Trek Aerospace Tyrannos

Tyrannos
Trek Aerospace, Inc.
Folsom, California, USA
www.trekaero.com

Founded in 1999, Trek Aerospace, Inc. is a small engineering company based in Folsom, California, USA. The company has designed and made multiple vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft including its exoskeleton jetpacks using shrouded propellers in the airframe design. The company has also designed and made watercraft. Trek Aerospace also assists companies in the design, fabrication, and licensing of projects involving shrouded propellers and/or autonomous control systems.

The company states their core technology has the highest thrust to hp/kw in the industry. This allows their aircraft to carry a lot of weight in a smaller footprint. Trek’s shrouded props require less power, use fewer batteries than other battery powered aircraft, have a greater payload and have a farther range.

The Tyrannos is military eVTOL (or hybrid-electric VTOL) and road passenger vehicle which holds four passengers. The cabin is similar in size to a mid-size automobile. The estimated cruise speed of the aircraft is  160 mph (257 km/h) with an estimated range of range of 170 miles (274 km). The estimated top ground speed of the vehicle is 50 mph (80 km/h), with an estimated ground range of 75 miles (121 km).  

The vehicle has four tilting ducted fans for all phases of flight. The aircraft has one high wing, two rear wing mounted fins, four automobile wheels, front headlights and two side mirrors. The wings fold over the top of the aircraft when traveling by ground. The foldable wings makes it easy for the aircraft to be transported in a truck or aircraft, and when in storage.

The Tyrannos aircraft/road vehicle's main purpose is for military air and ground transportation. The vehicle would be an important part of transportation by military personnel whether being used for regular duties on a military base in peace time or used by special forces or any military personnel during war time. Having a ground vehicle makes it easy to travel short distances and when the need arises to travel a longer distance, the personnel can takeoff from any location and land at any location without the need of airports.

An important point about this aircraft design is that it was designed in the around 2000 and was way ahead of its time, with the hopes of making a safe, efficient and useful VTOL aircraft for military air and ground transportation. It is unknown whether this aircraft was ever made or will be made into a subscale or full scale prototype.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: eVTOL or hybrid-electric VTOL military passenger aircraft/ground vehicle
• Piloting: 1 pilot
• Capacity: 4 people (1 pilot and 3 passengers)
• Cruise speed (estimated): 160 mph (257 km/h)
• Range (estimated): 170 miles (274 km)
• Ground top speed (estimated): 50 mph (80 km/h)
• Ground range (estimated): 75 miles (121 km)
• Flight Time: Unknown
• Propellers: 4 ducted propellers
• Electric Motors: 4 electric motors
• Power source: Batteries or hybrid-electric
• Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite
• Windows: Windows similar to a midsize car
• Wings: 1 high wing
• Tail: 2 rear wing mounted fins
• Landing gear: 4 road tires
• Safety features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP), provides safety through redundancy for its passengers and/or cargo. DEP means having multiple propellers (or ducted fans) and motors on the aircraft so if one or more propellers (ducted fans) or motors fail, the other working propellers (or ducted fans) and motors can safely land the aircraft. There are also redundancies in the sub-systems of the aircraft and a whole aircraft ballistic parachute.

Resources:

• Trek Aerospace website
• Trek Aerospace Twitter
• Trek Aerospace LinkedIn
• Trek Aerospace Wikipedia