• 10 Nov 2022 03:13 AM
• 0

Kittyhawk Winding Down

This is a sidebar to the article, "Wisk 6th Gen Breaks Cover," from Vertiflite November/December 2022

In a surprise announcement on Sept. 21, Kitty Hawk Corporation, the California-based eVTOL developer backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, said that it will “wind down” operations. The company (which earlier this year began going by “Kittyhawk”) shared the news in posts to social media, though it declined to provide a specific reason for the decision, nor a timeline for closure; many employees had left the company over preceding few months.

Kittyhawk had been working with the US Air Force on the military applications of its Heaviside single-seat eVTOL aircraft since last year (see “US Air Force Tells Congress of Agility Prime Successes,” Vertiflite, November/December 2022). Analysts have speculated that, like the now defunct single-seat Kittyhawk Flyer, the business case for a one-person eVTOL was not sufficient to continue.

Wisk said in a Sept. 21 post on Twitter that Kittyhawk’s decision did not impact the company and that it remains in a “strong financial position.”

Featured image caption: Kittyhawk Heaviside flying uncrewed. (Kittyhawk image)