An airplane-like eVTOL?
Skyfly exhibited its updated Axe electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in Wisconsin following the debut of its prototype at the company's first AirVenture display in 2025.
The company operates in the United Kingdom and the United States. Axe has a canard-like design that the company describes as a "vertically capable, light sport category aircraft" pending finalization of compliance standards under the Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification rule. (The FAA recently accepted ASTM International consensus standards for fixed-wing aircraft, with new certification standards for additional types of aircraft including vertical lift to be accepted by the FAA after the July 24 effective date of the new Part 22 regulation.) With eight motors and four propellers on a rigid, non-tilting system, the Axe seeks "safety through redundancy" and will come with three flight computers and an optional ballistic parachute. The all-electric aircraft can take off conventionally or vertically. In cruise, it will rely on efficient wings to help give it what the company currently lists as a 100-plus-mile electric range, 100-mph cruise speed, and 6:1 glide ratio.
Chief Operating Officer Stjohn Youngman says that he considers it more of an airplane than an eVTOL.
"It flies stick and rudder just like any other [airplane], but also we're combining the new technologies—the ability to stabilize and hover," said Youngman. "We're happy with our sort of compromises and where we've got to.
"We spend most of its time flying in the cruise conventionally and then it's got this fun party trick that you can show off and do the vertical or even just" the short-field performance, he added.
The Axe is already being tested by noted test pilot Elliot Seguin, and Skyfly hopes to begin production in the U.K. next year (with plans to have a U.S. production center in the future as well), with delivery of the first aircraft at the end of 2027.
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