Bevirt thought up the premise for an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) as he walked home from the last point a school bus could take him near his home in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains. Today, Joby is a roughly $4 billion-cap enterprise on the cusp of its type certification for-credit testing with the FAA on an evolution of the very vehicle Bevirt envisioned would lift him from that dusty bus stop into the peaceful meadow near his parents’ forest home.

From a flying prototype launched in an empty quarry in 2010 to the first flight of the latest conforming production prototype, the final iteration of this initial commercially viable eVTOL will carry a pilot and up to four passengers as far as a 100 sm range solely using electric motors, bringing with it a new way of managing flight.

However, though the Joby aircraft is piloted, the team is not building an aircraft for pilots. By deliberate choice, the idiosyncrasies that make up the kinesthetic joy of flying are dialed out of the aircraft’s flight control system—they have to be in order to make the Joby fly like it does. You can hand fly it, sure, but like other aircraft aimed at owner operators who are new to the game and not interested in the romance of flight, you’re in a version of autoflight all the time. In fact, an autopilot per se is unnecessary because the foundations of autoflight run continuously—designed to manage the cascade of failures and corners of the envelope we train so hard to avoid and mitigate and respond to.

• READ MORE: We Fly: Diamond DA62

While we can’t yet fly the version slated for the final rounds of type certificate (TC) testing—the production aircraft, in company parlance—we can fly the sim. As one six-month Joby employee at the company’s Washington, D.C., office told me, even they like to fly it—and they’re not into driving themselves anywhere. Being “in control” just doesn’t interest them—quite a change from what we think of as a pilot.

So where is this going? I had to find out for myself. In a series of introductions, I visited Joby’s R&D and production facilities in Santa Clara and Marina, California, last summer and Joby’s offices in D.C. in January, along with an interview with Bevirt at the Paris Air Show in June, which we covered in Issue 940 (“In Depth”).

How It Works

The Joby aircraft consists of a rounded, wide-windowed fuselage to carry passengers with a single pilot seat up front. A wing transects the top at about its midsection, with a V-shaped tail in the back. Six equally sized rotors stand in a roughly hexagonic position: two in front, two at the wingtips, and two aft, on the apex of each V in the tail. They pivot and rotate in such a way as to produce both thrust translating into airspeed and thrust directed for flight control. The aircraft also uses ailerons and ruddervators (akin to those on the Vision Jet or V35 Bonanza). But those are sectioned, with two sets of aileron-style controls on the wings and three sections of ruddervators on the V-shaped tail.

The previous conforming prototype version had flaps, but according to Greg Bowles, head of government affairs for Joby, “they didn’t buy their way onto the production version.” In other words, no need for them. The six motors obtain their juice from a series of battery packs, but these are unlike any created for electric aircraft thus far. They work in pairs for each motor and in isolation from the other pairs so that they are doubly redundant. We learned how Joby arrived at this arrangement—along with other details regarding their makeup—when we walked through the plant at Santa Clara earlier on the day of our visit preparing us for the observation of the remotely piloted demo flight of the preproduction prototype later on.

With an aspect that looks like a helicopter with six rotors instead of main and tail rotors, the quietness of the Joby’s departure struck me immediately. Normally, hearing the main rotor spool up causes you to plug your ears against the sound. But with the powering up and lifting off of the Joby, the high-pitched rpm of the blades barely registered over the wind about 100 feet away.

A New Kind of Motor

The “engine” driving the Joby aircraft is unlike any motor I’ve ever seen. Granted, I’m not versed in much outside of the two- and four-stroke combustion engines that provide thrust for light airplanes and the odd motorbike. But this is essentially a 3D-printed titanium ring. A doughnut of sorts, outlined by a series of copper-and- tan-colored power packs.

A lot of people have asked why Joby didn’t buy motors from another company—with so many electric choices out there on the market. “What we found was that [by] making it fit exactly for purpose, we could do much better in terms of weight and size,” said Jon Wagner—head of batteries, powertrain, and electronics and based at the Santa Clara facility—during our tour. The core starts with a 3D-printed titanium housing in the middle, and the magnetics that drive the rotation are made from copper and steel. “And we buy big rolls of copper and big sheets of steel, and we build this thing up out of the raw materials,” said Wagner. At the D.C. office, Bowles handed me a featherweight bottle opener made from the remnant titanium dust—an elegant example of upcycling waste from the process.

Three pins, and three pins—this is actually two motors, with two sets of three-phase windings. “That’s two different electrical circuits inside this motor that drive the rotation,” said Wagner. “So if you have a failure, you’ve segmented the system and now you have a secondary means of driving the motor.” The electronic brain that’s always on in the background figures out how to redistribute the remaining power, cycling up and down as needed for both thrust and flight control. This requires a new way of managing that control.

Unified in Flight

The world of eVTOL will almost certainly be based on the use of “simplified flight controls”—as outlined in the Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certificates (MOSAIC), which update light sport aircraft (LSA) certification but also set the stage for use of similar regulatory structure in the Special Federal Aviation Regulations (SFARs) covering eVTOLs.

The simplified flight control is simple to the pilot— taking the most basic of inputs and figuring out what the pilot wants to have happen and ensconcing them in a swaddle of envelope protection so they will neither stall nor exceed limit load factors. To do this, those controls are anything but simple under the surface. Joby has patterned these after the unified controls in high-end military hardware, such as the F-35.

The Joby aircraft is flown with a power lever in the left hand and a joystick-style flight control in the right—and you sit in a single seat centered in the cockpit. Though at first it feels familiar, you don’t use the control stick in quite the same way as you do in a traditional airplane—you rarely hold in continuous pressure, for example. So it’s OK that it’s purposefully stiff. You give input, then take it out. The power lever is similarly centering—hold in to speed up in airplane mode, and leave it in place while in TRC (translate, or hover) mode. You twist to yaw about the vertical axis in translate mode, and you bank to either translate or side step while in TRC or bank while flying the wing. But you don’t need to hold back pressure in the bank to maintain a level attitude since the rotors are compensating for the change in lift vector direction.

To illustrate, let’s look at one common failure mode in rotorcraft: One commonality to the Joby is the bearing plate—“but we can get around it,” said Bowles. If there’s a motor failure, the computer picks up load, slows the rotor on the diagonal corner, and speeds up the rest. The aircraft also retains the ability to glide on its wing—so Joby has tested that mode as well—which, as a fixed-wing pilot, I admit helps me wrap my brain around the whole package.

On Speed, On Target

You don’t think of stall speeds and V_NE in the same way either, since the aircraft’s flight computers protect you from those exceedances in most all situations. “It is important to understand that the aircraft has 6 propellers and 10 control surfaces along with a rather advanced fly-by-wire control system,” said Jason Thomas, flight engineering lead for Joby, “and those propellers can tilt as well as change their blade pitch…It creates a situation, unlike a traditional fixed wing aircraft or helicopter, where there is more than one way to trim the aircraft at a given state or maneuver.”

How will pilots transition to Joby? It helps that the controls feel fairly intuitive. In my sim flights at Marina and D.C., it took just a few minutes to understand how to take off, land, and maneuver in the traffic pattern at a normal airport—KOAR and KSEA were programmed into the sim—during a standard flight. The FAA has established an SFAR for existing pilots under the powered-lift category—and the goal is to allow them to transition by taking essentially a type-rating course.

As a foundation for its business model, Joby established a Part 135 operation using a Cirrus SR22 between KSQL, Palo Alto, California, and KOAR. It plans to add the SFAR-covered aircraft to the certificate, with a track record in flight operations, maintenance, and safety management with the local FSDO. Similarly, the company has also set up a Part 141 operation, training internal pilots, to which it will add the Joby aircraft.

And the proof, then, will be flying the actual aircraft—and seeing just how that feels as a pilot.

Cockpit at a Glance

A. The pair of displays can be laid out in many ways for the pilot. The MFD hosts the power and propulsion system schematic in this view.

B. The primary flight display features a familiar Garmin interface, with airspeed and altitude tapes, plus standardized callouts for winged and vertical flight regime modes.

C. A Garmin GTC-style touchscreen controller also feels familiar to many pilots, following on to the similar control unit found in many new piston and turboprop airplanes and rotorcraft.

D. The power lever on the left side of the pilot’s seat is self-centering and allows for acceleration and deceleration control, as opposed to placing it at a given power setting.

E. The flight control stick self centers as well as twists for yaw control and banks to either turn or translate sideways, depending on the flight mode.

Spec Sheet: Joby Aircraft

Price, Projected: Not for sale, operated exclusively by Joby

Propulsion System: 6 electric dual wound motors, 4 on the wings, 2 on the V-tail

Crew: 1

Passenger Seats: 4

Length: 21 ft.

Height: TK

Wingspan: 39 ft.

Maximum Takeoff Weight: 5,300 lbs.

Empty Weight: TK

Useful Load/Payload: 1,000 lbs.

Cabin Width: TK

Cabin Height: TK

Power Capacity: Four lithium-ion battery packs

Endurance: TK

Range: Up to 100 sm (87 nm)

Liftoff Speed: Hover

Top Speed: 170 kt (200 mph)

Landing Speed: Hover

Stall Speed: N/A

Part Two: Building the Childhood Dream

It starts with a specific type of composite.

The sourcing of the raw materials to make the part that goes into the component that tucks into an aircraft in a strategic place—in the post-pandemic global aerospace industry, that perhaps is not so uncommon.

But when Joby Aviation first began coalescing into reality in various warehouses in the Bay Area southeast of San Francisco, most manufacturers didn’t get involved with the creation of the material—let alone purchasing the raw stuff from which to produce minor hardware in house.

That’s exactly what Joby has been up to since those early days—the development of the requirement alongside the technology needed to deliver the performance and capability of a new type of aircraft. By taking control of every aspect of the requirement to the final disposition of a part, it gets more precisely what it wants.

Diving into the Works

We took a walk around the skunk works—well, just one portion of them—in nondescript buildings, feeling like we were walking through a back lot on land adjacent to the San Carlos Regional Airport (KSQL). Leading the way was the perfect guide, Jon Wagner, as noted, Joby’s head of batteries, powertrain, and electronics. If that job title feels a bit cobbled together, it’s not. He’s the juice guy—how to store it and how to deliver it to the motors as well as the avionics and flight control system.

Working with Wagner is Jason Thomas, flight engineering lead. Thomas came to the company in 2021 from a designated engineering representative firm in Florida called EQ Dynamics. Before that, he worked with Aurora Flight Systems and its UAS concepts, and prior to that, at Honda Aircraft Company and Gulfstream Aerospace, in flutter and structural engineering roles. “I am the sole DER for external loads, aeroelasticity (flutter), and ground vibration testing (GVT),” said Thomas of the fascinating confluence of disciplines that by necessity must cover new territory in just about every mode of flight on the airframe.

The prop blades, for example, land under Thomas’ oversight—with their wide chord and downturned tips to dramatically reduce resonance and, thereby, noise.

“We design and make everything inside the airplane here,” said Wagner, as he kicked off our walk-through of the Santa Clara facility. “Six years ago [in 2017], we flew the first full-scale airplane, and coming out of that experience, we realized that, OK, this airplane works, the concept is solid, and we could architect the business. We made a really important decision—it was right around the time I was joining—that we were going to build up an engineering team to design and manufacture all of the electronic equipment in the plane.

“It started with a discussion about batteries and progressed [to] talking about motors, talking about actuators, talking about all the flight computers, things like that.”

Joby’s founding members decided to hire the team—design, manufacturing, and testing engineers— to create each critical component.

“When you buy something from a vendor, you’re gonna get whatever they have, with maybe some small changes to fit what you need,” said Wagner. “And when you design it yourself, you’re going to get exactly what you need.”

That takes enormous investment and engineering bench depth to pull off—that’s why so many OEMs work with vendors for a long parts list in the construction of an airplane. But CEO JoeBen Bevirt planned to vertically integrate Joby to that level from the beginning.

How They Got Here

Though the company boasted more than 1,000 employees around the time of our visit—and keeps growing daily—it still feels like a startup. The origin stories encased in various discarded components and updated blueprints lay around in plain sight. We stop in a showroom that’s between engagements, but it still houses one of the iterations of the fuselage and the cockpit and cabin contained therein. The moves Joby has made to determine the best combinations and materials for the interior and exterior it calls “explorations,” and posters walking back through those imaginings line a wall behind the mock-up. It’s like they’re not quite ready to put these pieces in storage yet, because they may gain use or traction somewhere down the line.

Following that experimental phase, the last seven years have been the more traditional aerospace development path, with requirements-based design “fit for purpose.” From scratch, it builds all of the battery packs for the airplane, the motors, and all of the electronics. “With the exception of the pilot interface—that’s the Garmin, we purchase that from Garmin, the displays—but all the rest of the avionics and electronics we build,” Wagner said.

Cruisin’ Down the Coast

Schedules kept us from hitching a ride with Bonny Simi, now president of air operations for Joby, in the Cirrus SR22 it operates. But we made our way nevertheless to the primary production and assembly and flight test operation in Marina, located on the airport there in a series of massive white Quonset hut-style tent hangars—that echoed in a way reminiscent of the big historic hangar at Moffett Field to the north, when it housed the dirigibles and other experimental aircraft in development. Fitting.

Once there, we were going to meet up with Didier Papadopoulos, head of the aircraft OEM for Joby, and the one responsible for much of what was going on inside those hangars. Instead—because we were there right after Memorial Day, our own scheduling concern, we had the next best thing, Scott Berry, a nine-year veteran of Joby. He’s also, tall, ranging, with a preternatural goodness and health emanating from him that feels like a trademark here. Berry has also built a Lancair Legacy and posts an AirCam on his LinkedIn profile. Taking aviation into an innovative direction feels like a natural fit.

“I had this dream that I always wanted to fly a seaplane into this area [Santa Cruz Wharf] and bring my children in and surfboards, put out an anchor, and then fly away,” Berry said. “I literally did that yesterday [in the AirCam on floats].”

The Joby aircraft will take this concept up another notch.

“I got my job because I had started my own eVTOL company,” Berry continued. “I was working for General Atomics…and I always wanted to develop my own aircraft. I was trying to convince General Atomics to do a version of the Predator drone with electrics…and I couldn’t do it, so I started my own company. I came to try and sell my aircraft to [Bevirt while on a holiday in Santa Cruz], and he convinced me to come work for Joby.”

Berry has spent the last nine years developing the design and certification team, running flight tests, and leading the company’s establishment of culture. That’s a critical element when what you’re doing is constantly pushing the human-machine interface—to watch the “human” part of the equation.

Humans and Robots

The production line order was still a bit out of sequence during our visit. At every turn, the interface between man and machine took center stage. We expect the use of robots in a variety of roles in manufacturing—and with Joby, they have been integrated from the beginning. Those integrations resonate in aerospace, but much of what I saw around me has roots in automotive manufacturing. Early on, Toyota invested in the company, and a significant part of its investment lay in the dedication of teams of Toyota colleagues embedded within Joby’s research and development—and that pattern continues as it transitions to production. But wait—it isn’t the same as a traditional transition from R&D and prototyping to building a conforming, deliverable model. Joby has been building the production line as it has developed the string of prototypes, so it would be ready as soon as the final fix was in to start production. That’s what we saw.

First, we toured the composites manufacturing facility, where boxcar-sized automated CNC machines crafted parts and shepherded through components from raw materials to layup.

Then we moved into the next big white tent, through a pass-through, hangar-sized door, on to the assembly and integration facility, where those components would join together into the airframe.

About Lunch

Back to culture now. Douglas Aircraft Company pioneered the concept of providing holistically for its employees, in the supposition that if they were healthy, well fed, and well housed, that security would translate to better job performance, less sick leave, and fewer HR issues. In Joby’s world, that means everyone gets fed, family style, at the Marina complex. But the shared tacos are just an indicator.

“The vibe at Joby is energizing and unprecedented in my career,” said Thomas. “Joby embodies a truly unique and interesting mix of talent, passion, energy, innovation, focus and a can-do attitude that is very pervasive.”

Watching It Fly

During that visit in late May 2023, we had a unique window open to see the conforming prototype fly. The production unit was nearing completion at the apex of the line (also under construction), and though we couldn’t talk about that at the time, we can now.

A small team of specialists hovered around the model, smiles illuminating the obvious pride it felt in being so close to the completion of this next critical stage. Our ability to walk around the unit gave us an opportunity to talk through in more detail how the prototype had evolved into the airframe that would be ready for the final flight-test program of the primary campaign to TC.

In parallel, other teams at Joby are working on the business and operational cases, figuring out how the initial run of aircraft will fit into the national airspace system. “We’re not trying to create segregated airspace,” said Bowles, “but to blend in, working heavily with ATC in key regions that are in the initial target, i.e. [helicopter] routes in New York and LA.”

At the state and local level, the question is, are communities excited and ready? The low-noise profile helps immensely—at 65 dBA at 100 meters away on takeoff (vs. 93 dBA for a traditional helicopter liftoff) and in cruise down to 45 dBA—barely recognizable over the wind noise, as we discovered on the ramp in Marina.

It’s a “very torquey motor” in Bowles’ words, to turn the props slowly enough, with a big chord, so efficient at low rpm; plus a drooped tip lowers the vortex a blade length; plus five blades, with their angle of incidence not common to each other. The arrangement is such that it doesn’t stand up a resonance—so no sine wave and its resulting noise footprint.

As the teams look at every geographic location as a special case—procedures are always local—they assess the existing infrastructure—airports, helipads—and, over time, the development of a vertiport: a 50-foot piece of concrete with electric charging and noise limits.

Joby already can make use of the roughly 5,080 GA airports in the U.S. but adds 5,000 more heliports. That’s a lot of opportunity already in place if we can keep those landing sites open. With most people living an average 16-minute drive from an airport, that future lies in clear sight.

These columns first appeared in the March 2024/Issue 946 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post A First Look at Joby’s eVTOL Future appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

That truism holds whether you’re approaching the grand event at Aéroport Paris-Le Bourget in France as a spectator, a member of the trade, or an exhibitor proposing a new product, service, or technology for the future.

For us, we took the metro, then the train, then walked the 2 miles to the entrance gate, 1 hour, 15 minutes each way. There were buses—but we walked faster than they could move through the traffic. For those who had houses rented nearby, the time en route fluctuated horribly—and was no better, stuck in the congestion. I honestly considered electric vertical takeoff and landing craft in a different light—but could we all be buzzing around? Would it just transfer the congestion from the streets to the skies?

But for those exhibiting, the road to #PAS2023 clearly began years—even a decade or more—ago, as the maturity of solutions like those very eVTOLs shone brightly as a force field against the pressures to decarbonize. And they joined sustainable aviation fuel, hydrogen-powered aircraft, and new ways to make lift in concert to assuage the skepticism that we could collectively achieve the net-zero emission goals the industry has promised by 2050.

So, How Did it Feel?

Normally rotating years with the similar aerospace trade show of record in Farnborough, UK, “Le Bourget” last commenced in July 2019, a victim in 2021 of the extended seizures of the pandemic. 

I’ve spent the bulk of my career in general aviation—with a short foray at a Boeing subsidiary, but still in aviation training—so the while Paris the city wasn’t new to me, the Paris Air Show was. So, in late June, we formed a vacation around PAS, to visit friends in Paris and see for myself what the spectacle would hold. 

How would it feel to walk around a static display not just hosting the latest from Gulfstream and Dassault and Daher, but also Boeing, Airbus, and Embraer’s commercial transport category jets and bristling military hardware? As it turns out, imposing to stand next to, but also thrilling. And I once again had that feeling I’d been a fighter pilot in another life when I sat in the Super Tocano at Embraer. No, they didn’t allow selfies…

Dassault celebrated its 60th anniversary with Mirage and Rafale displays across the aisle from its trijet Falcon 8X, 2000LXS, the nearly-certificated 6X and the 10X mockup. We watched the airshow for a bit after lunch with former Dassault test pilots from the deck of the media chalet—a completely different airshow performance than the ones I know so well from EAA AirVenture and Sun ’n Fun and the Reno Air Races.

In fact, I had a chance to sit in on one of the pilot briefings for the airshow on Thursday morning and climbed the stairs in the rain to the control-tower-like command center from which the air boss and his deputies would coordinate the whole affair. A common thread? After briefing the weather, boxes, and run of show, everyone save the pilots were dismissed for the debrief on the previous days’ events. The debrief stays sacred and reserved to just those flying—to preserve its integrity and allow for the free flow of information and safety recommendations. More on that in a follow on story for FLYING.

But Wait, What About the Big Guys?

We took a brief tour of the Boeing 777X-9, all kitted out inside for flight test—just like the flight test articles of the much smaller jets. I think of being on board the Cessna Citation Mustang conforming prototype in 2006. So the 777X is just… a lot bigger. 

While on board, we talked with Brad Surak, who heads up Boeing Digital Services now, with Jeppesen, ForeFlight, and now Cloud Ahoy under his oversight—probably one of the few GA spaces left within the Big B. The good news? It sure sounds like they are allowing the teams they’ve acquired to keep focused in their respective lanes. More on that, too, in a later story.

Technology on Display

And what of the halls filled with delegations from countries around the globe, presenting their research, and workforce, and production skill sets as solutions? Mockups, prototypes in various states of compliance, and an endless stream full of great ideas.

My personal favorite—and yes, the subject of upcoming coverage in the magazine—was the EcoPulse technology demonstrator, which is a joint project between Daher, Safran, and Airbus. It appeals to me not only because of its TBM DNA, but because it is so completely and purposefully not-even-close to a commercial product. And it was on display in its full reveal. 

We know that aerospace manufacturers experiment all the time to drive forward—and as aviation journalists we relish the chase, trying to figure out what the next move will be from a favorite OEM. There are so many questions to answer—and it was with clear delight that the program’s manager for Daher, Christophe Robin, walked us around F-WECO, essentially telling us everything that was working as well as a bunch of things that never would. And they were so glad to find out. Though I’m sure there’s more they’re not quite ready to share yet…

Another great example of future-forward application of new sources of power for flight? The Elfly project underway in Norway. Taking a tried and true airframe style based somewhat on the amphibious Grumman Albatross, the Noemi (for “no emissions”) plans to utilize quiet electric motors to access a string of seaplane ports along Norway’s fjordic coast. They hope to be operational commercially in 2029.

And the Elephant in the Room?

So, you may be asking, did we see protests like the ones popping up across France—and throughout Europe—all summer, spiteful towards private aviation? 

Security was like an unseen hand, most of the time, and it wrapped itself around Le Bourget as though wearing a velvet glove. We passed a few minutes every morning in the media entrance line having bags and bodies searched, as you might expect—and the maze to get in the general entrance gate was really interesting—made purposefully difficult to run straight through.

But we spent more than an hour each day walking from the train station to the airport gates, with no signs of strife. There were, however, more police vans assembled along the perimeter roads than I have seen in after several years of living in the western EU. Most of the gendarmerie appeared to be playing Sudoku on their phones.

And within Paris itself, we were fortunate too—aside from getting a dose of eau de Metro during rush hour a few times, we escaped unscathed and fully provisioned with wine, paté, and great stories for the months ahead to pursue.

The post What Happened in Paris appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

From a literal standpoint, many examples of this concept jostled for attention on the static display and in the halls at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget this year. But the distributed power demonstrated by CORAC-supported collaboration between major aerospace OEMs Daher, Safran, and Airbus on the EcoPulse project has also emerged as a theme in the drive toward a market-ready airplane.

CORAC stands for “le Conseil pour la Recherche Aéronautique Civile,” or French Aeronautic Research Council, a focal group in France leading the charge toward decarbonization. EcoPulse is also funded by the DGAC (France’s civil aviation authority) through France Relance and NextGenerationEU. While governmental motivation is critical, what powers a project toward real sustainability solutions is the will to commit precious workforce and material resources at the corporate and teams level.

What Is EcoPulse?

From a distance, the silhouette of the EcoPulse belies its basis on the Daher TBM airframe. Already an efficient utilizer of the Pratt & Whitney PT6-series turboprop engine, the TBM 900 formed a shell for the project with well-understood aerodynamics and serviceability as a baseline for the effort.

Daher was already “in anticipation” of the current climate on decarbonization for some time, according to head of aircraft design Christophe Robin, lead for the EcoPulse project for Daher’s team, with chief technology officer Pascal Laguerre. 

“We started to think about that five years ago, and at that time it was not a very common word—decarbonization—so we said we need to do something,” said Robin in a walkaround the airplane with FLYING. “But let’s make something very concrete. No PowerPoint, no things like that. Let’s build an aircraft—and let’s build an aircraft with partners, with people that have the technology that we don’t have as an aircraft manufacturer. Above 28 volts of electricity, we don’t know too much.

“The goal is not to modify a TBM. The goal is to put as much technology as possible on an aircraft, to make something which is probably completely stupid from a product point of view, but which makes sense from a technology point of view.” 

From this, the consortium would learn and capture immense amounts of data from which to draw conclusions that could inform a marketable initial product offering.

• READ MORE: EcoPulse Aircraft Headlines Daher’s Sustainability Initiatives

The project was announced at Le Bourget in 2019—the last occasion of the Paris Air Show—and work has taken place since then. Safran produced the six electric ENGINeUS motors (at 80 kwh each) mounted with e-Propellers distributed along the wings, three on each side. The props have two positions, one for normal flight, and one feathered. The propulsion system takes its power from two sources: a turbogenerator—an electricity generator powered by a gas-burning turbine—from Safran and a battery pack supplied by Airbus. The Power Distribution and Rectifier Unit protects the high-voltage network and distributes the available electrical power along with the high-voltage harnesses (all from Safran). That’s important, because the system manages a total capacity of 800 volts—a leap in electrical system management unprecedented in this type of vehicle.

“Hybridization and electrification are key to the aerospace sector’s decarbonization journey,” said Sabine Klauke, CTO at Airbus. “With EcoPulse, we learned a lot from developing the high-power battery pack entirely, from the monitoring system to the thermal runaway and short-circuit tests. Some of these key learnings are already applied in several of our demonstrators with the common ambition to lower emissions. We are now all eager to see this technology flying and continue to progress on our electrification roadmap.”

First Flight: Normal Power

The EcoPulse took its maiden flight in 2022 using its stock PT6A engine before the electrical system was operational. Ground and flight testing thus far in 2023—including 27 hours in flight—have gone toward proving the aerodynamics of the engine configuration along with the operability of its systems. The flight deck features a Garmin G1000 standard on the airframe, with additional avionics to support the new systems. The consortium looks forward to the first flight engaging the electric motors later this summer.

“The demonstrator has so far amassed around 27 hours of flight time with the electric propellers feathered,” said Laguerre of Daher. “Flight tests of the hybrid-electric powertrain are due to begin later this summer. We are going to learn a lot. From this demonstration program, we plan to develop our future product roadmap and basically spec the hybrid aircraft we intend to produce by the end of our five-year plan. We expect by the end of 2027 to be able to offer our first hybrid aircraft to the market.”

Eric Dalbiès, executive vice president of strategy and CTO for Safran, said: “After endurance ground test campaign for the e-Propellers, the first hybrid-electric flight with the six e-Propellers activated will be an important milestone for our technology roadmap as Safran’s objective is to position itself as the leader in future hybrid and all-electric aircraft systems.” 

“For us this project is a sweet sport,” Dalbiès added in the press briefing. “Whatever happens in the future, about the maturity of this kind of system, it’s really answering the goals of research and technology projects, to make a representative demonstration—full scale—of the complete system.”

The post EcoPulse Debut at Paris Highlights Progress on Sustainable Solutions appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Instead, that distinction is held by AutoFlight, which has sneakily climbed to the No. 8 spot in SMG’s rankings in recent months. In February, it eclipsed Joby’s 2021 high-water mark with a 155-mile jaunt near its headquarters in China. Now, Autoflight, which only began focusing on passenger eVTOL in 2021, is ready to put more eyes on its aircraft.

At the Paris Air Show on Thursday, AutoFlight announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Groupe ADP, a Paris-based international airport operator, to conduct experimental flights of its Prosperity I eVTOL at the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.

One of several eVTOL manufacturers set to demonstrate air taxi technology at the global event, AutoFlight will fly its long-range aircraft out of Pontoise vertiport, a dedicated test bed for AAM technologies. 

Developed by Skyports and Groupe ADP with the backing of several aviation bodies and regional authorities, the airfield has been outfitted with AAM infrastructure such as takeoff and landing zones, a passenger terminal, and a fully equipped maintenance hangar.

“Pontoise vertiport, equipped with exceptional infrastructure and facilities, serves as an optimal platform to support electric, innovative aircraft,” said Edward Arkwright, Groupe ADP’s deputy CEO. “This collaboration resonates with our commitment to delivering sustainable and efficient aircraft infrastructure as we continue to pave the way for the future of aviation.”

AutoFlight and Groupe ADP did not provide many details of the planned experimental flights. But the partners did note they will be piloted and contribute to the development of infrastructure for five additional Paris Region vertiports, scheduled to be completed by 2024.

“We aim to showcase the immense potential of [AAM,]” said Mark Henning, managing director for AutoFlight Europe and former program manager for Airbus. “Our 250 km-range eVTOLs will operate in real-world conditions, highlighting their capabilities in urban environments and their invaluable contribution to sustainable logistics and mobility.”

AutoFlight’s Prosperity I is an all-electric, lift-plus-cruise aircraft built to fit four passengers and a pilot. Powered by 10 lift propellers and three push propellers with a battery capacity of 160 kWh, it can carry payloads of 770 pounds as far as 155 miles (about 134 nm) at 124 mph (around 107 knots), all on a single charge. That makes it one of the rangiest known eVTOL designs. But Prosperity I is also fairly quiet, producing 65 dBA—roughly the volume of a normal conversation—while hovering.

Until this week, not much was known about the interior of the aircraft. But at the Paris Air Show, AutoFlight showcased its sleek, eco-friendly design for thousands of attendees. Prosperity I’s interior was crafted by Frank Stephenson, the architect behind vehicles from marquee automakers such as Ferrari, Maserati, McLaren, Ford, BMW, and Mini.

In 2011, Motor Trend magazine dubbed the Moroccan-American “one of the most influential car designers working in the industry.”

“Designing the interior of the Prosperity I has been a phenomenal journey,” Stephenson said. “Our aim was to create an environment that evokes a sense of safety, comfort, and innovation…The welcoming interior has been achieved through the innovative application of natural organic shapes, new soft touch materials, and a clever system of interior mood lighting.”

Based on Stepheson’s description and images of Prosperity I’s interior shared with FLYING, the aircraft looks and sounds like a luxury sedan for the skies. Interestingly, though, it’ll be relatively cheap for a new aircraft—Prosperity I is expected to cost around $150,000.

But according to AutoFlight founder and CEO Tian Yu, the company already has 670 orders for the eVTOL, all in Asia. That includes an agreement with Singapore’s EvFly for the purchase of 205 passenger and cargo aircraft, which will be operated in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

However, the Chinese manufacturer will first need to tackle certification. The Prosperity I model on display in Paris is expected to be AutoFlight’s final proof-of-concept design before it turns to a type-conforming prototype for the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), Yu said this week.

The firm will first attempt to certify an uncrewed cargo version of Prosperity I, the Carryall, for which the CAAC has already provided a basis for certification. The Carryall is nearly identical to its crewed counterpart aside from its increased payload capacity (around 1,100 pounds) and will achieve CAAC certification by 2024, according to Henning.

Prosperity I CAAC certification is expected two to three years later, followed by European Union Aviation and Safety Agency approval at a greater safety level (one accident per one billion flight hours) one to two years after that. FAA certification would come next.

That’s a lengthy flight path. But AutoFlight in 2022 said it had completed more than 10,000 takeoffs and landings with Prosperity I prototypes, including in adverse weather conditions. That success has apparently bred confidence as Yu said the firm is constructing a new factory that will eventually be able to produce 1,000 aircraft per year.

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Elixir Aircraft, based in La Rochelle, has posted a sales streak for the training version of its aircraft, with a deal closed on more than 100 units—50 on option—with Sierra Charlie Aviation in Scottsdale, Arizona. The agreement caps a growing order book for the OEM as it brings three versions of its single-engine airplane to market. 

Most of the models—intended for flight training—feature the 100 hp Rotax 912iS powerplant with a full-glass cockpit. Sierra Charlie Aviation plans to integrate the airplanes into its Aviation Career Program, an ab initio course focused on identifying varying learning styles and steering those pilot applicants towards success.

“Like Elixir Aircraft, we pride ourselves on innovation and safety, and being ahead of the curve,” said Scott Campbell, owner of Sierra Charlie. “This means providing our students with the best and safest tools out there to ensure the highest quality education and training. The fourth-generation Elixir is definitely one of these tools. The simplicity, yet strength of the airplane, like the components built with the OneShot technology, is a game changer. Less than 1,000 references [parts count] in the whole plane and half-a-day, 100-hour maintenance checks means my Elixirs will be flying a lot. And my students already fly a lot!”

Arthur Leopold Leger, CEO of Elixir Aircraft, said: “Speaking with Sierra Charlie, it’s clear both our businesses are focused on commercial and industrial development. We know the demand for the global aviation market, training aircraft and pilot shortage. We aim to work together to do whatever we need to do to meet that demand.”

• READ MORE: Elixir Aircraft Signs Mermoz Academy Order, Plans Sarasota Assembly in Florida

Elixir delivered five of its 912iS versions in 2022 for a total of 10 made so far. The company was founded in 2015 by a trio of engineers who sought to reduce costs in flight training by lowering parts count and increasing efficiency in training aircraft. The first model achieved initial European Union Aviation Safety Agency CS 23 type certification in 2020, with FAA validation pending in the U.S.

The order caps a week in which Elixir also posted orders for four airplanes into Luxembourg to Ald Lux, an aircraft leasing company, and a letter of intent for 10 airplanes to the International Aviation Academy of New Zealand, based in Christchurch.

The post Elixir Aircraft Posts a Sales Streak for Its Trainer appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Maglev is shorthand for magnetic levitation, a term that almost sounds made up. But the propulsion system is actually fairly common, frequently deployed to power high-speed trains. MagLev Aero, however, is working to apply it to eVTOL aircraft and has already been issued more than 20 patents for its technology.

The startup’s progress is underpinned by a development partnership with GE Additive’s AddWorks, a consultancy within the automaker’s design and manufacturing arm specializing in 3D printing, announced Tuesday.

“I’m thrilled to reveal the breakthrough propulsion technology we have been working so diligently and passionately on for the past few years in stealth,” said Ian Randall, the startup’s CEO. “Our proprietary MagLev HyperDrive platform will enable a new generation of eVTOL designs that are dramatically more quiet, efficient, safe, sustainable, and emotionally appealing to the mass market.”

As the younger Randall alluded to, MagLev emerged from stealth just a few weeks ago. Ian, an aerospace engineer, and his father, Rod, a board member at electric vehicle manufacturer Fisker, founded the company in Boston to solve the problem of noise in eVTOL flight—a challenge multiple aviation authorities are also working to address.

To reduce eVTOL noise to a whisper, MagLev is deploying several unique concepts. The most foreign is, of course, a magnetic levitation propulsion system, which in the context of high-speed rail uses magnetic bearings to suspend trains above the track. The system allows the train to “glide” along the rail without creating friction. But in MagLev’s HyperDrive design, those bearings are oriented in a circle within the rotor, which sits beneath a many-bladed rim.

Electric propulsion is distributed evenly and redundantly around the rotor’s perimeter using a combination of magnets and segmented motor control. That enables high hover-lift efficiency while reducing hover noise below that of traditional helicopters and eVTOLs, MagLev said. The redundant orientation also allows HyperDrive to function even after a rotor failure.

MagLev’s many-bladed rim essentially “floats” above the rotor. Its thin, swept blades are more numerous than a typical eVTOL’s, which reduces noise in three key ways: lower tip speed, lower blade loading, and increased load on the outer blade span. Most eVTOL and helicopter designs feature fewer, thicker blades that produce high tip speed and blade loading.

Normally, more blades provide greater lift at the expense of increased power and blade loading. But according to MagLev, HyperDrive concentrates the load on the outer blade span, which actually reduces blade loading and tip speed due to the rim’s high number of blades.

In fact, despite the design’s thin blades, MagLev claims HyperDrive can achieve the same lift as a conventional eVTOL with significantly lower tip speed and revolutions per minute (RPM)—which dramatically reduces noise.

Importantly, though, MagLev is not building its own eVTOL. Rather, it plans to sell HyperDrive to an OEM that is looking to experiment with novel technology.

“We believe our HyperDrive innovation applies to a variety of sizes, configurations, and use cases, and we look forward to working with OEMs and other partners to bring our technology to market,” said Rod Randall, MagLev’s chairman.

According to the startup, it’s already in talks with an unspecified number of “major aerospace OEMs.” It has also garnered support from prominent technology investors and industry leaders, including Material Impact, Grit Capital, Moai Capital (all of which are listed as investors on PitchBook), Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and Stage 1 Ventures, among others.

On Tuesday, MagLev also announced a strategic collaboration with GE Additive’s AddWorks, a global team of more than 70 engineers known for working with emerging technology companies—including aviation startups like Boom Supersonic and Eaton Aerospace.

AddWorks’ specialty is additive manufacturing, the industrial production term for 3D printing. It will use that expertise to develop new manufacturing processes and materials for HyperDrive, which should help MagLev refine its design in future iterations.

“This is a major step for MagLev Aero, and we are thrilled to harness the power of GE Additive’s extensive industry experience, cutting-edge metal additive manufacturing techniques, and proven track record of designing and fabricating additive manufactured propulsion components that satisfy the stringent requirements of aerospace certification,” said Ian Randall.

The elder Randall added that the partnership will help HyperDrive “achieve optimal strength and stiffness at the lightest weight” before the technology is rolled out to the masses.

While MagLev’s eVTOL propulsion system is still in development—and likely several years away from commercial deployment—the firm believes it will find a home in both passenger and cargo aircraft.

The post Maglev Aero Debuts Magnetic Propulsion Technology in Paris, Partners with GE appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

According to aviation training company CAE (NYSE: CAE), which released its Aviation Talent Forecast this week at the Paris Air Show, commercial aviation will need to recruit nearly 600,000 cabin crew professionals, 328,000 maintenance technicians, and 252,000 pilots within the next 10 years in order to support predicted growth. In business aviation, at least 74,000 maintenance technicians and 32,000 pilots will be needed.

“There is a need for at least 1.3 million people by 2032 to fill the needs in aviation,” said Nick Leontidis, CAE’s group president of civil aviation. “CAE’s Aviation Talent Forecast is a call to action for the industry to promote careers in aviation to the next generation, reach out to underrepresented communities, and develop innovative support programs to expand the pool of talent needed for the continued growth and safety of our industry.”

Leontidis added that commercial and business aviation are near full recovery and, in some cases, exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

“CAE’s Aviation Talent Forecast shows that the demand will continue to grow,” he said, “and the industry will have to come together and find creative ways to ensure a steady pipeline of highly trained personnel for the next 10 years and beyond.”

About the Aviation Talent Forecast

The Aviation Talent Forecast is a tool for stakeholders to help determine the demand for aviation professionals worldwide. Not only does the forecast look at the demand for pilots, it also, for the first time, explores the need for aircraft maintenance technicians and cabin crew.

According to CAE, it not only focuses on how many people will be needed in each region over the next decade but also on the reasons for the high demand and what the industry can do to attract and retain these professionals.

The post Forecast: Aviation Faces New Workforce Need of 1.3M appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

SkyAlps operates the fleet out of Bolzano Airport (LIPB) into the southern Tyrol region of the Alps, lending the company its name. By using the twin turboprop de Havilland Q400s, SkyAlps already offers a 50 percent reduction in carbon footprint for its flights over competitors using regional jet platforms. The implementation of the SmartWing technology will further improve efficiency by 7 to 8 percent. The Dash 8s will also see performance improvements along with the noise reduction, and lower fuel burn and emissions.

The two companies came together at the Paris Air Show on Monday to confirm details of the deal. SkyAlps is in growth mode, acquiring four more Q400s this summer, and an additional eight aircraft over the course of the next year, and two more to follow—bringing its total fleet count to 14 units. Following the initial installations on SkyAlps aircraft, Tamarack will take the SmartWing certification to the market, which consists of roughly 400 flying worldwide.

Broader Implications of the Deal

Significant delegations from the U.S. government are attending the Paris Air Show, and endorsing the opportunities that across-the-pond collaboration can generate. Among them was Congressman Sam Graves (R-Mo.), who currently serves as chair of the congressional Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He’s also a pilot and in a position to understand the nuances of the deal. Graves commented on the Tamarack and SkyAlps deal, agreeing that it has far-ranging implications. 

“This letter of intent between Tamarack Aerospace, a U.S. aviation technology thought leader and SkyAlps—also an aviation visionary—is a powerful example of U.S. and other companies working together to meet the world’s sustainability goals,” Graves said.

At a press conference at the show, Tamarack Aerospace CEO Nick Guida said, “We’re going to take the Q400—which is an amazing aircraft—and make it more efficient and with less of a carbon footprint.”

The post Tamarack Moves into Dash 8 Market with SkyAlps appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

At the Paris Air Show, company chairman Patrick Daher addressed the need for such investment—to give the mission the support it requires to achieve the lofty and critical goals of decarbonization. 

“People are very excited, very much on top of the situation—while we’ve been through the Paris Air Show and we have seen that all of us—all of us meaning all exhibitors, whether French, American, or any other countries, we have invested a lot of money in decarbonization,” Daher said.

• We Fly: Daher TBM 960

Daher noted that collectively the industry is on the eve of “the fourth evolution” of aviation. The first one was just being able to fly, “something that was thought impossible at the beginning of the 19th century,” followed by the ability to fly safely. The third evolution brought flying to everyone, in “democratization.” “Now the fourth evolution is we have to change the aviation system in order to come to decarbonization. If we do not do that, then that will be the end of aviation in the future.”

Strategic Investment

Daher celebrates its 160th anniversary this year, and it kicked off that commemoration with the “Take off  2027” plan announced at the beginning of 2023. A significant part of the plan centers around the company’s decarbonization efforts across its four verticals—aircraft development, aerospace manufacturing, manufacturing services, and logistics. The programmed investment represents four times the spend of the previous strategic plan.

• We Fly: Daher Kodiak 900

The company has created three innovation centers within its structure to help it contribute to the goals of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 as outlined in the Paris Agreement on climate change. An initial “significant step” will take place by 2035, utilizing these centers along with efforts by its partners, suppliers, and customers. “Competitive solutions” for the marketplace will launch in three to 10 years in areas such as hybridization, new-generation materials, production processes (robotization and cobotization—human/robot collaboration), and digital transformation.

Solutions for the 90 Percent

Daher CEO Didier Kayat revealed in the press conference at Paris that 90 percent of the group’s carbon footprint comes from utilization of its products by its customers.

“Ninety percent of the carbon impact of Daher is due to the products of our clients,” said Kayat. “So if we don’t help our clients decarbonize, we will not achieve our decarbonization plans.”

In order to reduce those impacts, Daher is pursuing the use of lighter structures and new production processes to both increase output and reduce emissions. Also it will pursue more ecologically responsible logistics, using cleaner modes of transportation, for example, and implementing use of biofuels, such as sustainable aviation fuel, which it has already started at its aircraft division headquarters in Tarbes, France.

Daher will also work on its own footprint through initiatives such as the launch of its first hybrid-electric aircraft by 2027—based on lessons learned from the EcoPulse joint project with Safran and Airbus, and driven into its TBM and Kodiak series of aircraft. 

“Though all my engineers say I’m crazy to say that publicly…we will launch a hybrid aircraft in 2027,” said Kayat. “We don’t know yet what aircraft it’s going to be,” but the company is learning a lot from the EcoPulse project so that “at the end of this year we can have the road map to see what our product is going to be.”

• READ MORE: Quest to Daher

‘Imagineering by Daher’

To achieve the critical goals—and propel the group toward a successful future as a global aerospace manufacturing and logistics company—Daher has developed the three centers of “open innovation” within its structure under the umbrella of “Imagineering by Daher.” While it has long promoted the spirit of entrepreneurship within the company, the current movement doubles down on preserving the startup mentality of its teams. Five key imperatives to that “imagineering” are “#explore, #connect, #test, #scale, and #communicate.”

The three centers include:

• Log’in: a Toulouse-based innovation acceleration platform for tomorrow’s logistics industry
• Shap’in: a center of excellence in Nantes dedicated to new-generation composite aerostructures
• Fly’in: a forward-looking development center in Tarbes for tomorrow’s general aviation industry.

Three examples of decarbonization projects within Daher take place in logistics and in its aircraft products. First, Daher is implementing the use of a digital twin (JUMEL) to model and optimize logistics warehouses—a project led by the Log’in TechCenter to promote and facilitate innovative, eco-responsible industrial logistics.

A second example is in the digitizing of data collection from its TBM series turboprops and using analysis of the data to drive more responsible flying. To this end, Daher launched version 6 of its Me & My TBM app earlier this year.

Third is the use of thermal plastics in its aircraft and other aerospace products. “We are working a lot on the new composites that [are] called thermal plastics,” said Kayat. “It’s reusable, so it has a double virtue—it makes planes lighter [by up to] 20 percent.”

“Since Daher’s creation 160 years ago, the company always has supported key industrial developments with its customers,” said Kayat in his closing statement. “We continue to write this story by going further: It is as pioneers that we will be the first to offer a hybrid aircraft to the market.”

The post ‘Imagineering’ by Daher Launches Within Increased Sustainability R&D Spend appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

American electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft manufacturers Joby and Archer Aviation have long planned commercial launches by 2025. But at the Paris Air Show on Tuesday, German rival Volocopter reinforced its agreement with Groupe ADP, an international airport operator based in Paris, and the French Civil Aviation Authority and Paris Region (DGAC) to establish an air taxi network in Paris by next summer.

Volocopter and its new partners are hoping to turn the “City of Lights” into the City of eVTOL Flights in time for the 2024 Olympic Games, a timeline that would likely make Paris the first city in the world to fly routine, dedicated urban air taxi routes.

The plan is to begin with three public transit routes—linking airports, heliports, and vertiports—as well as two round-trip tourism routes. Trips will be flown by Volocopter’s VoloCity eVTOL, which has capacity for a pilot and one passenger. It will fly below 1,640 feet (500 meters) but will not be audible from the ground within the Paris soundscape.

“We are counting down the days to making electric air taxis a reality,” said Dirk Hoke, CEO of Volocopter. “Together with our French partners, we will take command in decarbonizing aviation, slowly but surely.”

All of Volocopter’s early operations in Paris will be based out of five vertiports, the construction of which will begin no later than September. Those five facilities, including a special vertiport on the Austerlitz barge on the Seine River, will produce five urban air mobility (UAM) routes to support a mix of public transportation and tourism:

• Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (LFPG) to Paris-Le Bourget Airport (LFPB)
• Vertiport of Austerlitz barge (under construction) to Paris Heliport (JDP)
• Paris Heliport to Airfield of Saint-Cyr-l’École (LFPZ)
• Paris Heliport round-trip flights
• Paris-Le Bourget round-trip flights

In addition to the Austerlitz barge vertiport, which is being supported by Paris Region authorities, Volocopter will construct air taxi infrastructure at the two major Paris airports, the Paris Heliport, and the airfield in Saint-Cyr-l’École. Each vertiport will feature passenger terminals with one to three takeoff and landing spots. Over the next decade, the company said it will look to add vertiport coverage for the entire Paris Region.

But Volocopter will still need to certify VoloCity with the European Union Aviation and Safety Agency (EASA)—a process it says will be complete by early 2024—before launching commercial operations. For the past 18 months, Volocopter has completed dozens of flights at its testing ground in Pontoise, France, in front of thousands of spectators.

Aiding the company further is the recent completion of its Bruchsal, Germany, production facility, which it says has received regulatory approval to build 50 VoloCity aircraft per year.

“All the indicators are green for a successful summer 2024,” said Edward Arkwright, deputy CEO of Groupe ADP. “The challenges ahead are huge, but they are a great source of pride for all those involved in the project, with whom we share the conviction that carbon-free air travel also brings new services.”

Following a successful demonstration at the Paris Air Show, Volocopter also announced that charitable air rescue service ADAC Luftrettung agreed to buy two custom-built VoloCity aircraft, with the intention of procuring 150 more as part of an ongoing collaboration. The aircraft will begin flying research operations in 2024, with an eye toward future zero-emissions EMS and rescue missions.

“With higher ranges and operational speeds as well as significantly more payload of the next generation of eVTOLs, we can also put the benefits for emergency care into practice—and fulfill our statutory mission to further develop the rescue service from the air with pioneering innovations,” said Frédéric Bruder, CEO of ADAC Luftrettung.

In addition to services in France and Germany, Volocopter is looking to fly air taxi routes in Singapore and Rome by 2024, as well as in the planned city of Neom, Saudi Arabia, as soon as construction allows. The firm is also developing a longer-range eVTOL, VoloRegion, which aims to connect cities and suburbs with UAM routes. That model first flew in June 2022.

Interestingly, Volocopter has not announced any plans to launch commercial services in the U.S. That’s where Archer (Chicago and New Jersey), Joby (Los Angeles and New York), and Eve Air Mobility (San Francisco) are planning their hubs. But if Volocopter remains on schedule, none of them will stake a claim to the first commercial eVTOL service.

The post Volocopter Targets Commercial Launch in Paris for Summer 2024 appeared first on FLYING Magazine.