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Questions are swirling around the UAM champion’s long-term viability, but the industry is ready.
There’s little doubt that San Francisco-based ride-hailing startup Uber can take immense credit for launching the still-nascent air taxi…

Can urban air mobility survive without Uber?

Beta Technologies revealed its new eVTOL prototype on Friday during a 30-mile (50-kilometer) airlift from its headquarters in Burlington, Vermont, to the flight test facility in Plattsburgh, New York. There, the new aircraft will continue the ground…

Beta unveils its new eVTOL: the avian-inspired Alia

Just a few weeks shy of eVTOL developer Beta Technologies unveiling its highly anticipated production air taxi — dubbed Alia, it’s the follow-on to its single-seat prototype, Ava — the Vermont-based company showed off its side-hustle: a modular…

Beta reveals new modular eVTOL power pad

As the investigation into the March 2018 crash of a FlyNYON-chartered photo-tour helicopter in New York City draws toward a close — the final report is due in December, though evidence was released last month — the twists and turns continue to stack…

FlyNYON crash is a cautionary tale for eVTOL

Today’s aircraft manufacturing industry moves at what could easily be described as a snail’s pace. No company makes more than 700 samples per year, across its entire lineup. Meanwhile, even the fussiest ultra-premium carmaker on earth still manages…

Printing aircraft, in 3D

Air taxi strategizing is coming from every conceivable direction. Research universities, with their expertise in aeronautical design, have spun off eVTOL efforts. Silicon Valley maverick Google and industrial muse Uber have dug into what they see as…

Which industry is the best eVTOL role model?

The July 4 fireworks display in Manhattan last week generated its usual buzz online, with tons of photos of the display from viewing spots in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and New Jersey. But one element of the online chatter around the day’s performance…

Public response to July 4 helicopter flights in NYC should worry eVTOL crowd

Anyone who’s serious about electric vertical-lift transportation on a large scale knows it’s not going to be easy. After all, the players — collectively and individually — are creating a whole new mode of transportation in what is already one of the…

The Dirty Dozen: 12 key hurdles to aeromobility

There’s no doubt that momentum is building rapidly for eVTOL aircraft. Just five years ago the notion was laughable, but now the pieces are falling steadily into place. The control technology is mostly mature — though as-yet largely untested in…