Canadian start-up Horizon Aircraft has almost wrapped up flight tests of a half-scale version of its Cavorite X7 – a hybrid-electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft designed for regional operations.
A final flight will likely take place in April during which the sliding fan covers on the wing and canards will be closed – the only significant test point that remains, says founder and chief executive Brandon Robinson.
The scaled all-electric demonstrator, known as the X5, last flew on 20 December when it was taken to transition speed. Robinson says the subsequent pause has been enforced by the effects of Canada’s winter weather on battery performance.
“We are very, very confident in the design at this point,” he says. “It is already performing wingborne flight – the last piece is just to close the covers.”
Those covers hide the Cavorite’s 14 electric fans – 10 in the wing and four in the canards – needed for VTOL capability. Remaining open during those manoeuvres, they are then closed as the aircraft transitions to forward flight and power switches to the thermal engine and rear-mounted pusher propeller.
Horizon’s unique architecture enables the X7 to fly further and faster than other eVTOL designs, while also carrying more payload.
Wrapping up the demonstrator’s flight-test programme means “we can hand off to the full-scale aircraft”, says Robinson.
Parts for the initial flying prototype are already in ground test at Horizon’s Lindsay, Ontario facility as the company pushes towards a 2027 maiden sortie. First customer deliveries are envisaged towards the end of the decade.
Horizon is also considering whether to build a conventional take-off test asset – the fans replaced by representative mass – to accelerate the test programme “given that 90% of the time it flies like a regular airplane”.
“At the same time, we can build out the VTOL version… and meet in the middle.”
Horizon has yet to select an engine supplier for the Cavorite, but Robinson says the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 is the leading contender, with products from Honeywell and Safran also under consideration.
Even though Horizon sees strong demand from the civil market it is also eyeing military applications for the Cavorite. According to its analysis, if equipped with a folding wing, two X7s could be carried inside a Boeing C-17.
But, says Robinson, the folding wing may be introduced as a standard feature on all models, significantly reducing the amount of space needed for hangarage.
Although the company is US stock market listed and has a “strategic backer with deep pockets”, it continues to take a “capital efficient approach”, wary of the funding challenges others in the segment have recently encountered.
Robinson maintains Horizon has sufficient cash runway for the next 12-18 months of operations.
