Australian technology company Entecho plans to fly a full-sized version of its Hoverpod hovering air vehicle next month. The flight comes as the company claims growing interest from major aerospace manufacturers, particularly for unmanned applications.
The Perth, Western Australia-based company has been developing the Hoverpod for several years. The manned version is capable of carrying one, two or three people.
The full-scale Hoverpod measures 2.7m (8.7ft) in diameter and flies 1.5m above the ground, taking off and landing vertically. Lift is provided by fans that draw in air from above and pump it out below the vehicle's flow-vectoring skirt. A recent addition is a new attitude control system, says designer Kim Schlunke.
Last year Entecho flew a one-quarter scale version that demonstrated good lift capability, says Schlunke. The company is completing assembly of the full-scale vehicle, which will be operated on a specially constructed test rig for a month to measure responses ahead of a test flight in April. "We will measure everything it does and when we think we have acceptable responses to controls we will take it off the test rig," says Schlunke, adding that the first flight will be inside a building, over a distance of 100m at 1m above the ground.
Entecho has a A$2.5 million ($2 million) government grant to commercialise the technology.
Source: Flight International