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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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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...

While the vision of whisking passengers between rooftops in aircraft capable of vertical takeoff has largely solidified in the general shape of multiple rotors, some with airfoils and others without, the question of how to power this new kind of aircraft is less so. Some envision pure electric with lots of high-capacity batteries; others believe batteries alone will never be ready to produce the power required, and pitch hybrid designs—with a fossil-fueled engine producing electricity to assist the motors during some or all phases of flight. However, one recent entrant in the field of some 150 such aircraft being...

AFS's concept would employ the same 4,000 HP engine used by the V-22 to generate 3 MW of electrical power that will drive the 24 ductless fans spread across its rear wings and front canards. These fans will rotate, as you can see in the image above, enabling the X-Plane to seamlessly transition from a hover to forward flight. "This VTOL X-plane won't be in volume production in the next few years but is important for the future capabilities it could enable," DARPA program manager, Ashish Bagai, said. "Imagine electric aircraft that are more quiet, fuel-efficient and adaptable and are...

1970s: “The Flying Pulpit” The Williams X-Jet, created by Williams International, was a small, one-man, light-weight, Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft powered by a modified Williams F107 turbofan aircraft engine designated WR-19-7 after some minor modifications. The vehicle was nicknamed "The Flying Pulpit", seemingly due to its shape. It was designed to be operated by / carry one person and dirigible by leaning in the direction of desired travel together with the modulation of its input power. It could move in any direction, accelerate rapidly, hover and rotate on its axis, stay aloft for up to 45 minutes...

According to Darpa “ARES is a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) flight module designed to operate as an unmanned platform capable of transporting a variety of payloads. The ARES VTOL flight module is designed to have its own power system, fuel, digital flight controls and remote command-and-control interfaces. Twin tilting ducted fans will provide efficient hovering and landing capabilities in a compact configuration, with rapid conversion to high-speed cruise flight.” ARES is the transformer-like, UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) capable to move between an airport, a warship, or an improvised landing zone and the battlefield, and perform a wide variety of...

For more Thanksgiving week entertainment, check out this video of Russia’s third stealth fighter making one of its very first flights. The video below shows the third Sukhoi T-50 PAK FA flying recently, nearly two years after the very first T-50 made its first flight. Remember, Russia is hoping to get the jet, designed to be a less stealthy but more maneuverable competitor to the F-22 Raptor, into service by the middle of the decade. India has already signed off to build about 200 of the jets under license. South Korea and even Venezuela are reportedly interested in the...

The F-35B, the VSTOL version of the Joint Strike Fighter made its first vertical landing on a US Navy Amphibious assault Ship, the USS Wasp LHD-1. F-35B makes vertical landing on USS Wasp, LHD-01 Here is the link to a video of the same: F-35B Makes 1st Vertical Landing onboard a US Navy LHD

The aft bulkhead of the F-35B BH-1 fatigue-test specimen has developed cracks after 1,500 hours of durability testing, Ares has learned. This is less than one-tenth of the planned fatigue test program, which is designed to prove an 8,000-hour airframe life with a safety factor of two. The bulkhead design was modified in the course of the jet's weight-saving redesign in 2004-05, switching from forged titanium - proven on the F-22 - to a new aluminum forging process developed by Alcoa. According to Lockheed Martin,"the cracks were discovered during a special inspection when a test engineer discovered an anomaly." The...

Aircraft Carrier Cavour Prepares to Receive F-35B Aircraft (Source: Italian Navy; issued Oct. 27, 2010) (Issued in Italian only; unofficial translation by defense-aerospace.com) From Oct. 18 to Oct. 22, the aircraft carrier Cavour hosted a Site Specific Activation Plan Midterm meeting (SSAP), part of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program according to which the Italian Navy plans to acquire 22 F-35B Short Take-Off and Landing (STOVL) combat aircraft between 2014 and 2021. The meeting was attended by representatives of various Italian and US government agencies ((SEGREDIFESA, MARISTAT, NAVARM, UTNAV Genova, GRUPAER) as well as industry representatives from Lockheed Martin, Fincantieri...

New Zealand inventor Glenn Martin publically debuted his 'Martin Jet Pack' Tuesday at AirVenture, the world's biggest air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Martin strapped his 16-year-old son into the pack and he hovered above the ground for a cheering crowd. Martin invented the 'Jet Pack' 11 years ago in his garage. It consists of a 200 horsepower water-cooled piston engine that runs on gas and uses car fanbelts to drive two fan propellers that spin inside what looks like two oversized soup cans. Martin say the fan design is much more efficient than an unshielded rotor of a helicopter....

June 8, 2007 This has to be one of the most 'futuristic' developments we've seen in some time; a new U.S. patent has been awarded to a company that has plans for a safe, silent personal flight device using electromagnetic ion propulsion as its primary thrust generator and drawing its power wirelessly from earthbound inductive green power broadcast stations. California's Personal Flight Systems are taking a serious look at the future of personal flight, and the technology involved will leave you shaking your head. It's been seven years now since the dawn of the new millennium, but it just doesn't...

The skies over Fort Worth, Texas, hosted a historic aviation milestone today when the most expensive plane on Earth—a modded version of the F-35 Lightning II that lands vertically like a helicopter—made its first flight. Its pilot certainly had the chops to do the job: He learned to fly short take-off/vertical landing (STOVL) airplanes when Jimmy Carter was president. Retired Royal Air Force squadron leader Graham Tomlinson, now employed by BAE Flight Systems, flew AV-8 Harriers (the first STOVL warplanes to see action) for 28 years, including time in the late 1980s as a test pilot qualifying the FA-2 Sea...

A flying saucer that glides 10 feet off the ground and carries two passengers has gone into commercial production. Moller International, based in Davis, Calif., has begun to manufacture parts for its Jetsons-like personal flying pod, the M200G Volantor. The M200G is the size of a small car and is designed to take off and land vertically. • Click here to see a video of an M200 prototype in action. Company founder Paul Moller, in a press release, called the craft "the ultimate off-road vehicle" as it is able to travel over any surface. "It's not a hovercraft, although its...

From 1996 to 2001, Boeing and Lockheed Martin produced rival designs and prototypes for the Joint Strike Fighter, a stealthy, affordable combat plane intended for the 21st century needs of the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marines. In "Battle of the X-Planes," NOVA goes behind the scenes to show the world's newest fighter taking shape, as Boeing and Lockheed Martin compete to win the largest contract in military history. NOVA's film crew was part of a small group allowed into both camps, in the first-ever inside look at a Department of Defense weapons competition. The team filmed inside installations where...