Civil Aviation

393 readers

9 users here now

News from civil commercial and noncommercial aviation, videos, discussions, and more.

Basic rules

1. English only

Title and associated content has to be in English.

2. No posts about military aviation

Avoid any and all posts related to military aviation.

3. No meme posts

No meme posts. Those should go to [email protected].

4. Instance rules apply

All lemmy.zip instance rules listed in the sidebar will be enforced.

Icon attribution

If someone is interested in moderating this community, message @[email protected].

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

1,600 hp three-seat eVTOL promises jet-setters 500 miles at 220 mph (newatlas.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

London-based startup AltoVolo is aiming high with its entry in the developing eVTOL space. It plans to offer a powerful personal hybrid-electric aircraft that will seat three people, deliver 510 miles (821 km) of range, and hit cruise speeds up of to 220 mph (354 km/h) – all while making 80% less noise than a helicopter.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Except that craft like this are much more efficient (i think) and easier to fly. Helicopters are notoriously hard to fly whereas anyone can fly a quadcopter, especially with assistance like auto-hover and whatnot.

I do think there is a market for these sort of vehicles (for the rich) once a design is settled on.

[–] JohnDClay 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Larger rotor is more efficient. Agree on the hard to control, but that's moot if you have a pilot, since they'll need to be qualified to rotary wing. If you don't have a pilot, then you'll need to change the regulations significantly. I think that's what they're betting on, but it's not a given my any means.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

More efficient at helicopter things, but this is a VTOL which i think swings it back into its favor for standard flight.

I'm not an expert though. lol

[–] JohnDClay 2 points 1 week ago

Vtol just includes vertical takeoff and landing, which helicopters do. The motors for eVTOL can be smaller than engines, so maybe you save some weight avoiding the collective? The tail rotor is also just loss, so I would think 2 rotor would be the most efficient. But I think these companies go with more for additional residency?