View Single Post
  #1  
Old April 26th 17, 04:51 PM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
Larry Dighera
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,953
Default Lilium Aviation flies prototype of its 160-knot all-electric VTOL

https://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/new...-228903-1.html
160-Knot VTOL Flying Car Flown Says Company

By Russ Niles | April 23, 2017

Lilium Aviation http://lilium.com, of Munich, says it has flown a
prototype of its all-electric VTOL tilt-engine aircraft that the company
says will fly 160 knots in horizontal thrust configuration with a range of
180 miles. A video provided by the company of the first flight shows the
aircraft, with what looks like a spacious automotive-style cabin,
autonomously taking off vertically, turning tightly and transitioning to
aerodynamic flight before landing vertically. There has been no independent
confirmation that the video is an accurate rendition of the flight but if
it’s all real then it appears some breakthroughs have been made by the
company, which is reportedly backed by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom.
“We have solved some of the toughest engineering challenges in aviation to
get to this point,” the company said in a statement.

They call it a “jet” but it’s powered by 36 electric-powered ducted fans, 24
on rotating “flaps” on the wings and six on each of the tubular canards
ahead of the cabin. According to some reports, the motors have a total of
430 horsepower and the main technological breakthrough is in the batteries.
The company will have a chance to celebrate, and explain, its milestone at
the Uber Elevate Summit in Dallas this week. CEO Daniel Wiegand will be a
panelist at the eVTOL Developer Concept and Technologies discussion at the
meeting.

Videos: https://youtu.be/ohig71bwRUE
https://youtu.be/5r3kpl5Ao5s
https://youtu.be/erjdYiwoYAo

See also:
https://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/new...-228897-1.html
https://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/new...-228898-1.html
https://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/new...-228895-1.html
https://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/new...-228893-1.html