Airborne 02.07.18: Vahana eVTOL Flies!, PAL-V Production Model, FAA Testing
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Also: FAA IG Audits Airlines, Unicycle Stolen at Airport, HorseFly Patent, Fokker Aircraft Transactions Vahana, the all electric, self-piloted, VTOL aircraft from Airbus, has announced the successful completion of its first full-scale flight test, reaching a height of 16 feet before descending safely. The test was completed at 8:52AM Pacific on January 31, 2018 at the Pendleton UAS Range in Pendleton, OR. Its first flight, with a duration of 53 seconds, was fully self-piloted and the vehicle completed a second flight the following day. Vahana is a project developed at the Silicon Valley outpost of Airbus. Vahana aims to democratize personal flight and answer the growing need for urban mobility by leveraging the latest technologies in electric propulsion, energy storage, and machine vision. PAL-V will unveil their PAL-V Liberty ‘flying car’ at the Geneva Motor Show next month. The company calls the event not only a decisive milestone for PAL-V, but also a historic breakthrough in the evolution of flying cars. In past years, PAL-V concentrated all efforts on perfecting its design and setting up the production process and supply chain. The FAA is in the process of procuring a comprehensive testing solution referred to as The Airman Certificate Testing Service (ACTS), which is a best-practices approach aimed at enhancing the overall quality of FAA Airman Knowledge Testing. The current FAA systems that support the test development process are nearing the end of their useful life and must be replaced. All this -- and MORE in today's episode of Airborne!!!
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