
Leadership Moves, September-October 2021
- 26 Sep 2021 06:57 AM
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Leadership Moves, September-October 2021
Category Filtering: 'xti-aircraft'
Leadership Moves, September-October 2021
On June 9, Xeriant, Inc., a new aerospace technology and advanced materials holding company, announced that it had signed a definitive joint venture agreement with Englewood, Colorado-based XTI Aircraft Company.
Actor, director and activist Christopher Reeve said in a 1996 speech, “So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”
On April 15, Denver, Colorado-based XTI Aircraft Company announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Enterprise Estonia, Estonian Aviation Cluster and the Estonian Aviation Academy (EAVA) to recognize Estonia as a regional mobility hub for the XTI TriFan 600 hybrid-electric eVTOL bizjet.
Numerous electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) designs rely on hybrid electric propulsion to offset the limited power density of current battery technology (see “Halfway to Paradise?” Vertiflite, Sept/Oct 2020).
Recognizing the need for fast, economical, point-to-point cargo and logistics transportation, VerdeGo Aero in Daytona Beach, FL and XTI Aircraft Company in Denver, CO have partnered together on the TriFan 200 program. XTI Aircraft, a leader in next-generation VTOL aircraft, is developing the TriFan 200, a configuration similar to its larger TriFan 600 VTOL passenger aircraft already under development.
Can hybrid-electric propulsion improve the efficiency, economics and noise of rotorcraft until better batteries come along?
XTI Aircraft Company is playing the long game with the ongoing development of its TriFan 600 hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
In the last year, the company — based at Centennial Airport near Denver, Colorado — refined the aircraft’s design, launched flight testing of its large-scale Proof of Concept (POC) vehicle, revitalized its funding program, partnered with a major engine maker, obtained two patents, strengthened upper management and now has a total of 81 orders for its unique aircraft.
XTI Aircraft Company announced on Sept.16 that it was invited to and participated in a large investment trade fair in Guizhou Province, China. A draft agreement was signed regarding the formation of a joint venture in China that could provide the means to assemble and support the TriFan 600 aircraft in Guizhou Province, China, and to market and sell the TriFan 600 in a specified geographical area.
On May 8, 2019, XTI Aircraft announced that they had successfully completed the first test flights of its 65% scale prototype of the TriFan 600 VTOL aircraft:
The TriFan 600 prototype completed multiple takeoffs, hover, and landings, which tested and validated the electric motors, battery power system, ducted fan propulsion, flight controls, other electrical systems and instrumentation. The aircraft was on a short tether during the tests due to its location at an airport in northern California where it was constructed. Future flights at a certified UAV test facility will be untethered in hover and will also test forward, wing-borne flight, as well as the transition phase between vertical and forward-flight modes.