Posted on 05/07/2024 12:21:54 PM PDT by Red Badger
The Pivotal Helix is a single-seat eVTOL (electric Vertical Take-Off & Landing) PAV (Personal Aerial Vehicle) with a range of 20+ miles (with 20% reserve) and a cruise speed 55 knots (63 mph). You can order now for July 2024 delivery, and no license is required, though you can't take delivery until you have completed the training. Pivotal
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Personal flight is currently undergoing a renaissance thanks to the rapid advancement of so many requisite industrial technologies. The next phase of personal flight is poised to begin and the production version of this aircraft could well mark the occasion in history.
In 2016, when the World eVTOL Aircraft Directory first began, it listed just a handful of electrically-powered Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft designs. Eight years later, it lists over 1,000 eVTOL concepts.
Many of these new aircraft are planned for launch over the coming 36 months, but it looks to us like the Pivotal Helix has beaten everybody to market as the world's first commercial eVTOL because it is about to begin deliveries of its scaled production units.
The first bulk customer deliveries will occur in July, though the very first commercial sale of the Helix occurred last October (2023) and the first four of eight Helix aircraft and two flight simulators that were ordered for evaluation by the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) were delivered in February 2024.
The AFRL is currently evaluating the potential of the Helix for a wide range of missions, including surveillance, special forces operations, remote supply, disaster and emergency response.
(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...
No thank-you!
I would not want it even if it was free.
IIRC, John Denver unfortunately didn’t have enough altitude when fuel starvation left him likely trying to switch tanks, with a difficult to reach fuel selector valve.
The builder/pilot he bought the plane from put it out of the way intentionally. Practicing familiarity with operating that valve quickly possibly would have kept the engine from dying, and John as well.
Hmm...it’s 15 miles to the beer store, so no sale...yet. One word of cautions, though: all those idiots you see on the road are now going to be in the air. Be afraid.
Defying gravity is serious business. Approaching it like it is just a fun thing to do doesn’t seem like a very viable endeavor.
I gave up motorcycles because I recognized my limitations.
“John Denver would have wanted one.
“
The people most likely to be killed while flying are those who can afford the plane but are not professional pilots. It’s not like driving a car. You actually need to know the theory and what do when stuff doesn’t work like it’s supposed to. Pilots spend hundreds of hours in simulators because this is their job. They aren’t surgeons who just happen to have the money and a free weekend.
Lately, some of the big accidents have been caused by software intended to help the pilot. Bet this thing is loaded with software to keep it stable. But then a bird lands on one part...
>>Wouldn’t you have to have a pilot’s license to operate one of those things?
Aircraft under the FAA’s 14 CFR Part 103 ultralight category does not require a pilot’s license to fly. There are helicopters, fixed-wing planes, and gliders that fall under this category.
Yeah, that’s what I want:
The same asshats I was just griping about in conversation with another person 15 minutes ago stepping into an aerial vehicle without a license to do so...
...while the rest of us have to jump through regulatory hoops just to fly a damned drone.
It’s a bird...It’s a plane...it’s a falling battery!
A George Jetson summer coming up... at least for those who can afford the $190k.
90% fatality rate coming up.
We are so screwed
[Maybe like Segway, they will find a market for tourists.]
A deathtrap like that tin can submarine going down to the Titanic.
I want to see motorized high speed unicycles.
I finally got around to taking FAA 107 cert test, easy and enough for now.
I guess we'll soon see videos of these crashes.
Astro was the best character.
Marine version?
I have a fishing hole or two it would be nice to get to.
Just add pontoons......................
“I gave up motorcycles because I recognized my limitations.”
I gave them up because I got tired of bad drivers trying to
kill me all the time.
There are many experimental gas powered aircraft available for a fraction of this cost and with much greater range. But like man today who believe buying an overpriced battery powered car is cool, there will be a market for this crazy expensive flying battery.
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