Future of flight revealed

A tepid funding report from McKinsey & Company about the future air mobility industry did little to quell the enthusiasm for all things new in mobility—aviation and otherwise—at the event, conducted this year in early October at Bentonville Municipal Airport/Louise M. Thaden Field. Sometimes dubbed the Davos of mobility, UP.Summit, sponsored by the investment group UP.Partners, included some 300 attendees for a day and a half of TED Talk-style presentations and demonstrations of an array of emerging technologies.

Everything from reusable rockets and ramjets to self-driving bulldozers and Tesla Cybertrucks was discussed and showcased. Tesla provided 21 of the stainless-steel electric pickup trucks to shuttle attendees between hotels and the airport events.

Meanwhile, equipment automation enabler Teleo allowed attendees to drive loaders and fill dump trucks 1,300 miles away in Naples, Florida, from a kiosk in Bentonville. Vinay Shet, cofounder and CEO of Teleo, said the company is struggling to keep up with demand for its “supervised autonomy” systems for heavy equipment operators. At the show, an employee of an excavation company was busy controlling two dump trucks and a loader at the Florida construction site—except when some amateur attendees were occupying his seat, trying the system for themselves. Teleo said a persistent shortage of employees across the construction industry makes it practical for business owners to invest in the system, which allows a single operator to manage as many as seven or eight pieces of equipment—for example, sending off a dump truck autonomously to dump a load while he switches to controlling a loader that is filling another waiting dump truck. By the time he has filled that truck and sent it on its way across the site, the first one is back and positioned for another load. The Teleo system is adaptable to many types of equipment, potentially including aircraft tugs and other airport service vehicles such as baggage carts, and fuel and catering trucks.

The husband-and-wife team of Taber MacCallum and Jane Poynter updated attendees on their plan to send passengers to the edge of space in a plush capsule elevated by a balloon the size of a football stadium. Their company, Space Perspective, launched a test balloon from a ship near St. Petersburg, Florida, and recovered the balloon and pressurized capsule called Spaceship Neptune-Excelsior in September, paving the way for passenger flights to begin soon. The goal is for the trips to be considerably less expensive than rocket launches and place far less stress on the passengers.

JetZero envisions future airline flights to be considerably more comfortable and efficient thanks to its blended wing body aircraft in development. Tom O’Leary, CEO and cofounder, told the audience the design will decrease fuel burn and emissions by 50 percent compared to conventional airliners while still using existing engines. A version of the design will be easily adaptable to hydrogen power when that becomes practical. In a passenger configuration, O’Leary indicated an airline could save $1 million a month in fuel for an aircraft the size of a Boeing 787. The JetZero design can carry 250 passengers on transatlantic flights at Mach 0.80.

The company is working closely with NASA and the U.S. Air Force to optimize the design. O’Leary expects to fly a full-scale demonstrator for the Air Force in 2027.

While JetZero promises a dramatic increase in efficiency, Hermeus is promising a dramatic increase in airline travel speed with its proposed Mach 5 airliner. The hypersonic aircraft is undergoing testing now, according to A.J. Piplica, CEO and cofounder of the company. Among the products being developed is an uncrewed hypersonic aircraft for the military. Ultimately, the company will produce Halcyon, a 125-seat hypersonic airliner capable of flying from New York to London in 90 minutes, Piplica said.

In the fast, but not-quite-so-speedy department, Blake Scholl updated the UP.Summit audience about Boom, the Colorado company developing a supersonic transport aircraft. Its one-third-scale XB–1 aircraft first flew in March and is expected to have its fifth flight any day now. The full-scale airplane—called Overture—with 64 business class seats, will be capable of flying from San Francisco to Honolulu in about two and a half hours, and from Tokyo to Seattle in about four and half hours. It will use conventional fanjet engines. It is customizing a turbofan engine, dubbed Symphony, for production in 2029.

But not every discussion at the show was quite so lofty. More down to Earth—or actually, more down to water, is Regent, creator of a 12-motor, all-electric “seaglider.” Designed to fly from coastal port to port at only about 30 feet above the water, the seaglider will provide new transportation options to the 40 percent of the world’s population who live in coastal areas, according to CEO Billy Thalheimer. The hydrofoil will first lift the craft out of the water on a retractable foil and ultimately lift into the air as it gains speed, flying in “ground” effect for up to 180 miles at speeds up to 180 mph carrying 12 passengers. The company showed a full-scale mockup of Viceroy, the 12-passenger cabin and flight deck as well as a smaller model of the entire aircraft. Regent has begun systems and hardware integration of its first full-scale prototype and expects to be flying with people on board by the end of the year. Several regional airlines serving island groups around the world have signed on as position holders.

Those just looking for a fun aviation experience flocked to see the Zapata AirScooter. Designed and showcased at the summit by founder Franky Zapata, the France-based company is about to begin commercial deliveries of its fly-by-wire single-place hybrid-electric aircraft early next year. It is planning to open an experience center in Las Vegas where customers will take a 20-minute simulator-based training course and then fly the egg-shaped vehicle on guided tours with others, lasting up to about an hour and 45 minutes. The aircraft is powered by eight electric motors and four small two-stroke fuel-injected engines burning jet fuel. Each engine and motor will drive a propeller, with the engines also providing electricity to charge batteries for the motors in flight. The aircraft includes a parachute and is capable of carrying about 260 pounds. Zapata expects to sell the aircraft for about $200,000 each and is looking for franchise opportunities beyond Las Vegas.

Another personal airplane that got a lot of attention, including flying two simultaneously at the private airshow, was BlackFly by Pivotal. The two unusual electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) ultralights took off together and performed side-by-side maneuvers in front of a crowd of 300. The BlackFly is being replaced by Helix, a slightly modified version, which has a starting price of $190,000— $260,000 with a trailer, emergency locator transmitter, aviation radios, lights, tinted canopy, and multiple chargers. Helix will be available in early 2025.

Meanwhile, the company has already delivered more than a dozen of the aircraft to individuals. Helix will have an empty weight of about 350 pounds. Remaining under the max weight of an amphibious ultralight with a parachute leaves room for a pilot of about 250 pounds. With its fly-by-wire system, the single-seat aircraft is powered by eight electric motors and can fly for about 20 minutes on its battery power. The retail customers are trained by Pivotal, according to CEO Ken Karklin. Going forward, the company will be developing new models for various public service roles, including military, police, and emergency responders.

And for those who really want to hang out in the breeze, there’s the Gravity Jet Suit, which was demonstrated during the airshow by Richard Browning, inventor and founder of Gravity Industries. The jet fuel- or diesel-powered suit allows the wearer to take off in only a couple of steps and to fly as high as 6,500 feet for as far as 3.5 miles and at speeds of about 62 mph. While the company sees many military roles for the suit, individuals can get their shot at it by taking demonstration flights at the company’s London or Bakersfield, California, facilities for about $2,900 or a full-up flight training with multiple flights for about $8,600.

Browning has been flying the suit since 2016 and has demonstrated it for many militaries. In addition, he has participated in jet suit racing in Dubai for eight years. Gravity Industries has trained about 600 pilots so far. The company has some $40 million in contracts for special missions, Browning reported.

The summit also included updates from more traditional players in the eVTOL and future air mobility space, such as Beta Technologies, which is settling into its new Vermont factory, and Electra, which is flying its proof-of-concept blown-wing distributed propulsion electric airplane from Manassas, Virginia. Wing, Alphabet’s last-mile drone delivery system, is making deliveries every day around the world, with some 400,000 missions completed—including about 1,600 every week in the Dallas area where it is partnered with Walmart. Archer is expecting its new Covington, Georgia, factory to be operational in 60 days, and to eventually ramp up to 650 aircraft per year. Its 12-motor electric Midnight aircraft takes off like a helicopter and then transitions to fixed-wing flight.

Two companies shared their visions for ways to simplify flying and increase safety through fly-by-wire systems. Skyryse CEO Mark Groden showed video of a fully automated autorotation in a Robinson helicopter. His system replaces all of the controls in a Robinson with a small joystick and two displays.

Meanwhile, Matthew George of Merlin Labs discussed how his automated flight control system is undergoing testing by the military for a variety of aircraft; this, after demonstrating automated flight numerous times on a Cessna Caravan.

At the start of UP.Summit, McKinsey & Company released a blog post called, “Bridging the Gap, How future air mobility can adapt to decreased funding.” The report showed how funding for FAM projects has indeed declined in recent years and how the situation is particularly perilous now as a few of the more mature companies begin to prepare for production, which is capital intensive. However, two days later, Joby Aviation announced that it had received another $500 million in funding from Toyota to propel its air taxi to production. While billions have been invested in these upstart air mobility companies, many of which are years behind in certification and production, and the investment community appears to be becoming impatient, some companies are close enough to the finish line that they are still attracting new funds.

Such success emboldens other entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams, some of which will be showcased at future UP.Summits.