Industry

Eyes wide shut -- bad eVTOL pilot. Bad pilot.

Urban Air Mobility Will Stretch Pilot Fatigue Management in New Ways

Short-haul, multiple takeoffs and landings per day, and revolutionary, new eVTOL technologies will test pilot’s resilience in radically new ways.

Imagine yourself a taxi driver in New York City, London, Berlin, or Tokyo; dozens, maybe hundreds of trips in an 8-, 10-, maybe even 12-hour day. You’re doing what you can, as the movie Cabaret song said, to “earn a mark, a yen, a buck, or a pound.” Now, flash-forward to 2027 or 2030 and…

Read More

How Much Noise Will a Single Rotor Make When a Single Rotor Makes Noise?

Use the NASA RVLT Conceptual Design Toolchain to Predict Best Practices

In their paper, “Best Practices for Predicting Acoustics of a Single Rotor Using the NASA RVLT Conceptual Design Toolchain” presented at the Vertical Flight Society’s 6th Decennial Aeromechanics Specialists’ Conference held in Santa Clara, California in February 2024, NASA aerospace engineers Lauren Weist, Natasha Schatzman, and Dorsa Shirazi detailed the results of their study intended…

Read More
Two men in suits push aside different colors of a pie chart with an illustrated night cityscape behind them.

Future Forward: AAM By the Numbers

The size and value of the urban air mobility market is poised to soar in the next decade.

We’re talking billions. US$30.7bn — The value of the urban air mobility market by 2031 Source Allied Market Research 30.2% — Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of urban air mobility market from 2022 to 2031. Source: Allied Market Research US$3.8bn — Value of urban air mobility market in 2023 Source: Markets and Markets US$28.5bn — Value of urban air…

Read More
Yellow trolley in front of colorful urban homes.

Does the Public Really Want Air Taxis?

Evtols? UAVs? UAM? Tell Us How You Really Feel . . . 

People have wildly different views on the future of urban air mobility (UAM). Policymakers and transport operators need to pay attention.

Read More
Roadrunner attack drone sitting in foreground against a dusky landscape.

A Drone Militaries Can Use to Seek and Destroy or Seek and Return

To Loiter or Not to Loiter, That Is the Munitions Question of the Day

Costa Mesa, California-based Anduril Industries has literally and figuratively launched its boomerang drone bomb. Equipped with an autonomous, artificial intelligence (AI) “brain,” the Roadrunner UAV is capable of taking down a moving target midair and destroying itself on impact. Should the mission not achieve its objective, Roadrunner will turn itself around and land itself nose-up…

Read More
Illustration of a future droneport.

What Is a Droneport?

Airport. √ Vertiport. √ Droneport? Stay tuned.

You’ve heard of airports. Society will soon be hearing more about droneports.

Read More