• 28 Aug 2023 12:30 PM
• 0

Textron Nexus Begins Wind Tunnel Tests

Textron eAviation announced on July 17 that It had conducted wind tunnel testing of its Nexus eVTOL aircraft. The 23%-scale model evaluated the performance, stability and control of the vehicle design. “We learned quite a bit about our design [during the wind tunnel tests], and we were really kind of surprised that some of things we thought were going to be challenged weren’t,” said Textron eAviation’s Director of External Affairs Antonio “Tony” LaCorte in a presentation to the VFS Transformative Vertical Flight Working Group 4 on July 20. “We’re pretty impressed by the amount or work they did during the six-to-eight-week period they were there.”

Textron eAviation assumed responsibility for the Nexus eVTOL project in 2021 from Bell, which had originally decided a six tilt-duct Nexus in 2019 for Uber Elevate. Textron eAviation is in the process of building a full-scale prototype of the Nexus and aiming to conduct the first flight of the aircraft towards the end of 2024, said LaCorte. The goal of the company is an in-service date of sometime between 2030 and 2032.