S.D. Air & Space Museum Donation
Pat & Dennis Bender Experimental Aircraft Development Fund
J. Dennis Bender
Office, Home & Cell Phone: 859-391-5226
5726 La Jolla Blvd. – Suite 311
La Jolla, CA 92037-7345
&
Office - 100 Riverside Pl. - Suite 303
Covington, KY 41011-5711
We support experimental-aircraft development and applications for EMS, under-served-rural-communities, native-Americans, border-patrol, forestry-management, educational purposes, etc. (After initially incorporating in KY to form a single 501(c)(3), we dissolved that entity for a simplified form creating two entirely self-financed, private-philanthropies. A Vanguard National Trust account has been setup for each making annual-grants for specific experimental-aviation-related projects in conjunction with the Experimental Aircraft Assoc. Foundation [EAA] in Oshkosh, WI., the eVTOL organization, San Diego Air & Space Museum and similar organizations. David J. Bender is my Estate Rep.
www.JDBender.com – Pat & Dennis Bender eVTOL Experimental Aviation Fund (Vanguard National Trust)
www.JDBender.org – Pat & Dennis Bender Dementia Diagnosis Fund (Vanguard National Trust)
May 16, 2024
From this Japanese 2013 M-02J jet-powered, wing-warping, weight-shift, motor-glider experiment to today’s hopefully-more-practical eVTOLs.
For all you scoffers, I’ve been reporting on both Beta and Joby and their operation at the Springfield-Beckley Airport for the past few years. Tonight’s PBS Newshour did a delightful report on both of them showing one of their vertiports that I’ve been visiting monthly. I highly recommend viewing Miles O'Brien’s informative 8-minute video at: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/battery-powered-aircraft-could-lead-transition-from-fossil-fueled-flight showing one of their vertiports exactly like the one at the Springfield-Beckley Airport. In September I hopefully will be taking delivery of my own RYSE-Recon eVTOL in Cincinnati.
“The Electric Aircraft Symposium is a unique event that brings AAM experts to the world’s largest general aviation event for lively discussions on the progress and challenges of electric aviation. We invite anyone interested in electric aviation to attend EAS and participate in this always-illuminating event.”
RYSE-Recon prototype at a farm show.
OK, that’s the concept, but time to start delivering actual eVTOLs, such as my now on-order RYSE-Recon scheduled for September delivery, just after this year’s EAA Oshkosh Electric Aircraft Symposium!
As I begin outfitting my C8-Corvette-Z51 HTC with a P1 Autoworks ( https://p1autoworks.com/products/powerneedy-motorsports-c8-corvette-hitch-reciever ) trailer-hitch for towing that RYSE-Recon (at S.D. Trailer & Hitch), it’s also time to start planning for attending the Electric Aircraft Symposium, the premier electric VTOL/STOL/CTOL and advanced-air-mobility (AAM) event at EAA's AirVenture that I’ve attended for 48-weeks prior to switching to this evet via Zoom, now that I’m 82 and it’s more difficult to continue my annual weeklong visits up to EAA Oshkosh so attending via Zoom is a perfect solution.
Up on the left is my donation to the S.D. Air & Space Museum now stored out at their Gillespie Field Annex. Their current plan is for eventually hanging it from the roof for display, like the hang-glider. (The projects on the floor are ahead of it.)
Still have hope that we can do more with this than just a hanging static display and give youngsters an actual flight experience while still tethered to the ground. In addition, the flight-controller needs further setup work, though it is currently flying by remote-control, so could prove an interesting eVTOL development project for a youth-group to work on if we could find the right leader and group of kids.
I want to provide the visceral experience of actually flying, not just a stationary simulator like this bubble-canopy nearby. By attaching 4 large-springs to the undercarriage in the case of a sudden drop, plus tethering to prevent any possibility of tipping-over or exceeding say 6-8-feet above the ground-level. This is exactly what they have been doing out at Lunken Field for the past few years while trying to calibrate their flight-controller, as needs to still be done with our stored project (see above photo and my earlier discussion of this two-place hybrid-eVTOL design in Cincinnati.)
Mike Hirschberg
VFS Director of Strategy
+1-703-684-6777 &
Vertical Flight Society Electric VTOL Directory Hits 1,000 Designs
VFS Marks Supporting the Electric Aircraft Revolution for More than a Decade
Fairfax, Virginia, USA, April 22, 2024
The Vertical Flight Society (VFS), the world’s leading non-profit organization working to advance vertical flight, announces today that the number of electric-vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft concepts being tracked in its World eVTOL Aircraft Directory has now reached 1,000 concepts from more than 430 designers. The directory is part of the VFS Electric VTOL News website, www.eVTOL.news, the world’s first and most extensive online resource on eVTOL aircraft and technology.
Electric-propulsion enables new aircraft concepts with enhanced performance, low or no emissions, reduced operating-costs and low-noise that will expand the market for vertical-flight to missions not optimally served by helicopters.
After holding the world’s first eVTOL workshop in 2014, VFS launched the world’s first e-newsletter, “The Electric VTOL News,” in 2016 when the number of known eVTOL programs under development was about a half dozen. This number quickly grew after the announcement (at the Society’s third annual eVTOL Workshop in 2016) of Uber’s Elevate initiative and the first Uber Elevate Summit in April 2017.
“We realized that there needed some way for the public to keep track of all the new innovative concepts being explored,” said VFS Director of Strategy Mike Hirschberg. “Since some innovative designs that seemed implausible at the time continued maturing into plausible approaches, we decided to catalogue every known design — from the silly to the serious.”
When the website was launched in April 2017, a total of 18 known eVTOL designs were included. All of the companies or concepts listed then are still involved today: Airbus Helicopters, Airbus A3, Aurora Flight Sciences, Bell, Carter Aviation Technologies (now Jaunt Air Mobility), DeLorean Aerospace, Detroit Aircraft (now ASX), EHang, e-volo (now Volocopter), Jetpack Aviation (Mayman Aerospace), Joby, Kitty Hawk (now part of Wisk), Lilium, Cartivator (now SkyDrive), Uber (now part of Joby), XTI Aviation (now XTI Aerospace), Zee Aero (now Wisk) and Workhorse (now part of Moog).
Over the past 7-years, designs have been added to the World eVTOL Aircraft Directory at a rapid pace, reaching 100 catalogued concepts by July 2018, 200 by September 2019, 400 by January 2021, 600 by January 2022 and 800 by April 2023. The 1,000th entry, the Doroni Aerospace H1-X two-seat personal eVTOL aircraft, was added this month.
The Directory includes not only current aircraft under development, but also historical designs, with many defunct designs preserved for the record. For instance, Volocopter is currently working on three products — VoloCity, VoloRegion and VoloDrone — but 15 different designs have been explored, including the single-seat VC007 from more than a decade-ago.
Concepts are included from not only established aerospace companies and startups, but also by individuals, universities and government agencies. The free website site also hosts more than 950 eVTOL news-posts, including some 400 in-depth articles from the Society’s Vertiflite magazine, the leading periodical on eVTOL and rotorcraft developments, as well as links to video recordings from conferences and short-courses, and other resources.
Also included in the Society's remit are technologies that are not uniquely applicable to vertical-flight aircraft, including battery-electric, hybrid-electric and hydrogen-electric propulsion-systems. Aircraft that use electric-propulsion — including eVTOL and electric short- or conventional- takeoff and landing (eSTOL and eCTOL) aircraft — are broadly referred to as electric-aircraft or advanced-air-mobility (AAM) aircraft.
In support of the broader electric aviation revolution, VFS has been sponsoring the annual Electric Aircraft Symposium (EAS) — originally started in 2007 by the CAFE Foundation — since 2018. This year’s 18th Annual EAS will once again be held online and in person in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on July 20–21, the weekend prior to the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture 2024, the world’s largest airshow and fly-in.
EAS is the world’s longest-running electric-aviation-technology meeting. More than 200 attendees are expected again this year. It’s organized by VFS with industry and government leaders who are part of the AAM ecosystem to provide updates to the community and the public. The focus of EAS is on technological advancements and addressing major issues like certification and infrastructure for the industry as a whole. Details on the invited speakers, registration and sponsorships are posted on the VFS website at: www.vtol.org/eas.
“The Electric Aircraft Symposium is a unique event that brings AAM experts to the world’s largest general aviation event for lively discussions on the progress and challenges of electric aviation,” said VFS Executive Director Angelo Collins. “We invite anyone interested in electric aviation to attend EAS and participate in this always-illuminating event.”
VFS was founded as the American Helicopter Society in 1943, [the year after I was born,] by the visionaries of the early helicopter industry, who believed that technological cooperation and collaboration were essential to support this new type of aircraft. Today, history is repeating itself, with VFS playing a similar role helping to advance today’s revolutionary electric aircraft.
VFS holds the largest and longest-running vertical flight technical conference in the world, which next month will be its 80th Annual Forum & Technology Display on May 7–9, 2024, in Montréal, Québec, Canada: www.vtol.org/forum.
18th Annual Electric Aircraft Symposium
July 20-21, 2024 - Culver Family Welcome Center - University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
This annual Electric Aircraft Symposium is the premier electric VTOL / STOL / CTOL and advanced air mobility (AAM) event at EAA's AirVenture. Plan ahead to come early and learn the latest on electric aviation!
Invited speakers this year include (to date):
- AeroTEC
- Archer Aviation
- Beta Technologies
- Electric Power Systems
- Evolito
- Five Alpha
- Flying Pages
- NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center
- Joby Aviation
- Opener
- Pipistrel
- Rolls-Royce Electrical
- SMG Consulting
- Whisper Aero
- Wisk Aero
{S.D. Air & Space Museum Donation}
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