The Airbus CityAirbus is a multinational project by

Airbus Helicopters Airbus Helicopters SAS (formerly Eurocopter S.A., trading as Eurocopter Group) is the helicopter manufacturing division of Airbus. It is the largest in the industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries, holding 48% of the wo ...

to produce an electrically powered

VTOL A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can takeoff and landing, take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust- ...

personal air vehicle A personal air vehicle (PAV) is a proposed class of passenger aircraft providing on-demand air transport. The emergence of this alternative to traditional ground transport methods has been enabled by unmanned aerial vehicle technologies and elec ...

demonstrator. It is intended for the

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...

role, to avoid ground

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s, resulting in m ...

Development

The CityAirbus follows other Airbus Urban Air Mobility initiatives:

Skyways Skyways may refer to: *Skyway A skyway, skybridge, skywalk, or sky walkway is an elevated type of pedway connecting two or more buildings in an urban area, or connecting elevated points within mountainous recreational zones. Urban skyways ver ...

to deliver packages by

UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...

s on the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

campus, the A³ Vahana single-passenger, self-piloted VTOL aircraft and the A³ Voom on-demand shared helicopter booking service app by

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

. A 2015 feasibility study confirmed the design's operating costs and that it could meet safety requirements.Full-scale testing of the ducted propeller drivetrain was completed in October 2017.

Type certification A type certificate signifies the airworthiness of a particular category of aircraft, according to its manufacturing design (''type design''). Certification confirms that the aircraft of a new type intended for serial production is in compliance w ...

and commercial introduction are planned for 2023. The '' iron bird'' systems test prototype was completed and powered on in December 2017 on a

test bench A test bench or testing workbench is an environment used to verify the correctness or soundness of a design or model. The term has its roots in the testing of electronic devices, where an engineer would sit at a lab bench with tools for measurem ...

in Taufkirchen,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, to test the propulsion system chain, flight controls and propeller dynamic loads, verifying the electric, mechanical and thermal dynamics before being installed on the flight demonstrator by mid-2018. The first structural parts for the demonstrator were produced by Airbus Helicopters. The aircraft's first uncrewed flight was on 3 May 2019. Crewed flights have been planned for 2019. 31 August 2020 the CityAirbus demonstrator moved from

Donauwörth Donauwörth (; ) is a town and the capital of the Donau-Ries district in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is said to have been founded by two fishermen where the rivers Danube (Donau) and Wörnitz meet. The city is part of the scenic route called "R ...

Manching Manching () is a municipality in the district of Pfaffenhofen, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Paar, 7 km southeast of Ingolstadt. In the late Iron Age, there was a Celtic settlement, the Oppidum of Manching, on the locati ...

near

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (; Austro-Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an Independent city#Germany, independent city on the Danube, in Upper Bavaria, with 142,308 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2023). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. After 242 flights over in total with the Vahana and CityAirbus demonstrators, Airbus updated the CityAirbus project in September 2021. The new configuration boasts a

fixed wing A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using aerodynamic lift. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft (in which a rotor mounted on a spinning shaft generates ...

, a

V-tail The V-tail or ''vee-tail'' (sometimes called a butterfly tail or Rudlicki's V-tailGudmundsson S. (2013). "General Aviation Aircraft Design: Applied Methods and Procedures" (Reprint). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 489. , 9780123973290) of an aircraf ...

, and eight electric propellers without moving surfaces or tilting parts. It should carry up to four passengers over at with sound levels below 65 dB(A) during fly-over and below 70 dB(A) during landing. First flight is planned for 2023 and certification is expected around 2025. EASA is already working on a ''special condition VTOL'' (SC VTOL) means of compliance (MOC) to certify eVTOL aircraft. The final version of the MOC for eVTOLs will use newly developed

Eurocae The European Organisation for Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE) is an international organisation that deals exclusively with aviation standardisation, for both airborne and ground systems and equipment. It was created in 1963 in Lucerne, Switzerl ...

standards. The second flight control computer will be developed in collaboration with Diehl Aviation and

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; ; ) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic Philosophy, philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Seven Sages, founding figure ...

Design

The

multirotor A multirotor or multicopter is a rotorcraft with more than two lift-generating rotors. An advantage of multirotor aircraft is the simpler rotor mechanics required for flight control. Unlike single- and double-rotor helicopters which use complex ...

is intended to carry four passengers, with a pilot initially and to become self-piloted when regulations allow.The overall system is being developed in Donauwörth, with the electrical propulsion system built in

Ottobrunn Ottobrunn () is a suburban municipality southeast of Munich, Bavaria, Germany, founded in 1955. Ottobrunn consists of mainly semi-detached and detached houses, as well as extensive garden areas. Ottobrunn is also the German Headquarters of Airbus ...

/Munich.The use of four

ducted fan In aeronautics, a ducted fan is a thrust-generating mechanical fan or Propeller (aeronautics), propeller mounted within a cylindrical wiktionary:duct, duct or shroud. Other terms include ducted propeller or shrouded propeller. When used in vertic ...

s contribute to safety and low acoustic footprint.The fully integrated drivetrain has eight propellers and eight

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

SP200D direct-drive

electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

s.The fixed pitch propellers are controlled by their

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

.The four

electric batteries An electric battery is a source of electric power consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections for powering electrical devices. When a battery is supplying power, its positive terminal is the cathode and its nega ...

total and can produce a combined output four times . The design should cruise at on fixed routes with 15 minutes endurance.

Specifications

References

External links

* * * * {{Airbus aircraft Airbus Helicopters aircraft Electric aircraft Electric helicopters VTOL aircraft Airbus Airbus Helicopters Prototypes Proposed aircraft Aircraft first flown in 2019 Urban air mobility EVTOL aircraft

Development

Design

Specifications

See also

Related development

References

External links