In October, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) updated its Aviation Accident Preliminary Report on the June 4 crash of the Aurora Flight Sciences “Pegasus” Passenger Air Vehicle (PAV) demonstrator. The unmanned aircraft (N83AU), sized for two seats, was destroyed on its fifth flight.
On Dec. 1, the vertical flight community learned that the Cora two-seat, lift-plus-cruise electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) program was moving to a joint venture established by The Boeing Company and Kitty Hawk Corporation called Wisk Aero.
This is quite the remarkable accomplishment for the Silicon Valley technology company, considering that most in the aerospace community didn’t know that this stealth eVTOL program existed less than two years ago.
European views on how soon and how best electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft might create new transportation markets differ — in some cases strongly — with the vision being pushed by urban air mobility (UAM) promoters, such as Uber. At its Uber Elevate Summit in Washington in June, the ride-hailing company promised it was on track to launch air taxi demonstration flights with its partners in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in 2020 and to begin actual commercial service in 2023.
Summer 2019 brought 70 interns — from Puerto Rico, 44 continental US states, Sweden, and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago — into the NASA Ames Aeromechanics Branch. Some were high school students learning engineering for the first time, while most were mechanical and aerospace engineering students, though two physics majors and a math major jumped into the mix to provide balance.
On Dec. 20, Uber announced that the company had signed a multi-year commercial partnership with Joby Aviation to launch a fast, reliable, clean and affordable urban air taxi service in select markets. Joby will supply and operate the electric air taxis, and Uber will provide airspace support services, skyport infrastructure, connections to ground transportation and customer interfaces through its aerial rideshare network.
Joby Aviation and Uber have signed a multi-year commercial partnership to launch a fast, reliable, clean and affordable urban air taxi service in select markets. Joby Aviation will supply and operate the electric air taxis, and Uber will provide airspace support services, skyport infrastructure, connections to ground transportation, and customer interfaces through an aerial rideshare network.
On Nov. 13, VFS was a signatory of a letter sent to the Trump Administration in support of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) research and development. The letter was written in response to the Aug. 30, 2019, White House Policy Memorandum, “Fiscal Year 2021 Administration Research and Development Budget Priorities,” which included eVTOL.
The Vertical Flight Society held its quadrennial Propulsion and Power Technical Meeting at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton, Virginia, on Oct. 29-30, 2019. The theme of the two-day conference was “Powering the Future of Vertical Flight,” which highlighted research and development efforts — both current and planned — related to manned and unmanned rotorcraft and other vertical flight vehicles.
The Vertical Flight Society's Vertiflite contributor Ian Frain attended the Dubai Airshow 2019, held Nov. 17-21 at the Dubai South Event and Exhibition Center, Al Maktoum International Airport, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The Vertical Flight Society recently added several eVTOL video interviews to its YouTube Channel:
