Engineering:Cora Air Taxi
Cora, an electric air taxi prototype, has been developed by Kitty Hawk Corporation in the United States and is currently testing in New Zealand under Zephyr Airworks, Kitty Hawk's operator in New Zealand [link to Zephyr Airworks wikipedia page - in development].
The core concepts behind Cora’s design are vertical take-off and landing, self-piloting software and electric power. The Kitty Hawk team have described Cora as ‘special’ for the following reasons: convenient - the ability to rise like a helicopter and glide like a plane means no runway is required, easy - the software and human oversight means no flight training required, and sustainable - its powered by the same type of technology as electric cars[1]
Cora has been described in The New York Times as: “It looks like a cross between a small plane and a drone, with a series of small rotor blades along each wing that allow it to take off like a helicopter and then fly like a plane.” “The aircraft, known as Cora, has a wingspan of 36 feet with a dozen rotors all powered by batteries.” [2]
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Design and Development
In March 2010, the Kitty Hawk team brainstormed the design for an electric and autonomous aircraft that could transition from rising like a helicopter to flying like a plane.[3]
In December 2011 the engineering team achieved the first hover - a major milestone in the development of vertical take-off, given the weight of the craft and it being solely electric-powered.[4]
Four years following the initial conception, the unmanned 'proof of concept' craft was able to transition from vertical take-off to fixed wing flight. The first piloted transition flight (outbound and inbound) was 28 August 2017.[5]
Later that year in October 2017, ‘Cora’ was shipped to New Zealand and then began testing. In November 2017, Cora took its first self-piloted transition.[6]
References
- ↑ Cora FAQ, https://cora.aero/press/
- ↑ Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/12/business/dealbook/flying-taxis-larry-page.html?platform=hootsuite, March 12, 2018
- ↑ Cora Milestones, https://cora.aero/milestones/
- ↑ Cora Milestones, https://cora.aero/milestones/
- ↑ Cora Milestones, https://cora.aero/milestones/
- ↑ Cora Milestones, https://cora.aero/milestones/
External links
Lift Fans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lift_fan
Fly by Wire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly-by-wire
VTOL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VTOL
Electric Aircraft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_aircraft
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