Wisk Aero, the Boeing-owned Air Mobility firm completed the world’s first public demonstration flight of a fully autonomous, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL), fixed-wing air taxi at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2023.
The milestone flight by Wisk Aero at Oshkosh saw the firm show off its autonomous fifth-generation eVTOL demonstrator craft, dubbed Cora. The fifth-gen Wiesk Aero eVTOL taxi transitioned from hover mode to proper wing-borne flight four times during its demonstration run at Oshkosh. Wisk’s fourth and fifth-generation eVTOL craft have been tested since 2017.
The milestone flight by Wisk Aero at Oshkosh saw the firm show off its autonomous fifth-generation eVTOL demonstrator craft, dubbed Cora. The fifth-gen Wisk Aero eVTOL taxi transitioned from hover mode to proper wing-borne flight four times during its demonstration run at Oshkosh.
Speaking about the historic run at AirVenture Oshkosh, Jim Tighe, Chief Technology Officer at Wisk said, “We are thrilled to be able to share 13+ years of aviation milestones and now another first with the public. Oshkosh is a particularly fitting milestone venue as it embodies the spirit of passion and innovation at Wisk. We’ve shared something that is really special. For the first time, we have publicly demonstrated fully autonomous flight, conducted by an all-electric, fly-by-wire, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. There was no pilot on board, no pilot controls in the aircraft, and no stick-and-rudder on the ground. The entire flight was operated with the push of a button.”
The Wisk Aero demonstrator aircraft shown off at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is not the final aircraft that will be the air taxi available to the public. That will be the job of the sixth-generation e-VTOL air taxi that the firm revealed back in October.
The four-seater, all-electric, VTOL aircraft, Wisk Aero claims, is the first-ever candidate for FAA certification of an autonomous, passenger-carrying eVTOL air taxi. Along with the space for four passengers, the sixth-gen air taxi offers ample storage for carry-on and luggage.
The sixth-gen eVTOL taxi sports a proprietary 12-propeller design and boom configuration and a 50-foot (15.24 metres). The autonomous eVTOL allows for human oversight and has a maximum flying range of 144 kilometres.
The sixth-gen Wisk Aero eVTOL Air Taxi flies at an altitude of 2,500 – 4,000 feet (762 – 1219 metres) above the ground flying its four passengers at a cruising speed of 120 knots (222km/h).
The fifth-gen Wisk Aero electric VTOL air taxi’s milestone flight at Oshkosh shows that a future where you can fly over traffic to your destination in an autonomous air taxi is not so far away. Well at the start it will be for the hoi-polloi who can afford it, but us regular folk can dream, can’t we?
