zacksoccer wrote:
OSHKOSH—Wisk Aero conducted the first public autonomous demonstration flight of its developmental electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi July 25 during EAA AirVenture, remotely flying the aircraft for four minutes over Runway 18/36 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
The fifth-generation Cora technology maturation vehicle performed two full passes over the runway, transitioned from vertical to wingborne flight and reached a height of 33 ft. above the ground. Its gross weight for both takeoff and landing was 2,400 lb. because it carried no fuel and no people.
The Gen 5 Cora has 12 electric motors and propellers for hovering, two fixed wings and a pusher propeller for forward flight. It has a two-seat cabin. Wisk is also exhibiting a mockup of its Gen 6 vehicle, a four-seat, high-wing, fully autonomous aircraft that will forgo a pusher propeller. Instead, it will have six tilting propellers in the front for vertical and horizontal flight, and six fixed propellers in the back for vertical lift.
The Gen 6 vehicle is being certified as a special-class aircraft to FAA Part 21.17(b). Although it will not initially be a fully conforming aircraft, Wisk considers it a “product,” not a prototype, that comes with the necessary foundation of systems engineering and requirements to be certified. The company, now a Boeing subsidiary, has not set a date for certification.
OSHKOSH—Wisk Aero conducted the first public auton... (
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Thanks for the writeup. Will have to research this concept more.