Despite the pandemic, the manufacturer AMSL Aero continues to advance on its VTOL Vertiia and intends to start test flights soon. The prototype, designed to cross the vast expanses of Australia, now has a range of 1,000 km.
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The competition makes rage among the builders of VTOL — Where aircraft vertical take-off and landing – even though they are still only at the prototype stage. The Australian company AMSL Aero has just taken a new step by presenting an improved version of its prototype called Vertiia.
While it is already one of the most efficient devices, its performance has been revised upwards. the VTOL is still able to fly 250 kilometers on batteries, but the company is focusing on operating with fuel cells to thehydrogen. The Vertiia has been designed for australia, where he will have to travel long distances. For the same mass than batteries, the aircraft can now achieve a range of 1,000 kilometers and carry a pilot and four passengers with a total charge of 500 kilograms.
Certification for 2024?
The aircraft has eight rotors, in two rows of four, capable of pivoting for vertical thrust for takeoff, or horizontal for flight. It can reach a speed cruising at 300 km / h and could potentially go much faster. The rotor blades have been specially designed to reduce the flutter (or aeroelastic coupling) inherent in this configuration. Combined with a mass distribution, the manufacturer indicates that the device could potentially reach 500 km / h without “flutter”.
However, the development of Vertiia suffered some delays due to the pandemic, which shifted the forecasts. The device will soon be ready to start test flights, scheduled for early next year. Now, the company hopes to obtain certification and start production of the device in 2024.
This electric vertical take-off plane could reach 300 km / h
This device hybrid, between plane and helicopter, is a vertical take-off and landing aircraft. It is intended for medical transport. Fueled by hydrogen, it could have a range of 800 km with a cruising speed of 300 km / h.
Article published by Louis Neveu the 11/29/2020
It is not only the flying taxis projects in matter of VTOL, that is to say aircraft with vertical take-off and landing. AMSL Aero, an Australian company has just designed, with the support of the University of Sydney and the company Mission Systems, a prototype dedicated to medical transport. This air ambulance is called the Vertiia. The aircraft is equipped with eight electric rotors powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. With this engine, the aircraft manufacturer indicates that the Vertiia has a range of 800 km. A version powered only by batteries could reach 250 km of autonomy.
It would even be able to evolve in cruise at 300 km / h. Exceptional performance for a VTOL hybrid multirotor. It is an airplane, although the cabin in carbon fiber looks like that of a helicopter. Of them beams also in carbon fiber, placed at the front and at the rear each accommodate four engines. These elements are mobile and allow the rotors to be directed upwards for the hover and landing.
The eight motors provide a sufficient level of redundancy to ensure flight continuity in the event of failure. © AMSL Aero
Operational in 2023?
For cruising, the rotors are positioned horizontally. On the back of each motor, ailerons are present. They only serve to control the good flow of the flow ofair cruising and increase the lift so that the device spends the leastenergy possible in horizontal flight. The cabin can accommodate two to three people in tandem, including the pilot. That said, AMSL Aero says the aircraft does have autonomous flight capabilities that may well be activated in the future.
For the moment, AMSL Aero has signed a partnership with CareFlight, a company specializing in medical transport interested in an aircraft capable of landing and taking off without the need for an airport. According to AMSL Aero, the Vertiia could be operational for the medical transport from 2023. A very optimistic horizon given that the certification of the aircraft must be validated with the aeronautical authorities.
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