Autoflight Lifts Off and Transitions

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

Autoflight, the latest outlet for Tian Yu’s creativity, has demonstrated a successful transition from vertical lift to forward flight.  Yu, the founder and CEO of Yuneec, fielded a wide range of drones, motors, and eventually an ultralight electric aircraft under the Greenwings name.

Yuneec Goes to Oshkosh

He managed to obtain FAA approval for flights of his Yuneec e430, an electric two-seat lightplane, at Oshkosh in 2009.  At that time, Ed Warnock, CEO of the Perlan Project, called your editor to allow him to hear Yuneec powerplants humming audibly in their display area on Wittman Field.

Eric Lindbergh tested the Yuneec e-Spyder, a derivation of Tom Pehigny’s design.  A pair of e-Spyders showed up at AirVenture in 2013, becoming the first electric airplanes to fly in formation at that event.  They were joined by Mark Beierle’s eGull in the ultralight area, an electric threesome that showed great promise.

Yuneec faded from the American scene for a while, seeming to concentrate on its multi-rotor drones. The company came back a few years ago under that name of Autoflight X.

That firm introduced a tandem-seat, six lift propeller, one pusher-propeller vehicle at Aero eFlight Expo in 2019.  Minus the X, Autoflight recently came forth with Prosperity 1, a four-seat air taxi that will be ready for passenger transport by 2025 according to the company.  Yu’s working with Mark Henning, the Managing Director for European operations.

Its appearance somewhat resembles that of Beta’s Alia, but with a canard and six, rather than four, lift rotors.  All winged eVTOLs face the challenge of making a quick transition from vertical lift to forward flight to conserve battery energy.  Prosperity One manages that within a 13-second video.

VT-50 flies cargo 200 kilometers

Showing that Yuan is still making drones, a V50 recently made a 200-kilometer (124-mile) flight carrying 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of seafood.  A restaurant could truly advertise fresh fish based on such speed.

In an even more crucial delivery, another V50 demonstrated its ability to maintain 90 kilometers per hour (56 mph) over a crowded city.  A split screen shows the performance comparison with a ground-based attempt to transfer needed organs through crowded streets.

Yuneec, and now Autoflight, have shown their ability to create electric aerial conveyances of varying sizes, but all with great capability.

Comments 1

  1. Damn. I was so ready for an E-Spyder! What happened with that, did they ever deliver them in the states?

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