The Otto Celera 500L is a

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

and

utility As a topic of economics, utility is used to model worth or value. Its usage has evolved significantly over time. The term was introduced initially as a measure of pleasure or happiness as part of the theory of utilitarianism by moral philosopher ...

light aircraft developed by American startup, Otto Aviation. By August 2020, 31 test flights had been flown, as introduction is targeted for 2023–2025. It has a single

RED A03 The RED A03 is a V12 four-stroke aircraft diesel engine designed and built by RED Aircraft GmbH of Adenau, Germany. Development In 2012, its unit cost was . The engine received type approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency in Dece ...

diesel piston engine in a

pusher configuration In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...

and can seat six passengers.

History

Otto Aviation Group, LLC was established in 2008 by Bill Otto to develop the Celera 500L. William Otto has been a research

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

at Los Alamos Scientific Labs,

systems engineer Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinking p ...

then chief scientist at

North American Aviation North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included: the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F ...

. Otto Aviation is privately funded since 2008 and is seeking a

Series B A venture round is a type of funding round used for venture capital financing, by which startup companies obtain investment, generally from venture capitalists and other institutional investors. The availability of venture funding is among the ...

fundraising round: 200 million dollars are needed for

FAR Part 23 The Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) are rules prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) governing all aviation activities in the United States. The FARs comprise Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). A wide variety o ...

certification in three years. Construction of the airplane commenced in 2015. The aerodynamic prototype made its

maiden flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is alwa ...

in January 2018, and began performance testing in September 2019. Otto publicly announced the aircraft and its development program in August 2020, and noted that 31 test flights had been flown to date. By then, a weight-optimized conforming prototype with cabin windows and longer landing gear was expected to fly within 18 months.

FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

certification and deliveries are targeted for 2023–2025. By March 2021, the prototype had achieved over 35 hours of flight tests, interrupted by the pandemic until Q3 2021, before two additional flying prototypes join the program. By October 2021, the company had raised more than $50 million. The prototype should reach a fuel economy of in cruise, to be improved with integrated heat exchangers replacing radiators nacelles. A second turbo-compressor should allow reaching a altitude, and a third for . In 2022, Otto announced a partnership with ZeroAvia to build a hydrogen-powered version of its aircraft.

Design

The 500L is a

mid wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

monoplane with a single five blade

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

in a

. This results in no aerodynamic interference from the propeller, which is as far back as it can be.

Laminar flow In fluid dynamics, laminar flow is characterized by fluid particles following smooth paths in layers, with each layer moving smoothly past the adjacent layers with little or no mixing. At low velocities, the fluid tends to flow without lateral mi ...

is used for its wings,

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

, and

empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...

. Otto wants to compete with light

business aircraft Business aircraft are aircraft typically used by companies and corporations to transport people or goods related to the needs of said businesses. Most business aircraft are general aviation aircraft variants of piston or turboprop or busin ...

like the

Cessna Citation CJ The Cessna CitationJet/CJ/M2 (also known as the Model 525) are a series of light business jets built by Cessna, and are part of the Citation family. Launched in October 1989, the first flight of the Model 525 was on April 29, 1991. Federal Avi ...

3+ jet or the

Beechcraft King Air 350 The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The Model 200 and Model 300 series were originally marketed as the "Super King Air" family; the "Super" designation was dropped in 1996. ...

. The better fuel economy should lead to a low operating cost of $328 hourly. The cabin accommodates six club seats, is about tall, and will be equipped with a lavatory. It is expected to sell for $4.5-5 million, comparable with the

HondaJet The Honda HA-420 HondaJet is a light business jet produced by the Honda Aircraft Company of Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. Original concepts of the aircraft started in 1997 and were completed in 1999. It took its maiden flight on D ...

but with one third its operating cost. Twin-stage turbocharging should enable a

cruise altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

, where full laminar flow can be achieved for an estimated 59% lower drag than competitors. It should reach a cruise speed over and as contamination can disrupt laminar flow, performance should be certified with turbulent flow, with a less than guaranteed range. The single

turbocharged V12 four-stroke aircraft diesel engine of can operate as two six-cylinder engines to provide redundancy. Otto targets a

balanced field length In aviation, a balanced field takeoff is a condition where the takeoff distance required (TODR) with one engine inoperative and the accelerate-stop distance are equal for the aircraft weight, engine thrust, aircraft configuration and runway conditi ...

and a fuel economy of 16–22 nmi/USgal of Jet fuel. The flight controls are mechanically linked and it will be equipped with

instrument flight rules In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Fly ...

avionics for single-pilot operations.

External analysis

With a long fuselage and a wingspan, the claimed 22-to-1 glide ratio should yield a equivalent flat-plate area drag. With , this would allow a top speed of at , and true airspeed at , but the RED A03 critical altitude is . The propeller tips would have transonic

wave drag In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities. Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (res ...

and would operate in a disturbed wake, limiting propeller efficiency, and laminar flow would be difficult to maintain for a large part of the fuselage with windows and panel seams. The configuration is similar to the 1948

Planet Satellite The Planet Satellite was a British light aircraft of the late 1940s. Designed to exploit new technology, the aircraft was abandoned after two crashes although the innovative fuselage was later incorporated into a helicopter prototype. Design an ...

, or the 2011 EADS Voltaire electric aircraft concept. The claimed 59% drag reduction "would be quite a hard task to achieve", while

lift-induced drag In aerodynamics, lift-induced drag, induced drag, vortex drag, or sometimes drag due to lift, is an aerodynamic drag force that occurs whenever a moving object redirects the airflow coming at it. This drag force occurs in airplanes due to wings or ...

would not be reduced by laminar flow. A 1:22 glide ratio like current airliners can be reached with its high

wing aspect ratio In aeronautics, the aspect ratio of a wing is the ratio of its span to its mean chord. It is equal to the square of the wingspan divided by the wing area. Thus, a long, narrow wing has a high aspect ratio, whereas a short, wide wing has a low as ...

, without a sensational drag reduction: better than other general aviation designs, but lower than most gliders. The max speed is achievable, but the cruise speed has to be lower to reach the range. The

fuel efficiency Fuel efficiency is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the ratio of effort to result of a process that converts chemical potential energy contained in a carrier (fuel) into kinetic energy or work. Overall fuel efficiency may vary per device, wh ...

is difficult to compare with no specified payload, cruise speed and altitude. Pushing the laminar flow to the limit could hinder handling qualities or structural efficiency, and laminar flow tends to be unreliable in service, as it is highly susceptible to degradation from surface irregularities.

Specifications

The following data is estimated by the manufacturer in a pre production stage.

History

Design

External analysis

Specifications

See also

References

Further reading