teTra Aviation Mk-3 (prototype)

teTra Mk-3 (prototype)
teTra Aviation Corporation
Haramachi-ku Minamisoma City, Fukushima, Japan
www.tetra-aviation.com

On January 16, 2018, GFPUT (a temporary name) was launched to study a one passenger electric vertical and takeoff (eVTOL) aircraft and is in the business of manufacturing passenger eVTOL aircraft for advanced air mobility (AAM). In June 2018, teTra Aviation Corporation was established by Yui Nakai, President, and a doctoral student at the University of Tokyo. The company started with ¥1 million yen and went on to raise ¥50 million yen to continue their work.

Mk-3 passenger eVTOL prototype aircraft
The Mk-3 is a one passenger eVTOL prototype aircraft that was designed and manufactured for the Go Fly Phase 1 competition. The prototype has been described as a motorcycle-styled designed aircraft. The pilot sits on top of aircraft similar to sitting on top of a motorcycle. A small windscreen on the upper surface of the wing protects the pilot. The company originally had plans to sell the prototype as a one passenger production model but this was cancelled and the Mk-3 is not for sale. The official model number of the aircraft with the N134TA number is the Mk-3E.

The cruise speed of the aircraft is 100 km/h (62 mph) and has a cruise altitude 30 meters (98 feet). The aircraft has four propellers with propeller guards, four electric motors and is powered by batteries. The unusual design includes one high main stub wing with winglets and has two pairs of ducted propellers are set at 50–70° to one another. The fuselage is made from carbon fiber composite, aluminum and plastic. The dimensions of the competition aircraft are 1.65 m high (5.4 feet) X 2.2 meters wide (7.2 feet) X 2 meters long (6.6 feet). The landing gear includes fixed skids, one center wheel and the aircraft also uses part of it's airframe to support its weight when landed.

The design of the aircraft has unique features such as lacking a transition state between vertical and horizontal flight and is able to switch between the two with no change due to the aircraft's propeller configuration. The pilot gets on the aircraft the same way a person does when getting on a motorcycle.

After testing the propellers in simulations, the team constructed an eighth scale prototype and half scale prototype of the aircraft. They later successfully constructed and tested three full-scale prototypes, the last of which was flown at the February 2020 GoFly Fly Off.

Go Fly Prize
teTra Aviation Corporation has participated in all phases of the GoFly Prize contest and was selected as a Phase I winner on June 14, 2018. On February 29, 2020, Team teTra won the $100,000.00 USD Pratt & Whitney Disruptor Prize for its teTra Mk-3 electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft at Moffett Federal Airfield at the NASA Ames Research Center (USA). The team performed a brief uncrewed demonstration flight of the aircraft and was one of the only teams permitted to fly that day. Due to windy conditions in February, many teams competing during the Phase III trials did not fly their aircraft and as of February 2020, the $1 million GoFly Prize has been postponed.

Future
In addition, the company’s website states they are also in the business of consulting, design, research and development and prototyping passenger eVTOL aircraft. The company’s goal is to market and sell their aircraft by 2025.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: Passenger eVTOL prototype aircraft
• Piloting: 1  pilot
• Cruise speed: 100 km/h (62 mph)
• Cruise altitude: 30 m (98 ft)
• Propellers: 4 propellers
• Electric Motors: 4 electric motors
• Power source: Batteries
• Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite and aluminum
• Dimensions: 1.65 m high (5.4 feet) X 2.2 meters wide (7.2 feet) X 2 meters long (6.6 feet)
• Wing: 1 main high stub wing with winglets
• Landing gear: Fixed skids and 1 center wheel
• Safety features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP) uses multiple propellers or electric ducted fans, each powered by electric motors, to increase safety through redundancy. If one or more components fail, the remaining ones can still ensure a safe landing. There are also redundancies of critical components in the sub-systems of the aircraft providing safety through redundancy. Having multiple redundant systems on any aircraft decreases having any single point of failure. There is also a whole aircraft emergency ballistic parachute in case of an unexpected inflight emergency.

Related aircraft:

• teTra Aviation Mk-5 (production model)
• teTra Aviation Mk-7 (prototype)

Company Insights:

• Pitchbook
• Crunchbase
• MarketWatch
• Tracxn

Resources:

• teTra Aviation Co., Ltd. website
• teTra Aviation Co., Ltd. Facebook
• teTra Aviation Co., Ltd. Twitter
• teTra Aviation Co., Ltd. YouTube Channel
• teTra Aviation Co., Ltd. LinkedIn
• teTra Gofly website (defunct)
• Article: Meet the Teams, GoFly Prize, Dec. 27, 2018
• Press Release: GoFly Winners, GoFly Prize, June 14, 2018
• Article: Boeing’s $2 Million Challenge to Make the Sky Fun Again—With ‘Flying Motorbikes’, Wired, June 14, 2018
• Article: Boeing Asked for Quiet Jetpacks and Got a Bunch of Air Motorcycles, Bloomberg, June 14, 2018
• Article: Contest Aims to Lift Personal Flying Machines Off the Page, The New York Times, June 14, 2018
• Article: Here are the Finalists for Boeing’s $2 million ‘Personal Flying Device’ Contest, The Verge, June 14, 2018
• Article: Meet the Mad Geniuses Building Personal Flying Machines, Fast Company, June 14, 2018
• Video: teTra Simulation Model Version 2.0, teTra, Mar. 26, 2018
• Article: Young engineers vie to revolutionize aviation with designs for next-generation manned flying
  cars, The Japan News, Feb. 4, 2020
• Video: teTra teTra 3 GoFly Prize, wcolby, Feb. 28, 2020
• Articles: Flying car Todai company wins international competition, Nikkei, Mar. 3, 2020
• Article: AHS Supports GoFly!, Vertiflite, Nov/Dec 2017
• Article: Flying Solo: GoFly Advances Single-Passenger Air Mobility Solutions, Vertiflite, May/June 2019
• Article: GoFly Inspires Innovation, Vertiflite, May/June 2020
• Article: GoFly Teams Prepare to Fly Again, Vertiflite, Nov/Dec 2020