Aircraft

The future of aviation is looking a little greener today with a nine-seat Cessna aircraft fitted out with an all electric propulsion system successfully completing its first flight, marking the maiden voyage for the world’s largest electric aircraft.

EHang has achieved another important milestone in its effort to make its passenger-grade autonomous aerial vehicles a common sight in the skies. The CCAC has granted permission for the air taxis to be used for heavy-lift logistics.

Electric VTOL air taxis are one of the great emerging technologies of our time, and there are a ton of companies hoping to be early to market with a fast, safe, comfortable eVTOL aircraft for 3D commuting. Here's a roundup of the key players.

Brazilian eVTOL innovator EmbraerX has put forth a fun video showing how a multi-mode 3D transport system might work, with an eVTOL air taxi carrying a detachable glassed-over cabin that it delivers straight onto a self-driving car chassis.

Helicopters regularly have to get their rotor blades inspected, so they can be replaced if they're wearing out. Using the BladeSense system, however, the aircraft would be able to monitor the condition of their blades in real time, while in flight.

EHang has joined forces with LN Holdings to bring air tourism to the latter's hotels. One of the first projects to emerge from the new collaboration will make the LN Garden Hotel in Nansha the first hotel to offer air tourism services to its guests.

A Chinese team has demonstrated a prototype of a microwave plasma thruster capable of working in the Earth's atmosphere and producing thrust with an efficiency comparable to the jet engines you'd find on modern airliners – under laboratory conditions.

Virgin Galactic has recently endured a rocky road financially, with substantial losses in the last two quarters, but is intent on pushing ahead with the development of next-gen aviation technologies – this time with NASA onboard.

Something about this just looks so wrong. The Atlas is a manned multicopter design, in which all four of its ducted rotors are inline along a single wing. Targeted for sale in 2021 at around US$150k, this tailsitter might have some advantages.

Just last month, air mobility company EHang announced plans to fly into Europe and set up shop in Seville, Spain. Now the firm has partnered with the City of Hezhou in Guangxi Province, China, to build a tourism-focused terminal for its air taxis.

The Mars Helicopter drone may be scheduled to launch soon, but it's still just a single aircraft that will be useless if it conks out. With that in mind, scientists are now looking into an alternative – fleets of tiny, cheap "Nanocardboard Flyers."

Japan's SkyDrive has completed four months of manned eVTOL flights and, with a new CTO on board, says it's on track for an eVTOL product launch in 2023.