Story and Photography By Jim Roberts
This week at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2023, the future of aviation is once again on display.
Looking for an autonomous four-passenger eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft? Check. A compact, agile VTOL craft? Check. How about a six-seat aerial limo with an electric-hybrid powertrain? Yep, we got that, too.
Wisk Aero made headlines on Tuesday afternoon at AirVenture 2023 with the first-ever public flight of a fully autonomous, all-electric VTOL air taxi. The demonstration featured Wisk’s Generation 5 technology demonstrator. According to Jim Tighe, chief technology officer at Wisk, “There was no pilot on board, no pilot controls in the aircraft, and no stick-and-rudder on the ground. The entire flight was operated with the push of a button.”
Unlike remotely piloted aircraft that are flown with traditional flight controls by a human pilot on the ground, Wisk’s aircraft fly themselves while being monitored from the ground. Each flight is monitored (not remotely piloted) by a ground-based supervisor who can intervene by sending new commands that the aircraft then executes autonomously.
A full-scale mock-up of the company’s Generation 6 air taxi — a four-passenger, autonomous eVTOL — is on display in the Wisk Chalet, Booth 747; an appropriate number, since Wisk is a fully owned Boeing subsidiary. The sixth-generation craft, which is projected to come to market before the end of the decade, will be propelled by 12 tilting rotors — six on the wing leading edge and six in the rear — yielding a cruise speed of 120 knots at altitudes between 2,500 and 4,000 feet, and a range of 90 miles with reserves.
“Many of our employees are pilots, and we have long dreamed of sharing the groundbreaking, innovative work that we’re doing at Oshkosh,” said Brian Yutko, CEO of Wisk. “This year, we’re fulfilling that dream.”
Mayman Aerospace describes its P2 Speeder as a micro VTOL multi-mission air utility vehicle, capable of autonomous, remote, or piloted flight. It’s designed to fill a gap between drones, eVTOLs, and helicopters. Speeder’s motorcycle-size footprint will enable rapid deployment for multipurpose operations, including wildfire fighting, search and rescue support, urgent cargo delivery, and more. With an empty weight of 200 pounds, the prototype is expected to carry a 600-pound payload and enough fuel to fly 200 miles at 250 knots.
The Speeder uses eight small gimbaled turbojet engines to transition from vertical to horizontal flight. The engines are an off-the-shelf product, with a few tweaks added by Mayman engineers. They burn Jet A or diesel fuel.
Chris Black, a Mayman representative at AirVenture, said the engine and flight control system is fully self-stabilizing, so you can’t do anything as a pilot that would cause a loss of control. Test flights are in progress, and Mayman expects to have an unmanned version on the market in 18 months. You can see the Speeder P2 prototype at AFWERX Booth 324.
The Cassio 330 — VoltAero’s electric-hybrid air-craft — made its North American debut on Tuesday morning.
