STOL

Another day, another wild electrified aircraft concept that reimagines the future of air travel. This time around, it's a turbine-electric hybrid that tilts its ducted electric fans to offer helicopter versatility with airplane range and efficiency.

Electra has shown off the extreme takeoff and landing capabilities of its hybrid-electric Short Takeoff and Landing (eSTOL) Ultra Short prototype aircraft to the US Military. The aircraft is designed to operate from areas without proper airfields.

This remarkable hybrid-electric aircraft has raked in more than US$8 billion on the back of its remarkable promise: quiet, long-range, low-emission flights using almost no runway for takeoff and landing. Watch it deliver in its first STOL test flight.

In all the buzz around eVTOLs, there's still plenty of appetite for more conventional electric planes – especially, it seems, if they make ludicrous amounts of lift, and can take off and land at incredibly slow speeds, using absolutely tiny runways.

Germany's Fraundorfer Aeronautics has unveiled its Tensor 600X gyroplane at the European Rotors show. It's a two-seat design mainly targeted at personal use, but the company claims it'll soon scale up to a certified six-seater for air taxi purposes.

The US Air Force's flying car program, Agility Prime, is hedging its bets on advanced air mobility, adding an ultra-short takeoff and landing aircraft from Electra.aero into the mix alongside a number of eVTOL projects.