Uncrewed rotorcraft developer Phenix Solutions has completed a flight-test programme with a full-size prototype of its Ultra 2XL heavy-lift aircraft.
The start-up successfully completed more than 100 test flights at the Pendleton UAS Range in Eastern Oregon, exceeding the company’s goals for the regime, chief executive Brian Riese told FlightGlobal on 18 September.
“Either we’re bad goal-setters, or the aircraft is really fantastic,” he says. “I think it’s the latter.”
The flight-test programme launched in June, following Phenix’s unveiling of the Ultra 2XL at the Heli-Expo show in Anaheim earlier this year. The first flights were tethered as the company monitored the aircraft’s handling in ground effect.
The series of test flights were conducted with a pilot using a hand controller to manipulate the aircraft from a ground station. With each flight, Phenix’s engineers became more familiar with the aircraft’s flight characteristics and were able to introduce incrementally more automation.
But unmonitored, fully autonomous flight of the rotorcraft is unlikely anytime soon.
“There is always a pilot in the loop,” Riese says. ”With our aircraft, there will likely remain a pilot in the loop moving forward… That is where the regulatory framework with the FAA is right now.”
Phenix has assembled two prototypes, having delivered the first to the US Department of Defense. A third aircraft is nearing completed assembly. With help from the US Air Force (USAF), it has also created a “digital twin” to gather data in a risk-free environment and accelerate the aircraft’s development pathway.
The aircraft is designed to be adaptable for firefighting, search and rescue, agricultural and utility operations, in addition to potential military applications. Phenix is a member of the USAF’s original Agility Prime cohort, formed in 2020 to explore next-generation aviation technologies.
“Sponsorship from the air force’s Agility Prime programme has been a component of what we’ve doing and we did out in Pendleton,” Riese says.
He adds that the Ultra 2XL has proven itself a stable platform, thanks to a pair of double-stacked coaxial rotors.
Phenix is on track to hit its payload target of about 680kg (1,500lb) and has ”validated the performance claims we’ve made in the early stages of design”, Riese says.
”Seeing it physically and putting it through its paces and seeing the objective results was just jawdropping,” Riese says. “It’s a helicopter, and it’s a damn good helicopter.”
Following the flight tests, Phenix returned its Ultra 2XL prototype to company headquarters in McMinnville, Oregon for a maintenance inspection, including a full tear-down and reassembly. The aircraft will return to the test range in Pendleton next month for continued expansion of its flight envelope.
Phenix has not publicly disclosed a target date for entry to service.
