News

eVTOL at Heli Expo 2018

• 20 Apr 2018 04:51 PM
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For those who knew to look for it as something potentially revolutionary — rather than some crazy idea for a far-away future — electric VTOL almost broke into the mainstream this year. On Monday, Feb. 26, the day before Heli-Expo began, AHS Executive Director Mike Hirschberg gave a press briefing, entitled, “The Future of Vertical Flight,” providing a perspective on the global vertical flight market and technological development, including the potential of eVTOL.

Meet Cora

• 19 Apr 2018 01:19 PM
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On March 12, Kitty Hawk revealed its latest surprise: Cora. After nearly eight years of secretive electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft development, the Mountain View, California-based company backed by Google co-founder Larry Page finally went public. With the hashtag #MeetCora, Kitty Hawk announced that it had been flying a two-seat derivative of the Zee Aero Z-P2 (see “Electric VTOL News,” Vertiflite March/April 2018) in California and in New Zealand. The company also announced that it had established Zephyr Airworks, the operator of Cora in New Zealand.

AHS is the Vertical Flight Society

• 19 Apr 2018 12:52 PM
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AHS International is pleased to announce that the Society is rebranding to better reflect our membership and our role in the world.

After years of discussion and months of debate, the Board of Directors of AHS International voted to change the identity of AHS to the “Vertical Flight Society,” the moniker that the Society had been using in various forms for at least a half century. While not a legal name change, the “Vertical Flight Society” will become the “trade name” for AHS.

XTI Aircraft Prototype Begins to Come Together

• 01 Apr 2018 11:29 AM
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XTI Aircraft announced on Feb. 20 that it was on schedule and on budget as it completed the ducts and fans for its 60% scale flying prototype of the TriFan 600 aircraft, and moved toward ground testing those components (see “XTI Aircraft Refines Its TriFan 600 VTOL BizJet,” Vertiflite March/April 2018).

EHANG Doubles its 184

• 01 Apr 2018 11:27 AM
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In February 2018, EHANG — a major player in the quadcopter market — revealed a new version of its 184 eVTOL drone with two-seats and twice as many arms and propellers. The new version can carry a total payload of up to 620 lb (280 kg). The company had unveiled the original 184, whose name means “1 passenger, 8 propellers, 4 arms”, in January 2016 at the Consumer Electronics Show.

HopFlyt Begins Scale Hover Tests

• 01 Apr 2018 11:25 AM
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The American company HopFlyt began hovering tests of its Venturi one-seventh scale model in its hangar in Lusby, Maryland, in December. The Venturi pairs variable incidence, tandem channel wings with eight counter-rotating propellers within the channels that can generate very high levels of static thrust and lift while reducing propeller noise.

AeroMobil 5.0 eVTOL Flying Car Planned

• 01 Apr 2018 09:24 AM
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Bratislava, Slovakia-based AeroMobil s.r.o. was founded in 2010 to develop vehicles that can convert from street-legal automobiles to aircraft, though the AeroMobil design has been in development since 1990. The company flew its 3.0 short takeoff and landing (STOL) design in 2013 and announced its 4.0 production model in April 2017, capable of STOL operations from 650 ft (200 m) grass strips; the company is currently taking pre-orders for the vehicle.

Dufour Unveils electric VTOL tiltwing

• 31 Mar 2018 04:40 PM
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On March 7, 2018, Zurich, Switzerland-based Dufour Aerospace announced the development of its latest aircraft, the aEro 2. Building on the success of its aEro 1 fully-electric aerobatic plane — which first flew in June 2016 — the aEro 2 is a modular hybrid-electric VTOL.

Uber presentations to USHST Infrastructure Summit

• 23 Mar 2018 04:37 PM
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The US Helicopter Safety Team has held an Infrastructure Summit annually since February 2016; the last two featured presentations on the Uber Elevate ecosystem plans. Both presentations are now available online.

eVTOL News at Heli-Expo 2018

• 22 Mar 2018 12:31 PM
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AHS International Executive Director Mike Hirschberg hosted a panel discussing the promise, progress and challenges of electric VTOL aircraft development. More than 50 companies are currently developing eVTOL aircraft (see the AHS website, www.eVTOL.news), with several in advanced stages of flight testing. Industry experts expect these new products to enter the market in the next 5-10 years, and expand the operational opportunities for rotorcraft operators, due to their extremely low noise and low operating costs.