The Pipistrel 801 eVTOL is a

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...

vertical take-off electric aircraft for the

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

role under development by Pipistrel Vertical Solutions of

Ajdovščina Ajdovščina (; it, Aidussina,trilingual name "Haidenschaft, Aidussina, Ajdovščina" inGemeindelexikon, der im Reichsrate Vertretenen Königreiche und Länder. Bearbeit auf Grund der Ergebnisse der Volkszählung vom 31. Dezember 1900. Herausgege ...

. It was publicly announced at the Uber Elevate Summit in Washington, D.C., United States, in June 2019. The aircraft is intended to be supplied complete and ready-to-fly. The aircraft's designation refers to eight

lift fan Lift fan is an aircraft configuration in which lifting fans are located in large holes in an otherwise conventional fixed wing or fuselage. It is used for V/STOL operation. The aircraft takes off using the fans to provide lift, then transitions ...

s, no tilt rotors and one tractor propeller. It is being designed as one electric

VTOL A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust-vectoring fixed-wi ...

proposal for Uber Elevate.

Design and development

The design uses wings as it provides greater speed and range over wingless designs, plus the ability to take off and land on a runway, if required. The aircraft features a cantilever

high-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 co ...

, a five-seat, enclosed cabin under a

bubble canopy A bubble canopy is an aircraft canopy constructed without bracing, for the purpose of providing a wider unobstructed field of view to the pilot, often providing 360° all-round visibility. The designs of bubble canopies can drastically vary; s ...

, retractable

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...

, eight vertical electric lift motors powering shrouded fans mounted in two underwing pods and a single electric motor engine in a tail-mounted

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher co ...

. It will be capable of flying on six of the eight lift fans. The design incorporates

fly-by-wire Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic signals transmitted by wires, and flight control ...

controls and will be capable of autonomous flight (flight without a pilot) from delivery. The design incorporates the ability to see-and-avoid other aircraft and emphasizes a low noise signature for acceptance in urban areas. The design used in-house designed batteries, with four of varying designs to avoid design flaws. It also used energy-absorbing seats and seat belts. Also each of the eight lift fans operates at a different rpm and therefore frequency to reduce noise pitch peaking. The aircraft will have a range of at a cruising speed of or more.

Specifications (801)

References

External links

AVweb Podcast: Pipistrel’s 810 eVTOL Revealed
* {{Pipistrel aircraft Proposed aircraft of Slovenia Unmanned aerial vehicles of Slovenia High-wing aircraft Electric aircraft

Design and development

Specifications (801)

See also

References

External links