BlackFly maneuvers over Oshkosh
The Opener BlackFly's two twilight flights were the highlights among a few showings by personal electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022. Opener’s Version 3 vehicle was on display, and flew in the night airshow and the Twilight Flight Fest. Last year, the BlackFly hovered only, and this year it added maneuvering—an impressive improvement to an already impressive airshow routine.
Flight test engineer Wyatt Warner operated the BlackFly from the cockpit during the night airshow.
The company does not currently have a hard date when BlackFly will be available for purchase, stating that the priority now is to increase human flight hours and experience. Once in mass production, though, Opener expects it to retail for about the price of an SUV. Currently the single-seat, eight-motor BlackFly can fly for about 20 minutes at a time. Charging takes about 30 minutes.
"We're really excited to show the world some cool eVTOL technology," said Warner. "The flight controls are so intuitive…. The flight controllers are doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes."
"This is a big first for me, it's the first time I've been at an airshow flying," he said, noting that this is his first time at AirVenture. The BlackFly will make another appearance in the July 30 airshow at 4:50 p.m. Central time.
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