3 ms·
This feels like the golden path to me, too. Lilium is claiming 300km range at 300km/hour, and appears to transition nicely to horizontal flight. Maybe not a gre
by nonesuchluck 6y ago
This feels like the golden path to me, too. Lilium is claiming 300km range at 300km/hour, and appears to transition nicely to horizontal flight. Maybe not a great glide ratio on those stubby little wings, but it looks safer than quadcopters. They don't need all 36 ducted fans for normal flight, so eating a bird shouldn't spell death.
Has anybody else shown off similar craft? Uber Air's eVTOL looks about 50% CGI/50% hype, but maybe I've missed something.
- marvin 6y agoMy layman's aerodynamic hunch says that Lilium is on the right design track for practical, reliable, long-range electric VTOL aircraft. There's two critical ingredients: Transitioning out of powered lift immediately after takeoff, and having a battery mass fraction that's as high as possible. Obviously, VTOL & payload limits the latter. Multicopter designs won't work; their power requirements are too high.