CEDAR CITY, Utah - Experiments could begin within the next year on vertical takeoff and landing aircraft in Utah — including what are essentially "flying cars," Ben Winslow reports for Fox 13 Utah. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
15 October 2024 - Winslow reports that Aaron Starks, the CEO of 47G, a group devoted to fostering aerosapce and defense work in Utah, spoke to attendees at the One Utah Summit, hosted by Utah Governor Spencer Cox at Sothern Utah University in Cedar City.
"We can’t keep building horizontally. We have to think vertically. We’re proud Gov. Cox has given us the mandate to put this in place ahead of the Olympics," Aaron Starks.
Starks told attendees that Archer Aviation in San Jose, Calif. will be selecting 10 sites in Utah to conduct experiments with their cargo and passenger aircraft in the coming months.
"The timing is over the next year we’re going to get a foundation laid for the development to start, so we can go vertical," Starks told FOX 13 News in an interview following his presentation. "Once that happens, we’ll bring a certified aircraft in the state and then, through the FAA, a certified flight."
Archer says its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) is designed to cruise at approximately 2,000 feet, the design of Midnight is such that the noise that reaches the ground is expected to measure around 45 A-weighted decibels (dBA), which the company says is almost 1,000 times quieter than that of a helicopter. During forward flight, the aircraft’s tilt propellers spin on axes that are aligned with the oncoming air flow, rather than edge-wise to the flow, as is the case with traditional helicopters.
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Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
