According to New Atlas, British company Vertical Aerospace celebrates its first flight of its spectacular full-size VX4 eVTOL air taxi prototype, demonstrating its confidence in the design by taking unusual steps to get the pilot on board. It will be put into operation in 2025.
VX4 has a five-seat design, with a pilot and four passengers in the front row. It has eight large propellers in total - two five-blade propellers along the leading edge of each large wing and two four-blade propellers along the back of each wing. During vertical takeoff and landing, these propellers are pointing upwards, but the front propellers are designed to tilt forward and provide horizontal thrust for efficient wing-load cruising flights, while the rear propellers will stop and retract themselves into a low drag configuration until they are needed again.
Vertical Aerospace claims its top speed of 202 mph (325 km/h) and a range of over 100 mph (161 km), a range of specifications enable the VX4 to be positioned as a solid cross-city air taxi that can also perform some light-distance regional tasks. The market seems to respond well; Vertical Aerospace claims it has received up to 1,400 conditional orders from a range of airlines, travel groups and other operators. Only about 1,000 helicopters are sold to civil service every year around the world, so you can see that once these new, cheaper, quieter electric aircraft are certified and entered mass production, they will start to flood the sky.
Vertical Aerospace received its prototype from GKN Aerospace's composite materials experts in July and began assembling and integrating components, including an electric power system developed by Rolls Reus . With ground testing completed, the company is now entering flight testing phase, which it believes is the first flight of a new full-size aircraft design in the UK in more than 20 years.
In the first flight of VX4, Vertical Aerospace lets its chief test pilot Justin Paines sit in the cockpit. It was a symbolic move; it was a very brief VTOL wheeled flight, and the VX4 was tied to the ground for safety – presumably that's why VA thought it would be better not to provide any photos or videos of what might not be the most spectacular event. However, in order for Paines to take a short flight, the company must obtain regulatory approval from the UK Civil Aviation Agency and prove that it can be done safely.
From here, the company will begin expanding the range of the prototype’s flight, starting with hover and low-speed drone-style flights at altitudes below 50 feet (15 meters), and then eventually transitioning to wing-load horizontal flights and faster speeds at altitudes of 5000-10,000 feet (1524-3048 meters).
Vertical Aerospace plans to authenticate the VX4 by 2025, which puts it about a year later than companies like Joby and Beta Technologies, but remains at the forefront of the race to commercialize eVTOL air taxis for mobility in cities and out of cities.
