Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

Electric Aircraft

Jump to new
last night I was at a meeting where the guest speaker was a 4th year Aerospace student who is part of a team investigating the introduction of air taxis - basicly enlarged versions of quadcopters or personalised large scale drones.
They are looking at various propulsion systems from turbo fans, diesel, jet A1, electric/battery and hydrogen are being considered, although electric/hybrid sources are the most promising.
As per usual, America is way ahead of OZ, where some cities are already planning for airport to office transport in electric drones along predetermined transport corridors.
This would require the creating of vertiports on top of buildings to accomodate the air taxis. Some engineers are concerned about the transport of vibrations from these airtaxis to buildings, and what the long term affects might be on the structures, so they are looking at damping mechanisms for the pads.
Other issues are persistent rotor wash in the vicinity and how that will affect structures as well as people.
A very interesting and informative presentation from an articulate and knowledgeable young lady.
mick
 
The US Airforce has ordered six Midnight EVTOL aircraft for rescue missions.
From Rueters
April 25 (Reuters) - Electric aircraft maker Joby Aviation (JOBY.N) will deliver up to nine air taxis to the U.S. Air Force under a $55 million contract extension that marks the company’s first revenue-generating operations, the company announced on Tuesday.

Joby will deliver the first two aircraft to Edwards Air Force Base in California by March 2024 for field exercises that will help the Air Force determine whether to adopt electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.


The contract affords an opportunity for the California-based startup to test its proposed pilot training regime, maintenance processes and charging infrastructure ahead of the expected start of commercial operations in 2025, Joby Executive Chairman Paul Sciarra said.

“It lets us trial run lots of the things that we're going to have to do for broader commercial service, but do that at a small scale and do that earlier than we might otherwise,” he told Reuters.


The Air Force is exploring eVTOL aircraft as a potential option to conduct certain air logistics tasks typically performed by helicopters, but at lower costs and without the need to stockpile fuel.

During evaluations at Edwards, the service will test whether the Joby aircraft are suitable for missions such as transporting personnel and cargo, extracting wounded troops and conducting security operations at nuclear missile fields, said Lt. Col. John Tekell, who leads the Air Force's eVTOL development effort known as Agility Prime.


Unlike other eVTOL manufacturers, which plan to sell aircraft to customers such as airlines and logistics companies, Joby’s business model is similar to a rideshare app, with customers paying to be transported in an air taxi owned and operated by the company.

Under the contract with the Air Force, Joby will maintain ownership of the air taxis but will teach military pilots to fly them for the first time.
Click to expand...
Six is not a huge number of aircraft when it comes to the USAF, but it signifies they are becoming more serious.
Having breakfast this week with a rescue chopper pilot, will be interested to hear his take on the EVTOL over a chopper.

Mick
 

Similar threads

Sean K
GYG - Guzman y Gomez
3 4 5
Replies
87
Views
8K
wayneL
wayneL
Garpal Gumnut
DCFC - Tritium DCFC Limited (NASDAQ)
Replies
2
Views
1K
frugal.rock
frugal.rock
wayneL
Spending kids inheritance
2
Replies
27
Views
882
wayneL
wayneL
farmerge
Red Meat Pricing
Replies
8
Views
528
farmerge
farmerge
basilio
How do you deal with conflict?
Replies
11
Views
716
moXJO
M
Top