ARIE EGOZI / TEL AVIV
Urban Aeronautics plans to present its X-Hawk vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft to the US Federal Aviation Administration in November as a first step towards certification. The City Hawk technology demonstrator began tethered test flights in August.
X-Hawk is a wingless vehicle with ducted fans for propulsion and lift, developed as a utility vehicle for urban areas. The vehicle will be powered by either Pratt &Whitney Canada PW207D or Turbomeca Arrius 2B2 engines. Potential X-Hawk roles include utility transport, medical evacuation and rescue, air taxi and patrol.
Urban Aeronautics says the vehicle's vane control system and fly-by-wire flight control system (FCS) will allow precise control when hovering incontact with a building during a rescue mission, for instance. The FCS will also save weight, says the company.
Rafi Yoeli, Urban Aeronautics founder and president, says X-Hawk will be the first air vehicle capable of generating "pure rolling moments and pure lateral forces". Sideways movement will be achieved without rolling the airframe by controlling the upper and lower vane systems. Fore and aft movement will be controlled by two variable pitch pusher propellers driven by the propulsion engines.
Empty weight will be 1,150kg (2,530lb), with a maximum take-off weight of 1,920kg. The useful payload will be 430kg, enough for a pilot, two passengers and 100kg, says the company.
The company plans to equip the vehicle with a parachute as a safety device in the event of a major problem. "The vehicle's total systems redundancy, particularly to hover out of ground effect and safely land on a single engine, will make it safe for operation in urban environments," says Yoeli.
Urban Aeronautics will continue flying the City Hawk until November and it is seeking $7-8 million to build two X-Hawk prototypes.
Source: Flight International
