JetSetGo, an Indian marketplace for private jet and helicopter charters that also operates its own fleet, on Friday announced strategic partnerships with Horizon Aircraft, Overair, and Electra.aero to order as many as 280 aircraft, which would value the deal at a whopping $1.3 billion. 

Each of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft will bring unique capabilities to JetSetGo’s fleet, which comprises five midsize Hawkers and six other aircraft, ranging from large cabin jets to helicopters.

Horizon’s vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) Cavorite X7 and Electra’s ultra-short takeoff and landing (STOL) nine-seater—both hybrid-electric designs—will be the first to fly JetSetGo routes since they can utilize existing infrastructure, the company said. Overair’s Butterfly electric VTOL (eVTOL) air taxi will follow as Indian cities add the necessary infrastructure, such as charging stations.

The three designs will offer an “optimal mix” for five use cases identified by JetSetGo: airport transfers, regional connectivity, intercity commute, intracity shuttles, and urban air taxis. The company says India—which is plagued by road congestion issues, infrastructure challenges, and aviation emissions—will make an “ideal testbed” for AAM services.

“Our partnership with these three leading innovators will introduce unique technologies like ‘blown lift’ and ‘fan-in-wing’ lift systems, hybrid and electric propulsion, and super-quiet optimal speed tilt rotors to India,” said Kanika Tekriwal, co-founder and CEO of JetSetGo. “We want to lead the transformation of urban and regional connectivity and believe we have the right partners and technologies to make this vision a reality.”

The agreements lock JetSetGo into 150 firm orders—50 from each manufacturer—for a combined $780 million. But all three contracts include the option for it to acquire more aircraft.

Horizon, which announced its agreement earlier this week, will ship an initial batch of 50 Cavorite X7s to JetSetGo for $250 million. The firm has the option to acquire 50 more, which would double that deal’s value. Overair and Electra did not specify the initial order value or  number of options JetSetGo could acquire.

Horizon founder and CEO Brandon Robinson characterizes the company’s X7 as a “normal” aircraft with eVTOL capabilities, rather than an eVTOL with features of a traditional airplane. It uses a patented “fan-in-wing” configuration, similar to the Lilium Jet: 14 electric ducted fans are embedded in the wing to provide lift. During cruise, movable surfaces cover the fans.

The X7’s mix of features from traditional and electric aircraft make it something of an amalgamation. It can take off vertically or conventionally from the runway, for example, and a gas-powered range extender can charge its batteries during cruise. The air taxi won’t reduce emissions as much as all-electric designs, but Horizon says it will offer greater range, speed, and payload.

“This evolution will serve as a catalyst to accelerate our growth by providing the resources to continue the development and testing of our practical, real-world-use hybrid eVTOL, the Cavorite X7,” said Robinson.

Like the X7, Overair’s Butterfly offers some unique capabilities. The eVTOL deploys two technologies the firm says have never been integrated on an eVTOL design: optimum speed tilt rotor (OSTR) and individual blade control (IBC).

OSTR, which varies propeller revolutions per minute during vertical, forward, and transition flight, acts as a power saver, reducing energy demand in hover by as much as 60 percent. IBC, which is being researched by the U.S. Navy, limits the vibration of each blade to reduce propeller load and enable safer, smoother flights.

The combination of OSTR and IBC produces efficient, quiet propulsion through nearly any weather, temperature, or altitude, Overair says. Butterfly also features four oversized rotors, large cabin, and payload of about 1,100 pounds—enough for five passengers and their luggage. The company says it is ideal for passenger, medical, cargo, and military applications.

“Butterfly will provide a safe, quiet, and efficient mobility solution for urban and regional transport across the broadest range of weather conditions and geographic environments,”  said Valerie Manning, chief commercial officer at Overair. “In addition, the associated advanced air mobility ecosystem will create a multitude of jobs and fuel economic growth.”

As the lone all-electric VTOL manufacturer included in JetSetGo’s agreements, Overair will also support its new customer with infrastructure advisement, pilot training, infrastructure and software integration, operational guidance, and vertiport software integration.

Electra’s nine-seat design is also all-electric, but it won’t require VTOL infrastructure to get flying. The eSTOL design needs just 150 feet of runway for takeoff—that’s enabled through a unique technology called blown-lift, which allows the aircraft to take off at speeds as slow as a car driving through a residential neighborhood.

The eSTOL has a range of 500 nm and can carry up to 2,500 pounds of cargo. Compared to vertical takeoff alternatives, Electra claims the model offers more than twice the payload, 10 times the range, and 70 percent lower operating costs.

“Our aircraft’s unique ability to operate from soccer field-sized spaces, with the capacity to transport nine passengers up to 500 miles enables JetSetGo to identify new routes using eSTOL capability and deliver sustainable, affordable air connections to India’s communities previously underserved by flight,” said Marc Ausman, chief product officer of Electra.

Electra’s design was part of another massive hybrid-electric aircraft order from Dallas-based regional air carrier JSX. In December, the semiprivate operator signed letters of intent to acquire as many as 332 aircraft, including 32 firm orders and 50 options from Electra. JSX will also purchase Aura Aero’s Era and Heart Aerospace’s ES-30.

Several other American operators, including Surf Air Mobility and Bristow Group, have agreed to order or retrofit hybrid-electric designs as they seek to introduce new, sustainable, and potentially more cost-effective aircraft to their routes. In India, meanwhile, travel conglomerate InterGlobe in November agreed to purchase as many as 200 Midnight air taxis from Archer Aviation.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post India’s JetSetGo Orders $1.3B Worth of Electric Aircraft from 3 Manufacturers appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Horizon, maker of the seven-seat, hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) Cavorite X7, on Tuesday announced an agreement with Indian regional air operator JetSetGo for the purchase of up to 100 aircraft. The deal, worth up to $500 million, comes within a week of the manufacturer’s initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

A letter of intent between Horizon and JetSetGo calls for the latter to purchase 50 X7s at $5 million apiece, for a total of $250 million. The Indian operator has the option to acquire 50 more aircraft, which would double the value of the agreement.

Capable of taking off vertically like a helicopter or conventionally from the runway, the X7 blends features of a traditional airplane with those of eVTOL air taxis. However, Horizon claims the design offers a greater range, speed, and payload than air taxi designs from Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, Lilium, and EHang, considered four of the leading firms in the industry.

The X7 will have a variety of use cases: medical evacuation, critical supply delivery, disaster relief, and military missions, to name a few. But JetSetGo, which offers services such as private jet charter and aircraft management, will fly it on passenger-carrying AAM routes. The deal gives Horizon access to the most populous market on the planet.

“We ultimately decided to partner with a company with a deep operational and aerospace technology background that will deliver a product that will help usher in a new era of sustainable air travel, while also providing significant value for our customers,” said Kanika Tekriwal, co-founder and CEO of JetSetGo. “This partnership will help JetSetGo profitably enter new markets by leveraging the versatility of the Cavorite platform to bring about the vision of AAM in India.”

This week’s agreement comes just a few days after Horizon went public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Pono Capital Three. As of Tuesday, the firm’s common stock is trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol “HOVR.”

Brandon Robinson, founder, CEO, and board chairman of Horizon, will continue to lead the company. Management team members Jason O’Neill (chief operating officer), Brian Robinson (chief engineer), and Brian Merker (chief financial officer) will also stay on.

A SPAC IPO can be a good way for a young firm to raise money, and many eVTOL manufacturers—including Archer, Joby, and Lilium—have gone that route. But they can also be tricky, as in the case of Archer. Following its 2021 merger, Archer brought in $242 million less revenue than expected after shareholders exercised redemption rights. Joby and Lilium also saw significantly lower proceeds than anticipated.

However, Horizon is bullish on its ability to buck the trend. And a large aircraft order within a few days of going public is a positive sign.

“This evolution will serve as a catalyst to accelerate our growth by providing the resources to continue the development and testing of our practical, real-world-use hybrid eVTOL, the Cavorite X7,” said Brandon Robinson.

Not Your Normal Aircraft

Horizon announced the Cavorite X7 in September as a replacement for its Cavorite X5, which was originally expected to become its flagship aircraft. But testing revealed that the design could be expanded from five seats to seven, and customers had been clamoring for a larger aircraft with lower passenger seat mile costs.

Enter the X7. Robinson characterized the hybrid-electric design as a “normal” aircraft with eVTOL capabilities, rather than an eVTOL with features of a traditional airplane. 

The configuration is expected to reduce hydrocarbon emissions by up to 30 percent compared to conventional aircraft conducting the same missions—far from the zero-emission operations promised by all-electric air taxi manufacturers.

But the mixture of electric and conventional propulsion will deliver greater size, speed, range, and capacity, Horizon claims. At the same time, the company says it will reduce direct operating costs by up to 30 percent versus a helicopter conducting the same regional flight.

While the X7 is expected to fly missions spanning 43 to 434 nm, its maximum range of 500 sm (434 nm) exceeds the air taxi routes planned by Joby and Delta and Archer and United, for example. Its 250 mph (217 knots) top speed and 1,500-pound useful load—which rises to 1,800 pounds in conventional takeoff configuration—are also greater than Joby, Archer, Lilium, and EHang. Among those firms, only Lilium is building a seven-seater.

Lilium is also one of the few eVTOL firms that opted to produce lift using electric ducted fans embedded in the aircraft’s wings. Horizon too went with the fan-in-wing configuration, which the company says it has patented. Fourteen redundant electric ducted fans will be installed, but the X7 has successfully hovered with 30 percent of them disabled during testing. Movable surfaces cover the fans during cruise to boost lift across the wings and canards.

The X5 placed fans in both the wings and forward canards, with a pusher prop at the rear of the fuselage aiding in forward flight. It’s unclear whether the X7 will maintain that configuration.

Horizon’s design may eventually go full-electric, but it currently runs on a mixture of electric and gas. The hybrid power system can recharge the X7’s battery packs within 30 minutes between missions.

But using a range extender motor, it can also charge the batteries in the air when the aircraft flies like a conventional airplane: on fixed wings, in a low-drag configuration. The company claims the X7 can spend a whopping 98 percent of its mission flying this way—its patented HOVR wing system makes the transition after takeoff.

In addition, the X7 is designed for both VFR and IFR operations, capable of flying in inclement weather. Flight into known icing conditions, for example, is a certification goal, the company says. Certification will most likely happen in Canada: Horizon received development and type certification support for the X5 from Cert Center Canada (3C), an independent flight test and certification design approval organization approved by Transport Canada.

Horizon so far has yet to announce a manufacturing and entry into service projected timeline for the X7. Archer, Joby, and a few others are targeting commercial launches in 2025, while others, such as Boeing’s Wisk Aero or Overair, are looking further out. 

Archer in November also laid plans for operations in India with a tentative order for up to 200 air taxis. In addition, Archer, Joby, Lilium, EHang, and others have signed agreements with firms in the Middle East, a nearby market with similar demand potential.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post Horizon Aircraft Goes Public, Secures Order for Up to 100 Hybrid-Electric Models appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Now for this week’s top story:

Blue Origin Appoints Amazon’s Dave Limp as New CEO

What happened? As rivals SpaceX and Virgin Galactic dominate the commercial spaceflight sector, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has been grounded. Its pace of progress has slowed from a run to a walk to a limp. But perhaps the best way to correct a limp is with a Limp—Dave Limp, senior vice president of Amazon devices and services, to be specific.

Tumultuous tenure: Bezos hired Limp as CEO in part because of his “sense of urgency,” which hints at the billionaire businessman’s aims. Under current chief executive Bob Smith, Blue Origin completed the highly publicized maiden voyage of its New Shepard spaceship, ferrying Bezos and Star Trek icon William Shatner to the edge of the atmosphere.

Since then, the company has stalled. It made a few more commercial flights before a September 2022 crash prompted the FAA to bring down the hammer, grounding New Shepard indefinitely. Smith has also missed out on lucrative NASA and DOD contracts, struggled to launch the New Glenn super-heavy rocket, and faced accusations of a toxic workplace.

Changing of the guard: Bezos is probably hoping Limp is the catalyst Blue Origin needs to right the ship, both figuratively and literally. At Amazon, he was involved with Project Kuiper, a planned competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, and led ambitious projects such as Alexa, Echo, and FireTV. He also held executive positions with a pair of now-defunct technology firms.

Limp is not an aerospace expert by any means. But Bezos clearly trusts his ability to turn ideas into reality (it’s an open secret that Alexa and Echo were pet projects of his), and do it quickly. He’s certainly an upgrade over Smith, at least according to current employees, one of whom gave the less-than-glowing assessment, “Anything is better than Bob.”

Quick quote: “I’ve worked closely with [Limp] for many years. He is the right leader at the right time for Blue. Dave is a proven innovator with a customer-first mindset and extensive experience leading and scaling large, complex organizations. Dave has an outstanding sense of urgency, brings energy to everything, and helps teams move very fast,” Bezos wrote in a note to Blue Origin employees obtained by CNBC.

My take: When this news came across my radar, one thing in particular caught my attention: Bezos’ repeated emphasis on speed.

Reading too deeply into the public comments of a CEO is a dangerous game, but it’s easy to see why Bezos might prioritize quickness. Since New Shepard was grounded, SpaceX has launched thousands of satellites and ferried astronauts to and from the International Space Station with NASA. Virgin Galactic has now completed space tourism trips in back-to-back-to-back months. United Launch Alliance has made a handful of launches, too.

All of these competitors have leapfrogged Blue Origin—at least for now. Limp’s likely prerogative as new boss will be getting one of the company’s programs (New Shepard, New Glenn, the Blue Moon lander, or the Orbital Reef space station) into orbit quickly. New Shepard, for which the FAA just closed its mishap investigation, seems to be a likely candidate.

Deep dive: Can Blue Origin Course Correct With Amazon’s Dave Limp at the Helm?

In Other News…

Boosters Delivered to Kennedy Space Center for Artemis II Mission

What happened? About one year from now, NASA will send four astronauts around the moon and back. Before then, though, it needs to build the spacecraft that will carry them. That process appears set to begin soon, after contractor Northrop Grumman delivered 10 booster motor segments to Kennedy Space Station

Back to the moon: Artemis III, tentatively planned for 2025, would mark humanity’s return to the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 more than half a century ago. Before that, Artemis II will serve as a litmus test—if it succeeds, the agency will move to the next step. The mission will be flown with the Space Launch System (SLS) super-heavy lift rocket and the Orion spacecraft.

Northrop provided segments for the SLS’s twin solid rocket boosters, which will generate 8.8 million pounds of thrust and help Orion reach 24,500 mph on its way to the moon. Now, the parts are being evaluated and are expected to be stacked in February. NASA also added four RS-25 engines to the rocket’s core stage last week. But concerns the project will fall behind schedule persist.

Deep dive: Booster Delivery Marks NASA Artemis II Moon Mission Milestone

VI&E Solutions, Ace VTOL Look to Add 700 Vertiports in Oceania

What happened? As more electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft designs hit the market, they’ll need a place to land. Enter Volatus Infrastructure and Energy Solutions (VI&E): The vertiport company partnered with eVTOL manufacturer Ace VTOL to build a network of 700 vertiports in Australia, New Zealand, and other countries in the region.

Global dominance? The vertiport industry will rely on the development of another industry, eVTOL aircraft, for scale. But when those wacky-looking aircraft finally hit the skies, VI&E is in position to capitalize. The company is planning four U.S. vertiport projects for 2024 and will look to add more through partnerships with regional aviation real estate developers.

Of greater consequence, perhaps, are the company’s plans beyond the U.S. It has agreements with eVTOL manufacturers, infrastructure developers, and regulatory authorities in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and more. Already, that gives it a global footprint, with which the likes of Ferrovial Vertiports, Groupe ADP, and other rivals will need to compete.

Deep Dive: VI&E Solutions, Ace VTOL Plan to Add 700 Vertiports in Oceania Region

And a Few More Headlines:

• NATO is set to adopt the U.K. Ministry of Defense’s SAPIENT protocol as a standard for counter-uncrewed aerial systems (C-UAS).

• VoltAero made what it says is the first flight of an electric aircraft running on 100 percent sustainable fuel…made from wine waste.

• In another milestone flight, Beta Technologies’ electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) aircraft crossed the border from New York to Montreal.

• The FAA announced a $300 million allocation for net-zero goal projects, such as sustainable aviation fuels infrastructure.

• The agency also proposed a rule to limit debris from commercial space vehicles.

Spotlight on…

Horizon Aircraft

[Courtesy: Horizon Aircraft]

Air taxi manufacturers Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, Lilium, and EHang share one core tenet: They will only build 100 percent electric aircraft. Horizon Aircraft raises an eyebrow in response.

Rather than go full-electric, the Canadian company built a hybrid eVTOL which relies on a gas-powered range extender that charges its batteries during flight. Like the firms above, Horizon plans to use it for regional air taxi routes, as well as for medical evacuation, critical supply delivery, and commercial cargo services.

The company’s aircraft may not achieve the same emissions reductions as its rivals. But the Cavorite X7, a newly announced model that will replace its flagship Cavorite X5 (pictured above), is expected to have a greater range, speed, and useful load than all of them. Plus, with seven seats, it projects as one of the highest occupancy eVTOL designs out there. Keep an eye on this one.

Deep Dive: Horizon Aircraft Announces Plans for 7-Seat Hybrid eVTOL Design

On the Horizon…

No one likes a government shutdown. But the one currently looming could be a real doozy for the FAA. That’s because Saturday marks the deadline for FAA reauthorization, and a funding bill has yet to pass both houses of Congress. In short, this could be a disaster.

Commercial and passenger airlines will still fly. But air traffic controllers, Transportation Security Administration personnel, and FAA staff will work without pay. What’s more, training for ATC learning the ropes will be put on hold, potentially exacerbating an existing shortage. Airport infrastructure investments, FAA rulemaking, and facility security inspections will all go on pause.

For our purposes, the shutdown would also prevent the passage of key incentives for the drone and advanced air mobility (AAM) industries, which are included in the House FAA reauthorization bill. These include provisions such as a timeline for a final beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone law and permanent rules for AAM operations.

The Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC) proposal the FAA submitted in July is another piece of rulemaking that could be put on hold. Comments on that document will close October 23, less than a month from now (mark your calendars!). But the agency won’t be able to begin the process to address them through rulemaking until a shutdown ends.

Mark Your Calendars

Each week, I’ll be running through a list of upcoming industry events. DroneX 2023 wrapped up Wednesday in London, but here are a few conferences to keep an eye on:

• Airtaxi World Congress—October 2-5 in San Francisco
• UP.Summit—October 4-6 in Dallas 
• FAI World Drone Racing Championship—October 6-9 near Seoul, South Korea
• Intergeo 2023—October 10-12 in Berlin
• Dronitaly—October 11-13 in Bologna, Italy
• World’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Conference—November 12-14 in Jerusalem

Tweet of the Week

Want to see your tweet here next week? Have comments or feedback? Share your thoughts on Twitter and tag me (@jack_daleo)! Or check out FLYING’s media accounts:

X (formerly Twitter): FLYING Magazine (@FlyingMagazine) / Twitter

Facebook: FLYING Magazine – Home (facebook.com)

Instagram: FLYING Magazine (@flyingmagazine) • Instagram photos and videos

I want to hear your questions, comments, concerns, and criticisms about everything in the modern flying space, whether they’re about a new drone you just bought or the future of space exploration. Reach out to jack@flying.media or tweet me @jack_daleo with your thoughts.

If you liked this, and want it to be delivered to your inbox, you can sign up here.

The post Can Dave Limp Correct Blue Origin’s Limping Pace? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Toronto-based manufacturer Horizon Aircraft on Tuesday revealed that it has improved on the design of its flagship five-seater Cavorite X5—so much so that the firm is pivoting to a new model. Horizon will replace the X5 with the Cavorite X7, a larger, seven-seat version for applications in medical evacuation, critical supply delivery, disaster relief, and military missions.

Horizon also believes its new flagship eVTOL will be ideal for regional air taxi services, like those the aforementioned companies are looking to provide in urban and suburban areas. It’s expected to move people or cargo over distances between 50 and 500 sm (43 to 434 nm), a bit farther than planned air taxi routes from Joby and Delta, Archer and United, and others.

The Canadian company chose to modify its design for a few reasons. Positive flight testing results of the firm’s 50 percent-scale prototype, as well as an internal analysis of its aerodynamics, structure, and electronics, revealed the X5 could be expanded to make room for a pilot and six passengers.

And then there’s the customers. Horizon said clients serving the medical evacuation, business aviation, and commercial cargo industries requested a larger aircraft with lower passenger seat mile costs to better align with their needs.

All of that feedback means the X5 will be short-lived: A first prototype was revealed in August 2022, and initial hover testing began in January. However, the X7 will inherit plenty of its predecessor’s components and features.

“The shift to a seven-seat aircraft has been discussed since the beginning of our hybrid eVTOL initial concept,” said Brandon Robinson, CEO of Horizon. “It’s a size that just makes sense commercially. We are very confident our unique fan-in-wing technology can support this new and larger platform, and our testing results have provided us with confidence that we can potentially scale to an even larger aircraft.”

Both Robinson and his father, Brian, Horizon’s co-founder and chief engineer, are experienced fliers who saw an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the eVTOL industry.

“Close to 2013, there was a gentleman with the vision of a completely new type of aircraft that was based on our family plane—an RC‑3 Republic Seabee that he and my grandfather built from scrap,” Robinson said in the eVTOL Insights Q&A. “My father had always been interested in electrification—using smaller, lighter, and more reliable electric components in many of his projects. He had the idea to design his new prototype aircraft around a hybrid-electric power system.”

The seven-seater Cavorite will have an estimated gross weight of 5,500 pounds with a useful load of 1,500 pounds. It has a projected 250 mph (217 knots) top speed and a 500 sm (434 nm) maximum range. Notably, the X7 will be able to take off vertically like a helicopter, or conventionally from the runway—the latter would boost its useful load to 1,800 pounds.

According to Horizon, the X7 will use a “patented” configuration in which redundant electric ducted fans are embedded in the wings. However, the Lilium Jet and Doroni H1 have similar fan-in-wing architectures.

While it’s unclear exactly how the fans will be arranged on the X7, Horizon’s X5 placed 12 in the wings and four in the forward canards to provide vertical lift. Meanwhile, a pusher propeller attached to the rear of the fuselage enabled forward flight. Movable surfaces on the wings covered the fans during cruise, increasing lift across the wings and canards.

The X7’s hybrid-electric power system is designed to recharge its battery packs within 30 minutes between missions. But the aircraft would also be able to recharge its batteries in the air when flying like a traditional plane—on its wings, in a very low-drag configuration—using a range extender motor. Horizon claims the X7 will be able to spend 98 percent of its mission time flying this way, making it potentially safer and easier to certify than more complex designs.

While designed to fly on 100 percent electric power, the eVTOL is also built to run on gas. Still, Horizon promises it will cut hydrocarbon emissions in half. The hybrid-electric design is unlike fully electric models from Joby, Archer, Lilium, and EHang, but it gives the X7 a greater range, speed, and useful load than all of them. Among those firms, only Lilium is designing a seven-seater.

“A machine that will do useful work over [31 miles] will probably have a max range on the order of [62 miles] or more, because it must get to its destination, perhaps facing unforecasted headwinds, maybe diverting around bad weather, and then be able to abort a landing and head to an alternate landing area,” Robinson said in a 2021 Q&A with eVTOL Insights. “This requires a lot of energy—more than many purely electric designs will be able to practically handle.”

In that same interview, Robinson characterized Horizon’s design as a “normal” aircraft with eVTOL capabilities, rather than an eVTOL with some features of a traditional airplane.

For now, Horizon will continue to test its half-scale X5 prototype, which it believes will reduce risk when the time comes to develop full-scale X7 models. Already, the company said the design has garnered “significant interest” within the aviation industry. It also cited the new model as the catalyst for securing a handful of Canadian grants and a Department of Defense research and development contract.

In August, Horizon announced its plans to go public via a business combination with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Pono Capital Three, about two and a half years after it exited stealth.

Since February, the company has been receiving development and type certification support for the X5 from Cert Center Canada (3C), a Transport Canada-approved, independent flight test and certification design approval organization. 3C has provided certification planning, design consulting, training, flight testing, and airworthiness approval services.

Robinson in the 2021 Q&A said production of the X5 would begin in 2024 and focus on low-volume manufacturing in order to refine the design and enable scale in the future at a lower cost. So far, no timeline has been announced for the new X7.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post Horizon Aircraft Announces Plans for 7-Seat Hybrid eVTOL appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Among the many eVTOL designs that startup companies are developing, the Horizon prototype is notable for its hybrid power system that includes electric motors and an internal combustion engine. The company said the redundant power plants increase safety and allow the aircraft to continue operating in the case of certain failures. 

“This aircraft has exceeded expectations during initial hover testing. It is extremely stable, is capable of full hover at only 65 percent power, and has hovered with 20 percent of its fans purposely disabled in order to test system redundancy,” said Brandon Robinson, CEO of Horizon Aircraft. “This is a large-scale aircraft, with a 22-foot wingspan, over 15 feet in length, and capable of speeds over 175 mph. It continues to yield valuable data that is constantly improving our full-scale design.”

• READ MORE: Horizon Aircraft Builds Hybrid eVTOL Test Prototype

Horizon said its patented eVTOL design allows the aircraft “to fly 98 percent of its mission in

a very low-drag configuration like a traditional aircraft.” which it said is more efficient than relying more extensively on lift from rotors. Horizon also said its concept will be easier to certify because it operates more like a traditional airplane than competing eVTOL designs.

The company said its full-scale aircraft’s hybrid system will be able to recharge the batteries in flight. The company said it plans to conduct its transition tests at the ACE Climatic Wind Tunnel, part of Ontario Tech University in Ontario, Canada.

The post Horizon’s Cavorite X5 eVTOL Completes Initial Hover Tests appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

With a wingspan measuring 22 feet and expected speeds of more than 135 knots, the 15-foot-long prototype “will yield valuable information that will help to reduce technical risk as we move forward with detailed design of our full-scale aircraft,” said CEO Brandon Robinson in an August 2 news release.

Horizon, headquartered near Toronto, Ontario, is one of many aircraft developers entering the emerging eVTOL space, an entirely new type of environmentally friendly aircraft aimed at flying passengers on short hops over congested urban areas.

With construction of the half-scale prototype complete, Horizon can focus on first flight and an initial flight test campaign. 

To provide vertical thrust, the Cavorite X5 includes 12 ducted fans embedded in its wings and four more in the forward canards. For forward flight, a pusher propeller is attached to the rear of the fuselage on the aircraft’s centerline. During horizontal flight, movable wing surfaces cover the ducted fans to provide increased lift across the wings and canards. 

A fully electric eVTOL currently under development by Germany-based Lilium also includes ducted fans embedded across wings and canards. A prototype of Lilium’s Lilium Jet is currently being flight tested in Spain. 

• READ MORE: Lilium Makes Key Choice on Electrical Distribution System

Electric-powered ducted fans typically face challenges related to high disc loading, requiring more thrust and more powerful battery systems than alternative propulsion designs, such as tilt rotors. 

But unlike Lilium Jet, the Cavorite X5’s power comes from a combination of gas engine and electric batteries. The approach is designed to allow “the aircraft to fly 98 percent of its mission in a very low-drag configuration like a traditional aircraft.” 

The hybrid electric system will be used to recharge the aircraft’s battery array while in flight, as well as providing additional system redundancy, the company said.

“Flying most of the time as a normal aircraft is also safer and should make the aircraft easier to certify than radical new eVTOL designs,” Horizon said. 

The production model of the Cavorite X5 is expected to carry four passengers with a single pilot. 

About the Aircraft

The full-sized Cavorite X5 is expected to include the following specifications:

The post Horizon Aircraft Builds Hybrid eVTOL Test Prototype appeared first on FLYING Magazine.