The Wisk Cora is an American autonomous
personal air vehicle
A personal air vehicle (PAV) is a proposed type of aircraft providing on-demand aviation services.
The emergence of this alternative to traditional ground transport methods has been enabled by unmanned aerial vehicle technologies and electric p ...
prototype previously developed by the
Kitty Hawk Corporation, and subsequently by
Wisk Aero
Wisk Aero is an aerospace manufacturer based in Mountain View, California, United States. The company develops self-flying electric vertical take off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft designed to be operated as air taxis. The company was formed in ...
.
History
The Kitty Hawk Corporation first presented the Cora publicly in March 2018. The company is named after the location near which the Wright brothers' first powered flight took place. The Cora is a two-seater development of the Zee Aero Z-P2. The individual approvals of the Cora by the
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
(FAA) were done under the name Zee Aero Mule SPA, then as Kitty Hawk Mule SPA. The development, testing and operation takes place in collaboration with the
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
subsidiary Zephyr Airworks, founded by Kitty Hawk in December 2016.
In June 2019 the Kitty Hawk Corporation and
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...
agreed to collaborate in the field of urban air mobility. For this purpose, a company called Wisk Aero LLC was founded on December 2, 2019. Zephyr Airworks became Wisk New Zealand. After approval by the government, a trial operation with the Cora took place in New Zealand in February 2020. With the termination of BoeingNeXT operations in mid-2020, some doubt existed on the continued relationship between Wisk and Boeing.
By 2021 Zephyr Airworks planned to set up an air taxi service in New Zealand. It is planned that the aircraft will only be used for the flight service planned in cooperation with Air New Zealand.
In January 2022, Wisk Aero announced a $450 million investment by Boeing, to further develop the Wisk Cora pilot-less flying taxis.
Design
In accordance with the design, the aircraft is to be regarded as a
gyrodyne
A gyrodyne is a type of VTOL aircraft with a helicopter rotor-like system that is driven by its engine for takeoff and landing only, and includes one or more conventional propeller or jet engines to provide forward thrust during cruising flig ...
. It has 12 electric motors for hovering at two fixed wings, each with 6
propeller
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
s (with near vertical axis), three in front of the wing and three behind. For horizontal flight there is a separately driven pressure propeller. An
overall rescue system is provided for emergencies. The
first flight was on March 13, 2018 in
Mountain View, California
Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376.
Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is th ...
.
Wisk Cora
/ref>
Specifications
See also
* Air taxi
An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand.
In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...
References
{{reflist
External links
WISK Cora
Wisk (Kitty Hawk) Cora on Electric VTOL News
2010s United States experimental aircraft
Proposed aircraft of the United States
Electric aircraft
Boeing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 2018
Urban air mobility
EVTOL aircraft