Posts by Dave Clarke

Batteries, Batteries, Batteries: Putting the e in eVTOLs

Thomas Edison, he of light bulb, phonograph, and kinetoscope fame was, to say the least, a prolific scientist and inventor. He also had more than a passing interest in batteries. You know, the things we are staking the future of eVTOLs and urban air mobility on. Industry focus is on lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries, but as Professor Dr. Martin…

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Are Actuators the Linchpins of Urban Air Mobility?

Collins Aerospace (Collins), a Charlotte, North Carolina-based design, engineering, and manufacturing firm, is one of the world’s largest suppliers of aerospace and defense products. With about 68,000 employees working in more than 300 locations worldwide, Collins, a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, is poised for takeoff when it comes to the burgeoning urban air mobility movement….

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flying car in city

When Will There Be Flying Cars?

When it comes to urban air mobility (UAM), flying cars, eVTOLs, if you will, people want to know: “When will there be flying cars?” Good question. Clearly, (pardon the pun) the wheels are in motion. But the question becomes, what has to happen before some of us, let alone all of us, are airborne in…

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Choctaw Nation members by a drone.

Urban Air Mobility Meets [Native] American Ingenuity

Like many Native American people, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) maintains a long-held respect for the earth and sky. But perhaps unlike some other tribes, the CNO also has a strong understanding of American-style capitalism, especially as a means to communal economic prosperity. Following in the tradition of the Wright Brothers, several years ago,…

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World’s First Urban Air Mobility Vertiport to Be in Coventry UK

If you thought the world’s first vertiport would be in Singapore, Japan, or South Korea, you thunk wrong. Yes, those locales are at the forefront of urban air mobility, but an announcement by UK-based Urban-Air Port (part of the Six Miles Across London Limited small initiative) to launch a vertiport by the end of 2021…

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Man flying in jetpack

Jetson? No, Jetpack. A Different Path to UAM

While the rest of us have been focused on eVTOLs, hybrid VTOLs, and other evolving modes of urban air mobility (UAM) transport, one person – Richard Browning of Wiltshire, Salisbury, England  – has been busy charting a different flight path toward UAM. He’s developed a working jetpack. As founder and chief test pilot of Gravity Industries,…

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