News

EHang Flies in Austria

• 23 Apr 2019 03:09 PM
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On April 4, the EHang Air Mobility Group, based in Guangzhou, China, and the Austrian FACC aviation company flew media representatives on demonstration flights in the two-seat EHang 216 eVTOL. The flights were conducted in the Generali Arena in Vienna, Austria. EHang is part of the Urban Air Mobility Project — established with FACC and 4GAMECHANGERS / ProSiebenSat.1 PULS 4 — which is intended to be open to others interested in supporting the initiation and operation of eVTOL air taxis in Austria by 2020.

eVTOL Corporate Leadership Moves

• 22 Apr 2019 08:04 PM
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Opener, the developer of the BlackFly electric Personal Aerial Vehicle (ePAV) for consumer travel, has appointed a president, Ben Diachun, the company announced on April 2. He will report to Marcus Leng, Opener founder and CEO. Diachun comes from Scaled Composites; Burt Rutan lauded Diachun, stating, “Ben Diachun’s spark of genius enhances any company he joins.... As an engineer, Ben played a key role in the creation of 14 revolutionary experimental aircraft, and as the President of Scaled Composites, he developed a talented team, explored new innovations and ensured our growth.”

XTI TriFan 600 Nearly Complete

• 22 Apr 2019 03:07 PM
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Englewood, Colorado-based XTI Aircraft Company announced in a March 23 tweet that it was making progress with their 65%-scale hybrid-electric VTOL demonstrator: “Finalizing assembly and preparing for first flight … new motors arrive this week, fly soon after!!”

Pop.Up Next Will Take Off

• 22 Apr 2019 03:04 PM
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Volkswagen AG, the owner of the Audi brand, announced on March 21 that it and its partners would build a full-scale demonstrator of its Pop.Up Next multi-modal eVTOL system and fly it by the end of 2020. The joint Airbus-Audi-Italdesign system was originally proposed only as a feasibility concept (before Audi was added), then just called “Pop.Up,” in March 2017, although generally similar in appearance to the concurrent Airbus CityAirbus eVTOL approach.

Rolls-Royce Revs Hybrid Engine

• 22 Apr 2019 03:01 PM
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Rolls-Royce announced on March 14 that the company had conducted successful ground tests of a hybrid system using the company’s ubiquitous M250 gas turbine. The company said that it successfully tested the hybrid version of the M250 gas turbine in a ground demonstration setting in three operating modes: series hybrid, parallel hybrid and turbo-electric.

CityAirbus Demonstrator Unveiled

• 22 Apr 2019 02:44 PM
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Airbus revealed photos of its completed but unpainted unmanned CityAirbus at Heli-Expo on March 5, followed by an official unveiling of the demonstrator in Ingolstadt, Germany, on March 11. Developed about 35 miles (60 km) away at the company’s Donauwörth, Germany, plant, the aircraft will be tested at the Ingolstadt Manching Airport.

AutoFlightX Breaks Cover

• 18 Apr 2019 09:01 PM
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AutoFlightX GmbH, based near Munich, Germany, unveiled its full-sized V600 prototype on April 10, 2019, at the AERO Friedrichshafen 2019 aviation trade show. The two-place, all-electric AutoFlightX V600 has six propellers for lift fitted on two booms parallel to the fuselage and a pusher propeller in the rear for forward flight.

eVTOL Short Course VOD

• 31 Mar 2019 12:27 PM
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A new short course on eVTOL Design has been added to the VFS video-on-demand educational series:

• Electric VTOL Design Short Course, Jan 2019: This 7-hour course, taught by renowned eVTOL designer Dr. James Wang, provides an overview of the unique design challenges and opportunities of this new class of vehicles. Both electric and hybrid-electric passenger-carrying vertical flight aircraft are covered for a variety of missions ranging from personal/private use to urban air taxis to regional electric VTOL bizjets. Download the course description for this insightful course.

The Electric VTOL News eNewsletter

• 15 Mar 2019 12:16 PM
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The Electric VTOL News™ eNewsletter started in 2016 as a means to inform the attendees of the VFS Transformative Vertical Flight Workshops and interested parties of news in the eVTOL world. Since then, it has grown to be a regular report on eVTOL aircraft, progress and developments. Since April 2017, it has also highlighted new aircraft in the World eVTOL Aircraft Directory and other resources on the eVTOL.news website.

4th Congressional Hearing on UAM

• 13 Mar 2019 05:02 PM
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On Tuesday, March 12, 2019, the US House of Representatives Transportation & Infrastructure Committee's Aviation Subcommittee held a hearing on "Looking Forward: Aviation 2050" that included testimony on Urban Air Mobility (UAM) by Eric Allison, Head of Uber Elevate. The video lasts 2 hours 22 minutes.