Blackfly AEV

Slipstream

10 mW
Joined
Jun 8, 2020
Messages
30
Location
UK
[youtube]Jcpq6XYYoY4[/youtube]
[youtube]FI8AemQcclY[/youtube]
[youtube]I2D4CS6YTXk[/youtube]

Trying to persuade these guys to look at an assisted glider version.

Anyone want one?

Their website:
https://www.opener.aero/
 
!

Cpt. Hindsight: "You should have searched the forum before posting!"

Agreed - coool e-vehicle... but the really inspirational thing about this AEV is the backstory... The initial aircraft was built in the designer's home from bamboo and glass fibre, and flew once. The project has moved from there to a stable, well funded business with 70,000 air miles flown on its test airframes, about to produce its first 100 aircraft. Seriously ... well done chaps.
 
This video is fake - I am pretty certain. There is no such electric (or otherwise) aircraft that looks like this and can carry a pilot. Those propellers can't even lift enough batteries for a 30 minute flight.
 
Slipstream said:
Have linked them this thread. Maybe they will comment.

I doubt they will be interested. Their drone probably can't lift more than 20 kg, and that 'pilot' in the cockpit is fake. They never show a live human in there while in flight.
 
for_Solarsail said:
Saw your email Slipstream.

https://youtu.be/FI8AemQcclY?t=79
Well thanks, there seems to be some live flesh in the cockpit.

The architecture is very creative, in that it is an eVTOL that does not require a tilting mechanism. I wonder about the stability of the aerodynamics. If the front (or rear) wing is affected by turbulence, there is no compensating mechanism except for the power train. If the power train somehow quits or partially quits in an asymmetric manner, you can't glide to the ground. The parachute will not be effective below 1000'.

The specs on the website also raises a few questions for me. Assume the diameter of the propellers are 33" and the MTOW is 233 kg. Then according to the momentum theory of propellers and assuming an efficiency of 70% for the power train including propellers, the theory indicates that 80 kW of power is needed for hovering (more for climbing in hover mode). Given a storage capacity of 8 kWh, and a 25% reserve, that translates to 4 minutes 30 secs of hover mode. Assuming it takes 45 secs for vertical lift and transition to cruise mode, and the same duration for cruise to hover to landing, the total cruise time will be only 6 minutes. At 62 mph cruise speed, that is a range of only 6.5 miles. But the spec indicates a range of 25 miles.

I would like to know how they arrived at 25 miles cruise range, which is really only about 20 mins of horizontal flying, far more than my calculation. Even at 20 mins cruise time, the usage is pretty limited.
 
@Opener (for_solarsail) ... Thanks for the Video! Sorry for the time it has taken for me to spot your post!

Inspirational work ... novel design ... certainly.

Disruptive (in a good way) to the model of air transport (outside of GA) that is currently available?
Not yet due to range limitation.

More range ... To make this viable for me it would need to manage around 200 miles, at a running cost below that of rail transport.

Automated flights as a tourist attraction? Short solo ride ... client returned ... battery swap ... next client...
 
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