The startup Zeva has begun flight testing of its single-seat tailsitter Zero, which looks like a UFO.
Zero's first flights were unmanned and lasted over four minutes.
Tailsitters are aircraft that can take off vertically, fly like an airplane and land on their tail.
Zeva Aero introduced the Zero air taxi concept in 2018. This is a single tailsitter, an aircraft that can take off vertically, fly like an airplane and land on its tail.
Zero looks like a disk with a diameter of 2.4 meters and a mass of 317 kilograms. It has two electric propellers in front and behind, placed coaxially.
The first Zero prototype received batteries with a capacity of about 20 kilowatt-hours. For a serial sample, their capacity will be slightly larger: 25 kilowatt-hours.
The UFO looking ship will be able to fly up to 80 kilometers and reach speeds of up to 257 kilometers per hour.
When flying in airplane mode, the passenger will be in a horizontal position, face down.
The developers expect that the device will find application not only as an air taxi, but the military and emergency response services are also interested in it.
The flight testing of the Zero began on 9 January and the tailsitter performed four flights with a total duration of more than four minutes.
During this time, the device demonstrated hovering in the air, taxiing at low speed and vertical climb.
The developers did not specify when they would switch to manned flights on their, never more fitting, “flying saucer”.
But last November, the head of Zeva Aero, Stephen Tibbits, said it would happen within three to six months.
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