Since 2014, the Vertical Flight Society has been leading efforts to promote the advancement of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and their operations for a variety of advanced air mobility (AAM) missions, including for the subset of urban air mobility (UAM).
After a full year of precautionary measures related COVID-19, VFS continues to provide webinars on relevant vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and electric VTOL (eVTOL) developments to keep members learning and actively engaged.
On March 30, Lilium GmbH announced that it had agreed to merge with Qell Acquisition Corp., and revealed the development of its 7-seat Lilium Jet.
Today, the Toronto-based aerospace consultant, photojournalist and VFS Board member is a subject matter expert on a wide range of vertical, short and conventional takeoff and landing (VTOL, STOL and CTOL) aircraft operations.
As we turned the calendar over to 2021, VFS continued to provide webinars on relevant vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and electric VTOL (eVTOL) developments to keep members learning and engaged. Links to past and future webinars are available at www.vtol.org/webinars.
The 9th Biennial Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting and 8th Annual Electric VTOL Symposium was held Jan. 26–28, sponsored by the VFS Arizona Chapter.
The explosive growth in eVTOL has led to the formation of two collaborative councils to advance the understanding. Both councils report to the VFS provisional Electric VTOL Technical Committee, led by Dr. Anubhav Datta. Contact Jim Sherman at jsherman[at]vtol.org for more information or to join.
In Germany, there are two main providers of helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS): the DRF Luftrettung (“German Air Rescue” — originally Deutsche Rettungsflugwacht e.V.) and ADAC Luftrettung, run by the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club e.V. (“General German Automobile Association”).
Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer Archer Aviation announced an agreement on Jan. 12 with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles — which has now merged with the French car company Groupe PSA (Peugeot) to form Stellantis — for the startup to benefit from the automaker’s low-cost supply chain, advanced composite material capabilities, and engineering and design experience.
The US Air Force officially launched its Agility Prime initiative when it issued a request for information (RFI) on Dec. 17, 2019 — the 116th anniversary of the Wright Flyer making the first heavier-than-air powered flight. In the first intake of companies in the Air Force’s “Air Race to Certification,” some 20 eVTOL companies applied to participate.
