Piasecki PA-890 (concept design)

PA-890 (concept design)
Piasecki Aircraft Corporation
Essington, Pennsylvania, USA
www.piasecki.com

Piasecki Aircraft Corporation was founded by Frank Piasecki in 1955 in Pennsylvania, USA. The company's origin dates back to 1936 with the P-V Engineering Forum and with a name change from the P-V Engineering Forum in 1946 to the Piasecki Helicopter Corporation. After a disagreements with other owners, Frank Piasecki and some of his design team left Piasecki Helicopter Corporation and formed the Piasecki Aircraft Corporation in 1955.

Today, the company is in the research and development business specializing in design, fabrication and flight testing of experimental rotorcraft and unmanned air vehicles. Piasecki's expertise lies in rapid prototyping and developing ground-breaking technologies resulting in aircraft design, development, qualification and flight testing. The company maintains an AS9100 certified quality system.

Here is a partial list of some of the helicopters and VTOL aircraft Piasecki designed, manufactured and have flown.

• PV-1 (Helicopter demonstrator, 1 main rotorblade, fan in tail cone
• PV-2 (Second successful flying helicopter in the USA, one main rotorblade, one tail canyon)
• XHRP-X Dogship (World's first tandem helicopter)
• XHJP-1 (First overlapped tandem helicopter)
• HRP-1 (World's first transport helicopter in production)
• YH-16 (World's largest helicopter, 1953)
• PH-26 (This helicopter led to the development to the CH-46 Sea Knight and CH-47 Chinook helicopters)
• H-25, HUP-1, HUP-2, XHRP-1, YH-21, H-21A Workhorse, HRP-2, H-21B, H-21C (Tandem helicopters)
• PA-59k, PA59N, PA-59H (Flying platform or Jeep)
• PA4 Sea Bat (First drone, USA)
• PA-2C Ring-Wing (First VTOL concept aircraft)
• 16H-1 Pathfinder (First shaft driven compound helicopter)
• 16H-1A Pathfinder II, 16H-3F, 16H-3J, MLR, AH-1, AH-64 VTCAD, AH-64 VTDP, AH-1 VTCAD, 4BW VTDP, H-60 VTDP, JHL,  (Compound helicopters)
• PA-39-54E (Heavy-lift helicopter)
• SH-2D/RT (Helicopter)
• STAMP (Platform or drone?)
• PA-97-34J (Heavy vertical airlifter, dirigible airship)
• W-3A Sokol (Helicopter)
• Sea Spy, Air Guard, Air Scout, Drexel (VTOL UAV)
• ARES, OVX (VTOL aircraft)

PA-890 passenger eVTOL concept design slow-rotor winged compound helicopter
The Piasecki PA-890 is a five passenger all-electric eVTOL concept design slowed-rotor winged compound helicopter. The cabin interior can be redesigned for many different types of missions. It is intended for use in a variety of missions including delivery of high-value On-Demand Logistics (ODL); On-Demand Mobility (ODM) personnel air transport; Emergency Medical Services (EMS), as well as potentially aerial tourism and other commercial applications. Piasecki Aircraft Corporation is currently looking for investors to make a working prototype with eyes to the future for commercial and military production.

While Piasecki Aircraft Corporation unsuccessfully bid on the Joint Multi-Role (JMR) helicopter program (U.S. Armed Forces), they continue to pursue advanced compound helicopter designs that could evolve into a standalone Future Vertical Lift (FVL) class aircraft or as an upgrade to the current fleets. Chief Executive John Piasecki believes the winged compound helicopter design part of the overall mix of the US Army’s FVL.

The PA-890 all-electric compound commercial helicopter will revolutionize the commercial rotorcraft marketplace. All-electric VTOL aircraft are expected to provide significantly improved lifetime ownership costs for their users compared with today’s fossil-fuel powered aircraft. The low disk loading of the PA-890 eVTOL is aimed at delivering good hover performance with low installed power and decreased noise signature that will be more acceptable to the general public during operation in urban environments. The use of conventional rotorcraft architecture for the main components of the aircraft will reduce the complexity of design certification.

PA-890 Design Objectives:

• 2X’s more efficient than conventional helicopters.
• Inherently safe.
• Significantly lower operating cost.
• Low acoustic signature.
• FAA Part 27 certification.

PA-890 Key Features:

• Slowed Rotor, Winged Compound Helicopter.
• Fully articulated three-bladed main rotor with low disk loading and low tip speed.
• Swiveling tail rotor provides anti-torque in vertical flight and thruster propulsion in cruise.
• Variable incidence wings that adjust to flight speed and provide significant lift to offload the main rotor in forward flight.
• Vertical tail with rudder for yaw control in forward flight.
• Reduced main rotor rpm in cruise for increased aerodynamic efficiency and quieter operation.
• Highly redundant and reliable electric propulsion system.
• Lithium battery for energy storage.

The Piasecki PA-890, as currently envisioned, will feature a large three-bladed main rotor mounted over the fuselage center section. The fuselage features a variable incidence wing that rotates up to 90 degrees to enable efficient hovering. The wing rotates naturally to a horizontal position in forward flight to provide rotor offloading in cruise. The aircraft also features a horizontal stabilizer, a directional rudder and an aft rotor that swivels 90 degrees to provide added thrust in cruise. Rotor offloading for lift and thrust in cruise enable rotor RPM reduction that increases efficiency and range while decreasing noise.

The aircraft features seating for five and a large baggage compartment. The cabin size and layout allows multiple configurations for different missions. For more information on other aircraft developed by Piasecki, please see the Piasecki Air Scout aircraft page.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: Passenger slowed-rotor winged compound all-electric eVTOL helicopter concept design
• Piloting: Unknown
• Capacity: Unknown
• Cruise speed: Unknown
• Range: Unknown
• Rotorblades: 4 main rotorblades
• Propellers: 1 pusher propeller
• Electric motors: 2 electric motors
• Power source: Batteries
• Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite
• Windows: Large windows similar to conventional helicopters
• Wings: 1 main wing
• Tail: 1 tail with horizontal stabilizers and vertical stabilizers
• Landing gear: Fixed wheeled taildragger styled landing gear
• Safety features: In the unlikely event the aircraft loses all its power, the helicopter can autorotate and land

Related Aircraft:

• Piasecki Air Scout (prototype)
• Piasecki ARES (concept design)
• Piasecki HAXEL (technology demonstrator)

Resources:

• Piasecki Aircraft Corporation website
• Piasecki Aircraft Corporation PA-890 web page
• Piasecki Aircraft Corporation YouTube Channel
• Piasecki Aircraft Corporation LinkedIn
• Piasecki Aircraft Corporation Wikipedia
• Article: Piasecki Helicopter Plant A Milestone In US Aviation History, Patch, June 16, 2011
• Article: Piasecki Aircraft: Carrying on the Spirit of Innovation, Vertiflite, March/April 2021
• Article: Piasecki touts winged compound helicopters for Future Vertical Lift, Flight Global, May 1, 2016
• Article: HyPoint, Piasecki Aircraft partner to deliver next-generation hydrogen fuel cell systems for eVTOLs, Green Car Congress, Aug. 26, 2021
• Article: The World’s First Hydrogen-Powered Helicopter Could Soon Land on a Helipad Near You, Robb Report, Aug. 31, 2021
• Article: Piasecki Plans Hydrogen Propulsion Demonstration For Helicopters, Aviation Week, Feb. 1, 2022