[youtube]https://youtu.be/W0DHhiwvatQ[/youtube]

Vmc?
Fire prone Li-ion batteries?
Prop strikes during rotation and crosswind landings?
A whole generation of pilots who haven't flown tailwheel aircraft?

The Cape Air order might provide some credibility, but it seems there are a lot of design challenges built into this idea to begin with.

Oh yeah...what happens when your $9/hr. ramp agent misjudges your wingtip clearance while marshalling you into parking?

I bet it's a quiet cabin. Interesting choice to make it a tail dragger. I wonder what their design objective was over tricycle gear?

Looks pretty good to me. I think if you lost one the automatic thrust yaw system could be an excellent remedy. I wonder what performance is with just the tail motor working at max.

Thanks. I didn't see that thread.

Very cool new design. Per the video- $200 per hour direct operating cost including reserves for batteries. 30 minute recharge time for an hour flight. Even at twice the operating cost it will be a game-changer (assuming it works).

Good discussion about yaw control via differential thrust as well for a crosswind landing. That doesn't make full sense to me but if it works that's great. I suspect the same system will also help protect the aircraft from a ground loop, so perhaps being a conventional gear aircraft is less of a concern.



My guess is procedure will dictate shutting down the wingtip motors for taxi.

Let’s see... Taildragger-check, V-tail-check, Tiptanks-check. That thing is awesome, will never happen, but awesome. I say never because the odds of getting commercial insurance for a taildragger airliner have to be close to zero.

it's innovation in aviation, and lowering costs of entry and costs of operation

why pick it apart and tear it down? If it works, it works! Time will tell

No doubt inspired by this:

Sounds cool

There's still a few DC-3's in service. Buffalo Airways still offers passenger flights in theirs.

http://www.buffaloairways.com/index.php ... er-service

That looks like a project from aeronautical engineering class: Hey, let's throw everything that makes a plane squirrelly into ONE design !

I like that electric is coming up in aviation more and more. It has the potential to revolutionize aviation, I think. Good on them for innovating and trying!

That said, I simply don't understand why aviation designers insist on such small props always? It's in literally every new design I see. Or even worse, ducted fans to try to emulate the look of fanjets (like in Airbus little electric plane).

With limited power storage (like all electric aircraft have by default with today's batteries), then it would make sense to be able to create the biggest amount of thrust from the least amount of power needed, right? That comes in mainly one way: moving a big air mass slowly, rather than a small air mass fast. Ducted fans are terrible from an efficiency point of view. Small props likewise.

By putting the props on the wingtip like they've done here, and then also not having a lot of dihedral or a high wing, you're limited in how big your prop can be before it will scrape the tarmac at even the slightest bank angle. By putting the props in closer to fuselage, they could have been made a lot bigger and more efficient.

Speaking of ducted fans, this is not the most scientific test, but this guy put a duct around his RC motor and it was 55% less efficient. So anytime you hear how a ducted fan is "so much more efficient" (which you do in experimental aviation or on the internt all the time), it's basically BS. Also look at how inefficient the co-axial and overlapping props are compared to just normal props. It's eye opening.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/tFJyE3Uns3o[/youtube]

Glad to see this coming. But I suspect 2nd or 3rd generation versions of these concepts will be commercially successful.

Agreed! Look at all the Starship knowledge that is in aircraft today. ...not just the Avanti. The 8300+ in battery weight seems pretty significant. The gear does not look like it is prepared for that weight, particularly with a hard landing, and neither does the fuselage. Who thinks that weight will increase 40%, particularly for the pressurized model?