Vertical Aerospace

Vertical Aerospace is a British aerospace manufacturer based in Bristol, England that designs and builds vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) electrically powered aircraft.

Vertical Aerospace's Seraph outside Canary Wharf Tube Station

Vertical Aerospace
Privately held company
IndustryAerospace
Founded2016
FounderStephen Fitzpatrick
Headquarters
Bristol
,
UK
Key people
Stephen Fitzpatrick
ProductsVTOL aircraft
Number of employees
120
Websitewww.vertical-aerospace.com
POC test flight, 2018

History

The company was founded in 2016 by Stephen Fitzpatrick, an ex-Formula One team owner, and founder and CEO of OVO Energy.[1]

The company flew its first prototype aircraft – an electrically powered quadcopter that weighed 750kg, named POC[2] – in June 2018 at Cotswold Airport, Kemble, Gloucestershire.[3][4][5] The aircraft, which was unmanned and remotely controlled, is capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL)[6] and has four electric engines, each inside a ducted fan.[7]

In 2019 they launched their second aircraft, the Seraph, making them the first company in the world to release flight footage of an electric VTOL aircraft capable of carrying 250kg.[8] They also acquired Vertical Advanced Engineering, who will apply the latest technologies and agile processes from F1 to the development of eVTOL aircraft.[9]

Design and development

The company states it is developing aircraft that it hopes to certify for commercial flight by 2022.[10][11][12]

gollark: `type(nil)` == [I don't know but it works]
gollark: See, classes tend to just bundle a bunch of state in confusing and annoying ways, along with functions you actually want.
gollark: Anyway, have you considered splitting code into *modules* containing *functions* instead of classes?
gollark: Like how functions aren't necessarily functional programming.
gollark: Also, classes aren't necessarily OOP.

References
  1. "VERTICAL AEROSPACE LTD". Companies House. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  2. "POC". Vertical Aerospace. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  3. Lyon, John (13 September 2018). "The UK's Flying Car Is All Electric Under the Bonnet". Robb Report.
  4. "Watch a test flight of Vertical Aerospace's flying taxi". Aerospace Testing International. 11 September 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  5. "Vertical Aerospace Flies eVTOL". AVweb. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  6. "Energy Company CEO Leads Successful U.K. Test of Flying Taxi". Bloomberg. 10 September 2018.
  7. "This 28-person startup took a big first step towards launching a nationwide flying taxi service by 2022". Business Insider. 10 September 2018.
  8. "Seraph". Vertical Aerospace. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  9. "About Us". Vertical Advanced Engineering. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  10. "Vertical Aerospace makes 'flying cars' with more grounded aspirations". The Verge. 10 September 2018.
  11. "The UK has its first flying taxi, but don't expect any rides just yet". Wired. 10 September 2018.
  12. "Electric air taxi prototype makes flight debut". newatlas.com.
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