Competition is growing in the electric Vertical Take Off and Landing market, with 407 potential builders listed in eVTOL News. Vertical flight takes power, though, and with available batteries limiting range, most such vehicles can make only short hops. Alternatives that allow speedier, longer flights, in the form of electric Conventional Short Take Off and Landing (eCSTOL) aircraft are in development. Such craft offer the benefit of requiring less power for takeoffs and climbs, being more aeronautically-based than power-based. Airflow, for instance, claims operating costs for their eCTSOL craft is one-third that of an eVTOL or helicopter. We will look at three eCSTOL craft that seem to making headway at this time. The infrastructure (in two cases below) to support their flight may already exist. Airflow Curt Epstein, writing in Future Flight, under the headline, “Infrastructure Needs for eSTOL and eVTOL Aircraft May be Closer than Imagined,” notes the “intense study” being undertaken. Speaking at the Vertical Flight Society’s Electric …
13th Annual Personal Aircraft Design Academy Meeting Honors Popov
At the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture, a week of grand aviation events comes to a close with the annual Personal Aircraft Design Academy meeting. Each year, an individual or group who has contributed significantly to the progress of personal aviation receives a trophy in recognition of that contribution. Your editor could not be there this year, but CAFE President Brien Seeley officiated and shares this report. “The Personal Aircraft Design Academy (PADA) convened its 13th annual meeting on July 24 at 7:30 p. m. in the EAA Vette Theatre. After nominations and voting by members of the PADA Board, the group presented the perpetual PADA Trophy to Boris Popov for his career-long achievements in bringing forth ballistic recovery systems for aircraft. Boris was also awarded the PADA medal as he accepted the trophy and proceeded to deliver an inspiring speech about the history and successes of vehicle parachute systems. He recounted that 326 lives have been saved by the BRS system thus …