XTI TriFan 665 flies!
- 08 May 2019 01:03 PM
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On May 8, 2019, XTI Aircraft announced that they had successfully completed the first test flights of its 65% scale prototype of the TriFan 600 VTOL aircraft.
News
VFS at AUVSI XPO2019
- 06 May 2019 12:33 PM
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On Monday, April 29, 2019, the Vertical Flight Society hosted a panel at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) XPONENTIAL 2019 trade show, with some 200 attendees.
Flying Solo: GoFly Advances Single-Passenger Air Mobility Solutions
- 25 Apr 2019 10:01 AM
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The $2M GoFly Prize competition has completed its second phase and has so far received more interest than ever imagined. The idea to fund safe and innovative designs for a personal flying machine was a longtime dream for Gwen Lighter and she worked for years to get it started, including getting help from the Vertical Flight Society and other experts (see “AHS Supports GoFly!,” Vertiflite, Nov/Dec 2017).
The Electric VTOL Industry Shifts Gears
- 24 Apr 2019 10:58 PM
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A VFS panel and other discussions at Heli-Expo provided an opportunity for the commercial helicopter operating community to ask some tough questions about eVTOL technology.
For the second year in a row, the Vertical Flight Society organized a panel discussion at Heli-Expo to brief the civil helicopter industry and operators on electric- and hybrid-electric-powered vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft opportunities and challenges.
Bell Nexus Partners Connect
- 24 Apr 2019 09:26 AM
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Bell and its partners talk about its Nexus eVTOL and the team’s approach to creating a revolutionary new type of aircraft.
As its name suggests, the Bell Nexus hybrid-electric VTOL is all about making connections.
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.
