The American startup Zeva has started flight tests of its single-seat tailsitter Zero, which looks like a flying saucer. The first Zero flights took place in unmanned mode and lasted more than four minutes.
Tailsitters are aircraft that can take off vertically, fly like an airplane and land on the tail. They are undemanding to take-off sites and have high flight characteristics.
Zeva Aero introduced the Zero air taxi concept in 2018. This is a single tailsitter - an aircraft that can take off vertically, fly like an airplane and land on its tail. Zero looks like a disk with a diameter of 2.4 meters and a weight of 317 kilograms. It has two electric screws in front and behind, placed coaxially. The first Zero prototype received batteries with a capacity of about 20 kilowatt-hours. The serial sample will have a slightly larger capacity — 25 kilowatt-hours.
The flying saucer will be able to fly up to 80 kilometers and reach speeds of up to 257 kilometers per hour. During the flight in airplane mode, the passenger is in a horizontal position face down. The developers expect that the device will find application not only as an air taxi, but the military and emergency response services will be interested in it.
Flight tests of Zero began on January 9. Tailsitter completed four flights with a total duration of more than four minutes. During this time, the device demonstrated hovering in the air, taxiing at low speed and vertical ascent. The developers did not specify when they will switch to manned flights on their flying saucer. But last November, the head of Zeva Aero, Stephen Tibbits, said that this would happen within three to six months.
Zeva Aero is not the first company developing a flying saucer. Aircraft designers pinned their hopes on this aerodynamic scheme at the beginning of the last century. The history of real flying saucers can be read in our material "Following the example of aliens" .
Vasilisa Chernyavtseva