to market in the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi market. The recent release of photos and video showing the Joby Generation 2.0 aircraft hovering and in wingborne flight highlights the continuing advances in the aircraft’s flight test program.

Commentary: Uber's Legacy: Elevating the Electric VTOL Revolution

• 21 Dec 2020 02:48 PM
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Until recently, Uber was often one of those companies that people seem to love to hate. Stemming from the well-publicized antics of its founding CEO Travis Kalanick, workplace scandals and the no-holds-barred expansion strategy of its startup years, most people were skeptical and suspicious of Uber’s intentions and motivations when it announced its interest in electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

CAAM Accelerates eVTOL in Canada

• 21 Dec 2020 12:53 PM
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The Vancouver-based Canadian Advanced Air Mobility (CAAM) Consortium commissioned three new studies to better understand how advanced air mobility (AAM) activities will impact the Greater Vancouver economy, environment and social engagement, the so-called Triple Bottom Line.

VFS Chapters Raise the Bar for Virtual Meetings

• 21 Dec 2020 11:16 AM
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Beginning in April, the Vertical Flight Society started providing virtual content with both industry interviews and virtual chapter meetings. Links to past and future webinars are available at www.vtol.org/webinars. Below is a roundup of a dozen of the webinars organized by the chapters and headquarters since the last issue of Vertiflite.

Coming to Terms: “Levels of Autonomy” is Unsound

• 21 Dec 2020 09:26 AM
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Autonomy, among the hottest topics in aviation today, lacks a clear and agreed-upon definition, though a consensus is emerging.

Multiple aviation “level of autonomy” scales have been put forward, such as Autonomy Levels for Unmanned Systems (ALFUS) by US government’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). But the adjective “autonomous” is binary: either an actor (person or system) performs a task autonomously or it has supervision.

Florida Launches First eVTOL Vertiport for Lilium

• 11 Nov 2020 12:00 PM
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The city of Orlando, Florida, along with the Tavistock Development Company and Lilium, announced on Nov. 11, 2020, that Lake Nona — adjacent to Orlando International Airport (MCO) — would be the site of what it called the first eVTOL vertiport in the world.

GoFly Teams Prepare to Fly Again

• 05 Nov 2020 07:09 PM
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The GoFly Prize was unclaimed in the Final Fly Off in February. Here is the story of the 21 teams who attended and their status during the pandemic. This is a follow-on to the article “GoFly Inspires Innovation.”

DragonAir Stands Tall

• 05 Nov 2020 10:35 AM
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DragonAir Aviation’s viral YouTube videos have turned millions of viewers on to the idea of personal VTOL flight.

Coming to Terms: Let's Talk About "Flying Cars"

• 03 Nov 2020 01:54 PM
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Everyone knows what a car is. The dominant configuration is a self-propelled, wheeled ground vehicle that carries a driver and one or more passengers, often built in large quantities on efficient production lines and usually made compliant with the regional rules of the road. Affordable, safe transportation that is there when we need it, that starts every time, is easy to own and easy to operate. The reliable family car.