2 February 2018
Airbus has flown Vahana, the all electric, self-piloted, VTOL aircraft developed by its Californian offshoot, A3.
Vahana reached a height of 5 metres (16 feet) before descending safely, at Pendleton UAS Range in Pendleton, Oregon. Its first flight, with a duration of 53 seconds, was fully self-piloted and the vehicle completed a second flight the following day.
“Today we are celebrating a great accomplishment in aerospace innovation,” said Zach Lovering, project executive of Vahana.
“In just under two years, Vahana took a concept sketch on a napkin and built a full-scale, self-piloted aircraft that has successfully completed its first flight. Our team is grateful for the support we’ve received from A3 and the extended Airbus family, as well as our partners including MTSI and the Pendleton UAS Range.”
The Airbus Vahana team at the A3 ‘team nest’.
Airbus’s vision for Vahana is: “to democratize personal flight and answer the growing need for urban mobility by leveraging the latest technologies in electric propulsion, energy storage, and machine vision”.
The next step for the A3 Vahana team is more testing, including transitions and forward flight.
