THE FAA HAS PUBLISHED draft rules for all new makes and models offering point-to-point air taxi services outside the traditional aeronautical ecosystem. This has been a daunting regulatory challenge for the administration, adding entirely new types of traditional fixed and rotary-wing aircraft. This change will only be the first bitRead More →
JoeBen Bevirt has ducked the media spotlight—until now. He discusses how electric air taxis will make urban transport cleaner and cheaper. The most recognizable name in the emerging electrical vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) segment, JoeBen Bevirt, broke years-long silence during a webcast with the Washington Post. It turns out heRead More →
Boasting record eVTOL pre-sales, UK company Vertical Aerospace (VA) is going public through a SPAC, with backing from Microsoft, American Airlines, Avolon, Honeywell and Rolls-Royce and a bulging US$4 billion-dollar pre-order book for as many as 1,000 of its VA-X4 eVTOL air taxis. The SPAC deal is a merger withRead More →
As eVTOL manufacturers scramble to get next-gen air taxi aircraft certified and into full production, another set of companies are racing to establish themselves as air mobility service providers. These will become the Ubers of the sky. Some eVTOL manufacturers plan to do it themselves; Joby Aviation, for example, now ownsRead More →
Short takeoff and landing (STOL) might prove a practical alternative to VTOL in the early days of electric aviation. VTOL aircraft use an enormous amount of energy lifting themselves off the ground, dramatically cutting the range they can squeeze out of a battery system. But an STOL plane like theRead More →
Named the SD-03, it made its first public flight debut at Japan’s Toyota test field. Tokyo-based SkyDrive’s first drone took to the air in April 2020 on what was billed Japan’s first manned multi-rotor test flight. SkyDrive has now revealed that its new slicker SD-03 model made its first public demonstrationRead More →
