AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - 18

WAYPOINTS

Hailing an Uber Air

BY THOMAS B. HAINES
Editor in Chief

Giving lift to ride-sharing of the future

Editor in Chief TOM
HAINES has flown
more than 100
different models
of general aviation
aircraft and looks
forward to flying an
eVTOL.

18 | AOPA PILOT August 2019

LAST MONTH IN THIS COLUMN ("Waypoints: Future
Flight," July 2019), I attempted to cut through some of the
hype surrounding the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL)
movement. There are many solutions in development that
promise to solve urban traffic problems. However, with
some 155 VTOL projects competing for attention and
funding, there are a lot of grandiose claims being floated.
One entity that is driving forward in the most organized way is one we don't normally associate with
aviation: Uber.
The California-based ride-sharing company has been
making noise about its Uber Air program for several years
and is beginning to test Uber Eats food delivery by drones
in San Diego. However, rather than just talk, Uber is pushing the entire industry forward through its methodical
process of knocking down one hurdle after another. Its
progress was detailed at its third annual Uber Elevate
Summit, conducted this year in June in Washington, D.C.
Uber is smartly sticking to what it does best: logistics, fleet management, and working with regulators. It
is leaving the designing of the eVTOL aircraft (it insists
its aircraft must be pure electric-no hybrids) to others
who know a thing or two about aerodynamics. But even
then, Uber isn't putting up with a free-for-all from aircraft designers. It has established a set of criteria that
such vehicles must meet regarding performance, cabin
space, noise signature, and safety. It then carefully screens
companies that say they can meet those requirements and
chooses to work with only those that appear to be on a trajectory of success and share its safety culture.
At this point that includes six airframe manufacturers-some familiar, others not: Aurora Flight Sciences,
a Boeing company; Bell; EmbraerX; Karem Aircraft;
Pipistrel Vertical Solutions; and Jaunt Air Mobility.
Aurora's Passenger Air Vehicle (PAV) made its first
flight in January. However, on its fifth flight, in June,
it crashed, damaging the unmanned vehicle-hardly
the first proof of concept aircraft to have an accident.
PAV uses three rotors on rails on each side of the vehicle for vertical lift and a pusher motor. Bell unveiled its
Nexus aircraft earlier this year. It proposes six ducted
rotors that, after a vertical liftoff, can be tilted forward in
cruise. EmbraerX, a subsidiary of the business jet company from Brazil, is pushing a design that includes eight
vertical lift motors on two parallel wings and two ducted
pusher motors for cruise. Karem's Butterfly uses four tiltrotors-one on each wing and one at the tip of each V-tail

surface. Pipistrel Vertical Solutions, a subsidiary of the
aircraft company making LSAs and other light airplanes-
and the Alpha Electro electric LSA-has proposed what
appears to be almost a delta wing aircraft with four vertical lift rotors embedded in the wing roots on each side
and a pusher electric propeller on the vertical tail.
The newest Uber airframe partner is Jaunt Air
Mobility, which was formed in April 2019 after buying
the technology and intellectual property of what was
once CarterCopter, the company that has attempted to
certify a large commercial autogyro. Jaunt puts two electric motors on each wing and uses a powered rotor for
vertical lift.
While the airframes could hardly be more different, their cabin sections all have a similar look, size, and
shape because that is one of Uber's demands. In an effort
to ensure a similar passenger experience regardless of
vehicle, Uber worked with Safran to design a cabin that
allows for four passengers and a pilot with ample room
for baggage. The Safran mockup was a popular exhibit
at the Elevate Summit, with thousands climbing in and
out of it over the two-day show. Indeed, it is a comfortable space with sliding doors on each side for easy access.
Under Uber's longer range plan, the front pilot seat
will someday be a prime passenger seat. The company's
goal, which it hopes to achieve by about 2028, is that the
vehicles will be autonomous.
Uber plans to begin commercial passenger flights
at its pilot cities of Dallas, Los Angeles, and Melbourne,
Australia, in 2023. By 2026 it expects to be able to expand
the number of cities where Uber Air operates. And by
about 2028 it expects a new generation of vehicles and
battery technology to be available-and by then expects
the vehicles will be able to operate autonomously. Or,
more likely, it expects the public will come to accept the
idea of autonomous aerial vehicles, as the technology for
such flights may well be here much sooner than that.
If Uber meets its goal, within a decade or so you will
be able to ride an electric Uber bike, scooter, or car-perhaps autonomous by then-to an urban vertiport, fly
across town on Uber Air, and pick up the same sort of
ground vehicle at the end to complete your trip; all for
about the same price as you might pay for an Uber ride
today over the same distance.
AOPA
EMAIL thomas.haines@aopa.org

@tomhaines29



AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019

Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - Intro
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - BB1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - BB2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - Cover1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - 2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - 3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - 4
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - 5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - 6
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - 7
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - 8
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - 10
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - R-1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - R-2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - R-3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - R-4
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - R-5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - R-6
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - R-7
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - R-8
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - Cover4
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