Aircraft

"Thousands" of electric heli-pods ordered for upcoming World Expo

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Left: single-seater. Right: chunkier side-by-side dual seat version
FlyNow
Left: single-seater. Right: chunkier side-by-side dual seat version
FlyNow
The FlyNow miniature electric helicopter sure does look compact
Saudi Arabia Holding Co
Top speeds up to 130 km/h and a low ground noise signature
FlyNow
Coaxial top rotors provide plenty of lift with reduced diameter, and they also obviate a tail rotor
FlyNow
slightly claustrophobic-looking cabin offers no controls – these will fly autonomously and be managed as a fleet
FlyNow
"Proof of concept" models don't appear to have flown yet, but coaxial helicopters are a well-enough understood airframe
FlyNow
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Austrian startup FlyNow is opening manufacturing facilities in Saudi Arabia, after the announcement that "thousands" of its coaxial twin-rotor helicopters will transport visitors at the upcoming World Expo in Riyadh.

Ah, Saudi Arabia. Locked in a neck-and neck battle with Dubai for the title of ultimate early adopter of bleeding-edge technologies. Both stand ever ready to splash bulk cash and take a punt on futuristic ideas, the Saudis currently squeaking ahead with towering, hundred-mile-long skyscrapers slicing through the desert, ill-fated Hyperloop projects, a cliff-hanging soccer stadium and a colossal cuboid skyscraper big enough to fit 20 Empire State Buildings indoors.

Dubai can hold its head up high though, with diving pools so huge they have their own sunken cities built in, dangerously unstable flying police motorcycles, a jet suit grand prix race, the world's tallest building (for now), and flying jetpack firefighters that offer the perfect solution for fires within squirting distance of a large body of water.

In a LinkedIn post today, Saudi Arabia Holding Co. CEO Mohammed AlQahtani announced the Kingdom's latest coup: a fleet of miniature electric helicopters to ferry visitors around the International Expo site in Riyadh in 2030.

These relatively low-cost, single- and double-seat heli-pods promise a battery range up to 50 km (31 miles), which will be plenty for a relatively small site. The two-seat version will lift up to 200 kg (441 lb) of humanity. They'll be unlikely to get anywhere near their top speed of 130 km/h (81 mph) if they're restricted to flying around the Expo zone.

The airframe does indeed embody simplicity; a simple pod with a coaxially stacked pair of top rotors designed to counter-rotate and balance out each other's torque reactions, removing the need for a traditional tail rotor. The whole thing weighs just 210 kg (463 lb) without anyone on board in a single-seat format, and its relatively short rotors promise a noise signature under 55 dB at 150 m (490 ft) altitude, which is softer than "quiet conversation" on a noise scale chart.

The layout allows this aircraft to fly as a helicopter under existing regulations, as opposed to requiring special regulatory attention like some other multirotor eVTOL aircraft might.

Coaxial top rotors provide plenty of lift with reduced diameter, and they also obviate a tail rotor
FlyNow

FlyNow has six years before it needs to be in high-volume production to put "thousands" of these things into service at the Expo – but it's still got its work cut out; when we first encountered the FlyNow machine in February, the company had been conducting "ground tests" on a proof of concept model, but there doesn't seem to be any indication that the machine has flown at this stage.

So there's a way to go yet, even once the promised Saudi regional office and assembly line are put in place. We're certainly interested in how this kind of thing will work at scale, particularly with "thousands" planned for Expo service within a presumably rather tight bit of airspace.

Certainly, they'll require autonomous fleet control, since there don't appear to be controls in the cabin, and you wouldn't want to let thousands of international tourists loose in them at a time if there were.

"Proof of concept" models don't appear to have flown yet, but coaxial helicopters are a well-enough understood airframe
FlyNow

The aircraft appear to have a fairly compact ground footprint, but you're certainly still talking at least the size of a car parking spot to charge one up, not to mention a decent exclusion area for takeoff and landing, so thousands of these things will require a lot of ground space. On the other hand, Riyadh is a relatively small city, just a few miles across, with abundant red sand desert plains stretching for miles in all directions, so the space is there, if they can get the chargers wired up ...

But we're talking practicalities here, and we doubt there's any need. If there are indeed "thousands" of FlyNow electric helipods ferrying people around at the 2030 Riyadh Expo, please track me down in whatever underground bunker I'm rocking back and forth in, and let me know, so I can take a Hyperloop to a restaurant in that hundred-mile-long skyscraper and eat a freshly-cooked hat.

Sources: FlyNow, Saudi Arabia Holding Co via UAM News

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5 comments
jerryd
This is exactly how I've been saying to build an efficient low cost to build EV VTOL aircraft. Dead simple, light and with 2 large simple rotors, far more, 2-3x range/kwh than multicopters.
veryken
Oh yeah. A world-first introductory human trial of thousands of wealthy "visitors" crashing into each other or into any of the ridiculous Saudi urban hazards. It's just the experiment we all need for mass adoption. Seriously perfect master plan.
Nelson
It is so reassuring to know the rich and powerfull can flying over the poor masses, and not have to interect with the riff raff.
Dreadalus
Six years to go from "hasn't flown" to high-volume production? Ha, yeah, I expect this to go the same way as the flying jetpack firefighters.
AlastairBlakey
Won't there be issues with crashing into the flying pigs?