MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
From Flightglobal.com:
Japanese start-up SkyDrive is preparing to fly its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) test aircraft in public for the first time in August, as it sets its sights on building a thriving air taxi and urban air mobility market in the country on the back the developmental battery-powered design.
SkyDrive says it began flight testing a proof of concept model at its test centre in Toyota in December 2019, and the aircraft "completed its technical verification phase" in March.
"We have built and flown many scaled models of this flying car, but will publicly demonstrate a one-seat piloted version, known as SD03, in August," says SkyDrive chief technical officer Nobuo Kishi.
The as-yet unnamed programme, is designed for two people and development of the first conforming prototype, SD04, is now under way.
"It will be built to carry a pilot and one passenger initially, but a later, autonomous version will seat two passengers," says Kishi.
Few details have been released to date, but Tokyo-headquartered SkyDrive says the all-composite aircraft will have a maximum take-off weight of 500kg (1,100lb), a cruise speed of 33kt (60km/h), and a range of up to 16nm (30km).
The "as-yet unnamed programme" - Would Kamikaze be good name for this aircraft?
Japanese start-up SkyDrive is preparing to fly its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) test aircraft in public for the first time in August, as it sets its sights on building a thriving air taxi and urban air mobility market in the country on the back the developmental battery-powered design.
SkyDrive says it began flight testing a proof of concept model at its test centre in Toyota in December 2019, and the aircraft "completed its technical verification phase" in March.
"We have built and flown many scaled models of this flying car, but will publicly demonstrate a one-seat piloted version, known as SD03, in August," says SkyDrive chief technical officer Nobuo Kishi.
The as-yet unnamed programme, is designed for two people and development of the first conforming prototype, SD04, is now under way.
"It will be built to carry a pilot and one passenger initially, but a later, autonomous version will seat two passengers," says Kishi.
Few details have been released to date, but Tokyo-headquartered SkyDrive says the all-composite aircraft will have a maximum take-off weight of 500kg (1,100lb), a cruise speed of 33kt (60km/h), and a range of up to 16nm (30km).
The "as-yet unnamed programme" - Would Kamikaze be good name for this aircraft?
