Ultralight Donation – Plan D - Part 1
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 the development of improved diagnostic methods for the early detection and diagnosis of MCI, Alzheimer’s, vascular and other dementias, forecasting their likely prognosis, and best treatment options. We focus on the development of Bayesian-based, medical-decision-support systems, comparative-effectiveness research, and the better utilization of these for the above. (After incorporating in KY as a 501(c)3 in 2002, I dissolved that entity in favor of a simplified form of two entirely self-financed, private philanthropies utilizing a Vanguard Charitable Trust for making annual-research-grants for early-dementia-detection and its correct differential-diagnosis and likely-prognosis. They will continue on, after I am long gone, either mentally or physically, with annual $1M grants. Scripps Foundation, Profs. Randall Bateman, James Brewer, eVTOL group and others will be our fund’s future research grant advisors. KMK Law is my legal advisor, David Bender my healthcare-proxy, Elizabeth Dunn my Estate Executor, Zrinko Modrusan my Systems Administrator, Eric Wohl my website administrator and John Jabro & ChatGPT4o my Assistants.
(See: https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/research_progress/earlier-diagnosis)
www.JDBender.com – EMS/eVTOL & Educational Experimental Aviation Fund (Vanguard Charitable Trust)
www.JDBender.org – Dementia Diagnosis Fund (Vanguard Charitable Trust)
March 20, 2025
Here is where we stand today after the now total failure of my RYSE-Recon project and still looking for that next viable project, perhaps the Air Scooter by Zapata?
Our 2023 Winter Solstice gathering at Ft. Ancient, OH on Dec. 21st prior to my trip over to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH to discuss these ideas further with Michael Brimmer & Jennifer Hess. It’s a new day dawning but the sun certainly set on my attempted purchase of that RYSE-Recon following their bankruptcy and absconding with my $5,000 deposit!
From this Japanese 2013 M-02J jet-powered, wing-warping, weight-shift, motor-glider experiment to today’s hopefully slightly-more-practical eVTOLs.
“My Objective - Growing youth, general interest and participation in eVTOLs and aviation-related activities.”
Purpose: The purpose of this never-ending set of my project notes is to provide continual updates on my ever evolving thinking and charitable activities as reported on at my www.JDBender.com website that is dedicated to this project area. As such, it has now become a very-long collection of many updated notes and will remain so until I finally can come to a conclusion as to exactly what the next major step will be, likely purchasing an eVTOL for a donation.
Here is my current revised and yet once again updated ‘Plan-D’ now that my first-step with the S.D. Air & Space Museum has finally taken place with the purchase of an experimental-eVTOL for younger folks to work on as an experimental-EVTOL-ultralight project and for them to ultimately fly, similar to a project previously undertaken in San Francisco by their Flight Club Aerospace group.
Objective: Given today’s critical shortage of aviation-related personnel and the aging-out of we old-timers in the EAA and ultralight communities, I am working on this revised plan for meeting this project’s objectives. My mission is to inspire youth and others with a potential aviation interest and/or interested in a possible career in aviation and/or interest in experimental-aviation, especially focused on eVTOLs.
Just as high-school-students were doing with the S.F.’s Flight Club Aerospace group back in 2020, I am trying to do something similar with the initial eVTOL project in San Diego at their Air & Space Museum Annex. I purchased a partially-completed, experimental-ultralight-eVTOL project and it was delivered to the Museum’s annex at Gillespie Field. My objective is just what NASA, EAA Foundation and the AOPA are also attempting to do, “growing participation in aviation,” such as with their virtual-reality-flight-simulator at the EAA Oshkosh-2023 Youth Welcome Center, NASA STEM Zone, NEXTGEN Aviators, and at the Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio with their flight-simulators and various programs that I frequently visit.
Here is my donation to the S.D. Air & space Museum Annex.
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 just for eventually hanging it from the roof for display, like the hang-glider, but that was not my intent! I wanted kids to have a chance to actually safely fly it in a geofenced-area while tethered to the ground with nylon-lines! (The projects on the floor are ahead of their doing anything with it.)
I want to provide kids with the visceral experience of actually flying, not just a stationary simulator like this bubble-canopy at the S.D. Air & Space Museum Annex.
Still have hope that we can do more with this than just hanging static display and give youngsters an actual flight-experience while still tethered to the ground and enclosed in that roll-cage and sitting in an aircraft-seat in full-harness. By attaching 4 large-springs to the undercarriage in the case of a sudden drop, plus tethering to prevent any possibility of its tipping-over or exceeding say 6-8-feet above the ground-level, it should be absolutely kid-proof!
The flight-controller needed further setup-work, though it was currently flying by remote-control, so could prove an interesting eVTOL development project for the museum or our local EAA-chapter youth-group to work on if we can find the right leader and group of kids and get the agreement of the Air & Space Museum.
I had previously been investigating electrified traditional ultralights, before switching over to this newer eVTOL-form-factor instead. What I want to add to early aviation experiences is the visceral-feel of actually flying – not just a stationary, video-game-simulation, no matter how good it can be with the newest video-goggles or even an advanced commercial-flight-simulator, such as the one at the Air Force’s Museum in Dayton, OH that I recently revisited to discuss these ideas. Simulators, no matter how realistic, are nothing like actually flying something! (See: www.JDBender.com- SF Electric Ultralight Student Project)
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. PBS Newshour did an insightful 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 had been hoping to take delivery of my own RYSE-Recon eVTOL here in Cincinnati for which I had given them a $5,000 deposit and was assured “it would be held in a bank’s escrow-account.” Of course, those rats went belly-up and absconded with all of our deposits that were never placed in that promised escrow-account!
RYSE-Recon prototype at a farm show before ripping me off for my $5,000 deposit!
OK, that’s the concept, but time to start looking for an eVTOL that is actually in production and being delivered to buyers, such as the BlackFly. My now defunct ordered RYSE-Recon had been scheduled for a September delivery, just after the year’s EAA Oshkosh Electric Aircraft Symposium that I attend annually via Zoom.
The above is more like the concept I’ve been looking for.
“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.”
I had begun outfitting my 2021 C8-Corvette-Z51 HTC with a P1-Autoworks ( https://p1autoworks.com/products/powerneedy-motorsports-c8-corvette-hitch-reciever ) trailer-hitch for towing that ordered RYSE-Recon from S.D. Trailer & Hitch, but scrapped it after RYSE Aerospace absconded with my $5,000 deposit!
It’s also time to start planning again for attending the annual Electric Aircraft Symposium, the premier electric VTOL/STOL/CTOL and advanced-air-mobility (AAM) event at EAA's AirVenture that I’d attended for 48-weeks prior to switching to this event via Zoom, now that I’m 83 and it’s more-difficult to continue my annual weeklong visits up to EAA Oshkosh, so attending via Zoom is a perfect solution.
Above is exactly what I’ve been involved with out at Lunken Field for the past few years while they were trying to calibrate their flight-controller, as needs to still be done with this project. (See above photo and my earlier discussion of this two-place hybrid-eVTOL project here in Cincinnati that I was originally involved with prior to its sale to a new owner in New England and their moving it away.) A hybrid is the only currently practical setup and is being developed in a number of countries, including China and Australia.
EAA Museum – Education Programs & Innovations Gallery:
https://www.eaa.org/eaa-museum/education-programs/education-programs-and-groups & https://www.eaa.org/eaa-museum/museum-exhibits/aviation-innovations-gallery
Remembering chatting with Molt Taylor about his 1949 Taylor Aerocar (N4994P) and my then interest in ‘flying-cars’ and attending their annual 3-hr. technical sessions devoted to this topic at the annual EAA Oshkosh convention that I attended 48 times, prior to switching my interest to the eVTOLs, now meeting the weekend before, for the past couple of years. Today, you can actually purchase a flying-car, but my own interest has now shifted to eVTOLs and youth-education programs.
Revised Idea: My current idea revolves around going beyond just giving young-folks an EAA demo-flight, as we do regularly out at Lunken Field in Cincy, Brown Field in San Diego, at EAA-Chapter-147, nearby Sporty’s at the Clermont County Airport (Sporty’s Airport, 2001 Sporty's Dr., Batavia, OH 45103,) and at all the other EAA Chapters across the U.S., as well as nearby at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH.
My current plan is to offer those with an interest in aviation-related activities and/or careers a ground-school followed by hands-on experience with programming my experimental-eVTOL, currently located at Gillespie Field in S.D., followed by actual multiple-flights. First to be in a tethered flight experience at the S.D. Air & Space Museum annex, if we can eventually get their insurance company to finally agree to at least doing that much, and then on to either a true untethered ultralight-eVTOL flight out at Gillespie Field in a geofenced-area with an eVTOL, or flying it here out of the Springfield-Beckley Airport in SW Ohio.
I currently purchased a Pedego Fat Tired Trike but also had ordered a Tesla Cybertruck
I had planned to add a trailer-hitch to my C8-Corvette-HTC to be able to tow it up to the Springfield-Beckley Airport and back-and-forth around La Jolla and out to our ultralight field where it would be stored in its trailer. I had ordered the Tesla-Cyberbeast for transporting it over to our EAA ultralight field in Cincinnati, or over to Springfield-Beckley Airport, over to our ultralight field here in S.D. or even out into the desert outside San Diego to Jacumba, where our S.D. EAA-114 ultralight club had been planning on eventually relocating after their current 5-year lease-extension runs out here in S.D., but since have changed their plan. I had also ordered the extended-battery-option, plus purchased a portable-solar-generator to charge both, while camping out there under the Cyberbeast’s addon tent-shelter, now all cancelled. See: My Cyberbest doc for all the details of that planned combo and its advantages, especially when there are not any nearby recharging-stations.)
This idea was acceptable to Gillespie Field’s airport administration, with whom I have been discussing the idea with Louise Dragman-Renz, Assistant Airport Manager, and with the local San Diego FAA District Office over the prior years. It is a concept with which they both seemed interested and were enthusiastic regarding working with me to further develop it. Adding some sort of electric-vehicle to this mix adds an interesting possible next-step, in addition to establishing a youth-group to work on the experimental-eVTOL project that I’ve already donated to the S.D. Air & Space Museum and that is now located at their Gillespie Field Annex.
That defunct RYSE-Recon ultralight-eVTOL I’d selected was one of a half-dozen competing designs, discussed below, that I’ve described in detail and with which I have been involved with for the past many years.
It all started with the Blackfly’s introduction at EAA Oshkosh, nearly a decade-ago, and now most-recently with my attempted ordering of the defunct RYSE-Recon here in Mason, OH. A likely better ultimate configuration being a hybrid having a much-longer 2-hour duration by utilizing aviation-fuel in addition to just battery-power, such as the Zapata AirScooter or similar (See: “Zapata AirScooter” doc and below.) Their hybrid-design ultralight is now being developed in CA. I still am somewhat interested in that old Blackfly design that was my first foray into this topic, nearly a decade-ago, at the EAA Oshkosh annual convention that I’ve attended annually for the past 48-weeklong sessions, prior to switching to the eVTOL group that meets the weekend before, for the past couple of years.
I have designated a Vanguard Charitable allocation of a $200,000 budget for this specific project, beginning with $5,000 for purchasing that eVTOL prototype-project and donating it to the S.D. Air & Space Museum, plus $195,000 for purchasing an eVTOL, something like the hybrid-Zapata-AirScooter, just as soon as they have started actual volume-production and have units in end-user-hands to gain more-experience with their safety-profile and utility, assuming that they are eventually able to convince insurers of the safety of such ultralights or eVTOLs so as to be able to obtain the standard $1M-liability insurance currently available from the Ultralight Assoc.’s O2 insurance company for conventional ultralights but not currently applicable to eVTOL-ultralights the last time I asked them about it. This insurance problem is also an ongoing major stumbling block with my S.D. Air & Space Museum donation.
We still need to address this key liability-insurance-issue that has remained a major stumbling-block to getting this project finally started with the S.D. Air & Space Museum, but at least we have now moved forward with this first-step-purchase of an experimental-prototype eVTOL and its delivery to the S.D. Air & Space Museum’s Annex at Gillespie Field, but only if it can actually be flown by kids. Otherwise, I will offer them that experience out at our S.D. Ultralight field.
eVTOL Safety Issues: In theory, ultralight-eVTOLs should be much-safer, but this apparently needs to be actually demonstrated to the aviation insurance industry. I’m currently discussing this matter with the US Ultralight Assoc. USUA (https://www.usua.org/) and their liability-insurer O2. There seems to be some debate regarding its ability to cover eVTOLs. There never has been any prior problem when I fly traditional ultralights, and I do not see this as being much different. However, the problem is that these ultralight-eVTOLs are still new and unproven, versus the decades of experience insurers now have with traditional ultralights.
My contention is that eVTOLs will ultimately prove to be even safer than traditional ultralights, but I guess that has to be demonstrated to the aircraft-insurers with some actual history relating to their safety-profile. In the interim, our prototype, ultralight-eVTOL, tethered-flight-demonstrator-project would be a first-step in that direction and extremely safe for under-age, as well as young, or not-so-young adults; such as myself, now at age-83, with still only my 2008 FAA Student Pilot Certificate, that needs to be renewed.
Commercial eVTOLs I had always suspected that both Joby and Beta would locate facilities at or near the Springfield-Beckley Muny Airport [ https://springfieldohio.gov/springfield-beckley-municipal-airport/ ] as Joby has just done and where Beta also has an office in their vertiport. I have been visiting this airport regularly for the past few years and again recently visited for another hour-long chat and to drop-off a copy of this ever-expanding file regarding my thoughts and experiences regarding where we stand today and my future plans.
Updated Notes These are my evolving notes to myself that I keep adding to as this project progresses and evolves. They are offered here for anyone wanting to dig more deeply into the subject matter and understand how I stumbled my way to where we stand today with my current providing the experimental-eVTOL project to the S.D. Air & Space Museum.
From this now book-length tome, you can see that this has been a decade-plus-long project that is now finally taking shape with an actual eVTOL purchase and flights, not just plans and discussions that took place over the past-decade. I continually add to these notes and try to update this evolving document from time-to-time, without summarizing it since it is an ongoing process, now finally slowly converging to some actual next-steps and an eVTOL purchase.
The now Moog-owned project at Lunken Field in Cincinnati that I was previously involved with.
My calendar out planning for the next-step while having another great dinner at the Golden Lamb in Lebanon, OH after every visit to the Springfield-Beckley Airport.
Background All this has been one of the reasons, along with my previous work on a similar project with the now Moog-owned project that was located here at Lunken Airfield here in Cincinnati, that I continued to maintain my old condo office in Covington, KY, instead of moving fulltime to my current Winter-Spring home in La Jolla. Joby recently announced a major new production-facility in the Dayton area. I also continue visiting that new, now finally opened, eVTOL site at the nearby Springfield-Beckley Muny Airport. Once-again with dinner following each visit, as always, at the Golden Lamb in Lebanon, OH, that I highly recommend if you are in this area.
Both Beta & Joby have offices here under this eVTOL vertiport landing-pad located at their site at the Springfield-Beckley Airport in SW Ohio. This facility is part of an Ohio air-corridor for testing autonomous-aircraft, such as new air-taxi prototypes and already has a Beta-Cube charging-station available, once they fix their original installation problem with it’s being too high for FAA approval.
“It’s still unclear which standard—CCS or GEACS—will win-out in electric-aviation. But for the industry to be accessible, chances are only one will be adopted. . . CCS is steadily-losing-ground to the North-American-charging-standard NACS.”
3 air-taxi-manufacturers have signed separate deals to electrify-airport-infrastructure with FBO Atlantic Aviation. A key-issue is what will become the standard for electric-charging at airports, CCS or GEACS. I’m waiting to see what they reinstall here at Springfield-Beckley to replace this initial Beta-installation that failed its initial FAA-inspection as being too high. It has to be replaced with something lower than 6’ to be located this close to aircraft. I’ve seen pictures of their new 350-kW Charge-Cube design and it looks to be fine. Hope this old one will soon be replaced with a new industry-standard design so I can recharge my future eVTOL ultralight here.
There isn't a universally settled standard specifically for electric aviation in the USA regarding charging or battery systems. However, for electric-vehicles on the ground, the Combined Charging System (CCS) has become the predominant standard in the United States and many other parts of the world. This system might influence standards in electric aviation as the infrastructure and technology develop.
It’s still unclear which standard—CCS or GEACS—will win-out in electric-aviation. But for the industry to be accessible, chances are only one will be adopted. CCS is steadily-losing-ground to the North-American-charging-standard (NACS) developed by industry leader Tesla, as Ford, General Motors, Toyota, and other automakers switch-over. The NACS is equivalent to GEACS—an alternative-standard. The comparison isn’t perfect, however, since Joby has yet to reach the scale of Tesla.
The General Electric Aviation Charging Standard (GEACS) does not exist as a recognized standard. Electric aviation is a rapidly evolving field, and standards for aspects like charging are still under development and discussion among the various stakeholders.
If it can, Joby has a real chance at setting-the-industry-standard, despite its rivals’ support of the CCS. But as each manufacturer looks to increase industrywide reliance on its tech, Beta and Archer will likely fight fiercely to be the top-dog.
If it just had wings, my C8-Corvette-HTC would certainly fly! Adding a trailer-hitch for towing an eVTOL up here to this location for flying it, while here in the Cincinnati/Covington area, or out to the desert, while back home in La Jolla CA. Its closed-trailer would serve as its hangar while stored out at the flying field.
This new airport facility is now open and being occupied.
Electrified aircraft hanging in the new lobby, which was still locked-up, last time I checked in December 2023, preventing a visit to view it up close. This Springfield-Beckley, OH airport is one stop on Beta’s route from their headquarters in New England down to Arkansas and Florida. 13 sites have been completed and another 50 sites are in process, which will connect their two routes. [Vertiflite – Nov/Dec 2023]
Be sure to watch the following excellent introductory videos, beginning with Eric Bartsch’s, CEO of VerdeGo Aeronautics, outstanding presentation drawing the very-same conclusion I had come to a decade-ago when I drove down to Austin, TX to try to meet with the LIFT Aircraft HEXA folks about then investing $250,000 (now they’re asking $500,000 https://evtol.news/lift-hexa/ ) with their then new venture as a first-step in this developmental effort that has dragged-on for a decade now.
For each of the past 48-years, I annually spent an entire week at the U. of Wisc.-Oshkosh dorms to attend the EAA week-long annual convention so as to be able to listen to all of the technical seminars I could fit into my schedule, such as the excellent one above on YouTube with Eric Bartsch. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXdg5fJJ1vs&list=PLX4hjF2m8tu3yUGM-lDCdoQ3hyPkdzXBx&index=4&ab_channel=VerticalFlightSociety ]
For the last couple of years, I have only attended the eVTOL meeting held the weekend before the full weeklong EAA convention fly-in. A decade ago, I first met with the Blackfly folks at EAA Oshkosh and invited their entire team for dinner at the steakhouse nearby my UW dorm-room to discuss my interest in investing in its development. Unfortunately, they cancelled out on me at the last minute, so we were never able to meet to discuss my funding offer to help finance their project. I have currently budgeted $2M towards this eVTOL developmental effort from my now nearly-fully-funded $20M Vanguard Charitable trust fund, at least prior to the current market melt-down.
All this looks like a very-promising development moving ahead in the right direction, and I am most-interested in pursuing it further. Little did I know it would turn out to take a decade to get to this point. Beginning with my donation of the experimental ultralight-eVTOL to the S.D. Air & Space Museum to encourage young folks and others with a similar interest to my own to get hands-on experience and the visceral-experience of actually flying something!
Blackfly [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSwfmrZDeeo&ab_channel=AOPAPilotVideo ]
Ultralight-eVTOL Options There are currently a half-dozen ultralight-eVTOL options that I’ve been evaluating constantly since then, including that initial effort with the Blackfly folks. Blackfly was the first and is now still an option, and likely with better performance given its winged-area. They have only recently begun to finally actually sell a few of them. They delivered their first one to a customer, but the cost was said to be around $275,000. It seems rather ungainly at takeoff-and-landing and a way-over-priced, given one could buy my much-loved Robertson-R-44 helicopter, that I give folks 20-minute sightseeing rides in over downtown Cincinnati. These sightseeing trips having about the same 20-minute flying-time as the current duration of these ultralight-eVTOLs. Blackfly remains very-secretive about their operations and why it has seemingly taken them forever to finally get to this point of finally selling a few to ‘select customers.’
Gillespie Field in San Diego
Here is Gillespie Field. The home of the S.D. Air & Space Museum Annex facility at the far end of the runway at the left-side.
I don’t want my efforts to end-up in-the-weeds at the Gillespie S.D. Air & Space Museum Annex property, as this old flying-car project and this now defunct RYSE-Recon did. Zapata’s-AirScooter is a current example of what is possible [ https://evtol.news/zapata-airscooter ] Morty’s experimental Flying-ATV, seemed well suited to this proposed application, so I purchased it from him for the S.D. Air & Space Museum’s use, but I’m still unsure about whether or not ultralights and batteries are the correct combination, long-term, for what we are focused on trying to accomplish. A certified-two-place, such as Moog or Zapata’s ultralight hybrid-design, might be the better long-term choice, but this is a useful first step in that direction and hopefully a motivtional educational-aid to get younger-folks interested in aviation of all sorts.
We all would love to have this facility that is currently located in the S.D. Air & Space Museum’s basement workshop! We might soon be able to replace that original Wright Brothers’ 1903 aircraft-engine with more-reliable, easier-to-maintain and repair, and much-less-expensive to operate-and-maintain electric-motors. That original 4-cylinder, gasoline-powered engine delivered 12-horsepower and weighed 170-pounds. The engine's only control was a fuel-valve, which was connected to a stick within easy reach of the pilot. Compare that with what is now available with an electrified-flight in Zapata’s-AirScooter.
For a sample of this newer type of ultralight-eVTOL that I have been investigating for a decade now, you should watch an introductory overview of the many options that are finally hopefully about to enter the market, such as those seen at: TOP 12 Personal VTOL Aircraft | Best Ultralight Flying Vehicles - YouTube [Take a look at the most-recent version of this old reference.]
(Photo from my recent visit to the Rotor-X workshop with a secret-project covered-up next to it, likely a 2-place version, with a military-sponsored project secured in a locked-project-area behind these two on their open floor.)
As a kit, rather than an assembled airframe, the Rotor-X Dragon raises many additional issues that I investigated during my July 10-11th 2023 trip to Chandler, AZ to visit their facility and discuss this firsthand with them, (in 112-degree heat!) One can easily hire a designated, professional, west-coast contractor (‘builder-assist’) to help one and assemble it for an estimated additional $12,000 if you don’t care to construct one of their well-put-together kits entirely by yourself.
I had sent RYSE-Recon their requested $5,000 deposit which they absconded with before going belly-up in bankruptcy. Having met frequently with those Ryse Aero folks back here in Cincinnati, as well as with a number of the others, I unfortunately decided to go ahead with at least ordering that RYSE-Recon with its then forecast delivery around September, 2024, before its now having gone bankrupt and them stealing my deposit money.
My current reading material.
In the meantime, the first-step was to have been purchasing that ultralight-eVTOL project that I donated to the Air & Space Museum for creating at least a tethered-flight-simulator, or if that does not work out, possibly just flying it as a Remote Piloted Vehicle (RPV) for them to fly after obtaining the necessary FAA pilot-certification, which it can do now. (I’m reading that Remote Pilot training manual above to better understand what is involved in doing that. I note that the current Hughes manual I just received from the USUA ultralight organization that I belong to has not changed any in the 3-decades since I last received it from them, save the deletion of just one sentence that has now been marked-out.)
After that and when folks such Zapata-AirScooter are actually in full-production and we have my own owner experience with an in-production eVTOL-ultralight or experimental-aircraft, then I’ll purchase another one for another organization, such as the the eVTOL Society, the San Diego Ultralight Chapter-114, S.D. Air & Space Museum, USAF Museum in Dayton, OH or another interested organization willing to work with me on furthering this ongoing project.
Ultralight Flying Location Problems in S.D. I’ve had monthly chats with our EAA Ultralight Chapter-114 there in San Diego over the past many months regarding their thoughts on this topic but they had been focused on setting up a new flying location in Jacumba Hot Springs to replace our now 30+yearold setup at the Skydive San Diego (13531 Otay Lakes Rd., San Diego, CA) skydiving-facility. (They have my prepayment for my first sky-dive.) We continue having our monthly EAA Ultralight Chapter-114 meetings there and the continuing use of our existing hangars, at least for the next 5-years until we decide if and when we will be permanently moving on to a future new location, hopefully not way out in the desert at Jacumba Hot Springs, a 90-minute drive from my home in Bird Rock, La Jolla.
I had strongly suggested that they instead consider Gillespie Field, that already permits ultralight flights, as a better, closer, more-viable alternative, but they were set on Jacumba Hot Springs, as described below, which I’ve found to be unfortunately ill-suited for my purposes after spending a good deal of time out there studying the feasibility of utilizing that windy, distant, proposed site for this ultralight-eVTOL project. However, with my now on-order electric 580-G-Wagon setup, it could at least make it an enjoyable extended camping experience for flying out there.
eVTOL Donation to SD Air & Space Museum Morty Berger, a fellow EAA Ultralight Chapter 114 member, with similar interests to myself, had built his own version of an experimental ultralight-eVTOL prototype. Unfortunately, problems prevented him from continuing with his development work, but he was willing to sell it to me for a donation to the S.D. Air & Space Museum, which I did. It is still only an experimental-aircraft ultralight project, but it looks well suited as a first-step and is already at least flying by remote-control, with the next-step being to load it up with 200# of sandbags in the pilot’s-seat and further optimize the flight-controller-parameters. Here is his description of what I purchased from him and have since donated to the S.D. Air & Space Museum.
My Flying-ATV
San Marcos, CA
858-395-3516
Welcome to My Flying-ATV
This is a prototype which had been under development for 2-years. It is constructed of aircraft-aluminum-T6 and has Lexicon plastic-covering the sides. We have been test-flying it unmanned. It has 8-co-axial-motors which each have a maximum-lift capacity of 634-lbs.
The components include: 8 ESC's, 4 sets of carbon-fiber-propellers 40"x13", 4-10,000 Mah 12s 30C Lipo batteries, 1 Holybro Durandhal Pixhawk 4 flight-controller, 1 MRO-transmitter, 1 Futaba-radio, and 1 HP laptop-computer with Qground control-software. The sale-price was $25,000 and this one is the only one available.
I contacted him and agreed to purchase his project for the Air & Space Museum as a tethered, flight-simulator for flying in a geo-fenced area restricted as to its permitted airspace. This being similar to flight-simulators currently used for military or commercial pilot-training and certification, such as I looked at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH, but on a much smaller-scale. I believe that this platform could be at least used for tethered-demo-flights of say 6-feet AGL, with large-springs attached to the undercarriage, to safely give the full visceral-experience of actually-flying, versus the stationary, video-game-simulators that air museums now offer. Hopefully, much more than that, after we resolve the current insurance problem with the S.D. Air & Space Museum.
One needs the visceral-experience of actually flying in something, before going on to start taking ultralight or private-pilot training, as I’ve done a number of times now myself, but still remain an 83-yearold-student-pilot having never found an aircraft of sufficient interest to finally complete my pilot-training, following both ultralight and private-pilot ground-schools. In 2008 I obtained my FAA Student Pilot Certificate. (I’ve now flown everything from powered-parachutes, to gliders, to gyrocopters, to light-sport-aircraft, such as Cessna 172s etc., up to a twin-engine Beech; but never found anything interesting enough to buy one and rent expensive hangar space to house it, at least until now with these interesting new eVTOLs.)
This would be a mission similar to our current EAA-14 Young Eagles program at Brown Field but taking it a step further to include finishing the construction of my donated ultralight-eVTOL and then offering an hour of ground-school, followed by actual time tethered-flying in a geo-fenced-flying-area in an ultralight-airframe, possibly at the S.D. Air & Space Museum location, and finally out at our current S.D. EAA-Ultralight-114 club field location flying in an ultralight-eVTOL.
Speaking with Louise Dragman-Renz, Assistant Airport Manager at Gillespie Field on June 28, 2023, I found that there are already ultralight operations going on at their field and a number of ultralights are currently located in nearby hangars (near 1981 North Marshall Avenue.) There have already even been fire-fighting-drone operations at their airfield, with no problems whatsoever. It is just a matter of contacting the tower for prior clearance.
I was delighted to learn of all this having been initially pessimistic about their likely attitude toward ultralight operations. In fact, given their very-welcoming attitude, I recommended that our EAA Ultralight Chapter-114 consider relocating there, rather than way out in the boondocks at Jacumba Hot Springs, as they had planned to do. (See details below if you have an interest in visiting that intriguing historic location with its interesting history with Clark Gable and the Ratpack. For those not old enough to even know who the Ratpack members were, it was Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford.)
That initial fear of losing our longtime Otay Lakes home-base for EAA Ultralight Chapter 114 was just the first of a number of problems I keep running into in finding a home for this potential project. Flying in a small geofenced-area at Gillespie Field, such as at the S.D. Aerospace Museum’s location or over at the airport FBO location, was investigated as a couple of feasible alternatives.
The old Gillespie airport-terminal-area also was an alternative attractive location, with lots of open and still undeveloped space available all around it. (That area has been underutilized ever since COVID and now the flu struck, with their extensive pilot-training-operations there initially cut by 2/3rds, but now recovering, with many international students.)
What we need for this project is a location more like our longtime Otay Lakes EAA ultralight club 114 location. My helicopter-pilot friends tell me that my much-loved Robinson-R44, that I frequently ride in and give rides to friends here at Lunken Airfield, “is tricky to handle in cross-winds and windy-conditions,” so I need to check into all this regarding how ultralight-eVTOLs fare in unsettled, windy conditions. I’ll bet that they potentially handle much better than a helicopter in such conditions.
An eVTOL-ultralight, tethered and geo-fenced into a small-area seems a viable-option as an initial first-step to be followed by actual eVTOL-ultralight flights in a geofenced-area out at Gillespie Field, once we finally settle the sticky-wicket-issue of how insurance might be handled. I’m working further on that issue now that I’ve settled on this complex, expensive, multi-step-project.
At least all of my $185,000 remaining project-funding is now in place with Vanguard Charitable Trust and only waiting for my direction to them as to when, where and to whom to direct those funds for this initial project. The only issue here is that it has to be done through a 501(c)3 charitable organization, such as the EAA Foundation, S.D. Air & Space Mus., USUA, the Vertical Flight Society, the Bird Rock Community Development Corp., etc.
I’ve flown an ultralight many times out at the Camarillo Airport, north of LA, but it is too time-consuming a drive up from my home in La Jolla to be a viable location for this project. (These folks have been down to chat with us at EAA-Ultralight-Chapter-114 a number of times now in San Diego and they have a great facility that I highly recommend if you are in the north of LA area.)
Insurance Issue I’ve flown ultralights frequently at Skyrider Ultralights (http://www.skyriderultralights.com/) located at Camarillo Airport Ultralight Field and elsewhere. (Let me tell you the story sometime about I and my wife’s abortive attempt to learn-to-fly ultralights in Richmond, Va. on one of our vacations trips there, specifically intended to do just that. It is the way I ultimately learned to ride-and-jump horseback, English-style, but never learned to fly ultralights on that trip, nor fly light-sport-aircraft in the years that followed after many false-starts with private-pilot flight-training in conventional aircraft and an electrified Velis-Pipistrel trainer! (https://www.pipistrel-aircraft.com/products/velis-electro/)
They would have been an ideal potential partner with their existing, long-term, ultralight operation in conjunction with the Camarillo airport. Many similar operations already exist at other local airports that permit ultralight operations in conjunction with their normal aircraft operations, where feasible. One just contacts the tower for permission to use often a secondary-runway, such as available at Camarillo, or a parallel-runway to the main runways for normal take-off-and-landings, sometimes a grass-strip. Such an arrangement has worked perfectly for decades there and elsewhere so these eVTOL-ultralights should be able to be just as easily accommodated as these long-existing ultralight operations.
More Background: Back to the Specifics of This Now Many-Times-Revised Proposal
There is a perfect open-space currently at the rear of their property that would be perfect for flying a tethered eVTOL ultralight or it could even be done from alongside their existing large hangar. An ultralight could also be flown from this same location, as some are already doing in that same area, if insurance coverage can be arranged.
San Diego Air & Space Museum
2001 Pan American Plaza
San Diego, CA 92101
https://sandiegoairandspace.org/museum/gillespie-field-annex
The specific eVTOL experimental project I chose was Morty Berger’s Flying-ATV that I donated to the San Diego Air & Space Museum to initiate this now-long-stalled project. They received my full payment for Morty’s experimental-eVTOL project for a tethered-flight in a geofenced-area, since their insurer refused to cover such an activity, as I had originally proposed it, “until there is more experience with such ultralights.” (Morty is a fellow member of our EAA Ultralight Chapter 114 in San Diego.)
I’m now also discussing this concept with the Vertical Flight Society regarding my purchasing something like that abortive RYSE-Recon as a donation. We need to find some way to offer actual-flight-experiences with liability-insurance-coverage for the Museum.
I had been regularly visiting the RYSE-Recon offices in Mason, OH to track their flying-prototype’s progress and the outfitting of their future production facility at that same general location. They had a demo-flight-area in the rear portion of their offices. They had been giving journalists, with only 10-minutes of prior-instruction, demo-flights, as documented below. I was scheduled for my own demo-flight as soon as I returned there from La Jolla, after last winter’s weather was finally past, only to find them bankrupt and closed down!
Here are some old lists, that need updating, with overviews of other current eVTOLs and ultralight versions, that give an adequate overview – just Google and ChatGPT4o this topic for the most-current group similar to these I last looked at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8QYUx1iZh4&ab_channel=AmericanFighter , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giZeEEdzQwM&ab_channel=TopBox, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfYgdsqjGkk&ab_channel=eVTOLinnovation, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSV-JagfuP4&ab_channel=ElectricAviation ]
Such videos give a decent, if somewhat hooky, overview of what is currently available out there, some of which are now finally becoming a reality, while many of the others will just disappear into-the-sunset or crash, as one does in one of the videos above, and as RYSE-Recon did with me and all the others who gave him their deposits on his promised eVTOLs.
Blackfly Background My first Blackfly meeting was at their introduction at EAA Oshkosh a decade-ago. I’ve met them and others during the 48 past weeks that I’ve attended the EAA’s annual Oshkosh convention gatherings. (I spent the last couple of years, virtually attending the eVTOL meeting the weekend before those week-long EAA Oshkosh annual conventions to avoid the problem of having to reserve dorm housing during that first weekend before the annual EAA meeting, now requiring a 13-month prior reservation! Previously I had always done so, but now I’m more-interested in just the eVTOL activities.)
All that got me started down this path leading to this current purchase of the RYSE-Recon ultralight-eVTOL-project for the S.D. Air & Space Museum as a tethered-flight-demonstrator at their Museum location and/or full-flight in a geofenced-area at their annex facility at Gillispie Field. I liked the Blackfly design’s performance with it’s winged-areas and they are now apparently finally beginning actual sales of at least a few units, but at a rather high price.
I had long-ago driven down to Austin, Texas to interview the LIFT-Hexa folks and to inspect their ultralight-eVTOL. They proved to be literally a ‘fly-by-night’ operation trying to sell me a $250,000 ride-franchise deal, (for which they are now asking $500,000!,) with personal possession of that, by then, very-well-used ultralight, 2-years-after its being used to give many damaging demo-rides. That odd arrangement was offered rather than any eVTOL-ultralight outright-purchase, but which they would then eventually give to you after this initial use. (Air-One is currently apparently also offering this same sort of deal.) They are now finally doing this, many-years-later, and they claim to have sold a few such franchises and now also claim to have finally actually manufactured “16+” of their ultralights. They have now also greatly changed the terms of their franchise deals.
This long-term, very-negative, experience with these early-offerings, that take forever to finally become a reality, has made me quite realistic as to when these numerous prototype-units will actually become actual production-units. For that reason, I am no longer willing to place a typical $20,000 deposit on say a Jetson-One or similar, as I had done at one point, but later withdrew. (I was their order-number-265 at that time.) I unfortunately made my payment of $5,000 for the RYSE-Recon, that I had initially offered to the S.D. Air & Space Museum, had it not been nixed due to their insurer refusing to go along with my original proposal, at least “until we can prove its safety with lots of user experience, in many locations and for many identical production-units.”
Most of these eVTOL-ultralights are still just basically introductory or thrill-rides given their short 15-20-minute flight-durations, though the RYSE-Recon was targeted at an actual agricultural-use-case.
As you know, ultralights can only be flown over unpopulated areas, in unregulated Class-G [or sometimes Class-E below 10k,] air space. However, they can take-off from municipal airports, such as the Air & Space Museum’s facility here at Gillespie Field in San Diego. Such municipal airports are required by FAA-statute, if feasible, to make allowances for ultralight-operations if they accept any Federal funds, which they all do. Fortunately, the S.D. County Administration has expressed their “high-level-of-interest in furthering this sort of effort.”
As I get into a very-deep-dive into all of this, here is an overview to familiarize you with a few of these half-dozen current eVTOL-ultralights’, after seeing them in the videos, driving over to Chandler, AZ for a 2-day visit with the Rotor-X Dragon folks and regularly visiting the RYSE-Recon folks here in Mason, OH. I’ll first review my findings during my visit with the Rotor-X folks, before going on to Mason, OH to meet there with the RYSE-Recon folks and finally deciding to purchase of their ultralight-eVTOL for my originally-proposed project with the S.D. Air & Space Museum, since having to be modified as discussed above.
Here is their test-pilot, Eric Stephansen, a Pitts-pilot, with whom I had been frequently speaking before they went bankrupt. He has been a great help in trying to get this project started and they have been very-accommodating.
Above are three of the current half-dozen ultralight-eVTOL contenders [https://ryseaerotech.com/ Vs. https://rotorxdragon.com/ Vs. https://www.jetsonaero.com/]
The Dragon was introduced at the 2023 EAA Oshkosh annual get together in July, that I’ve attended previously at the U. of Wisconsin Dorms. The newest offering from Rotor-X is this eVTOL ultralight Dragon Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) seen on my recent visit with them. I’ve read and watched interviews with their new owner regarding their also working on a new 2-place version and another one for the military. That narrow nose-area proved too small, so they are redesigning a wider-nose to give more foot-room. I watched the fellow that was currently working on that new wider nose design during my visit.)
Here is their ‘museum’ with their previous projects and earlier models. [ https://rotorxdragon.com/product/dragon-lite/ ]
I visited with these Rotor-X folks in Chandler, AZ (in 112-degree heat!) [ https://evtol.news/rotor-x-ea600 ] to inspect their facility there and determine how far along they were with their prototype. They appeared to be a very-credible kit-helicopter and ultralight manufacturer of long-standing, though now under new ownership, with a first-rate production facility. The quality of their work is outstanding, with superb welding of their airframes, as I saw for myself. They have been test-flying their current prototype daily out in the desert, as they were doing the day I visited with them, but I did not have a chance to see it actually flying that day. Eventually, they will likely be a great option, but they are still in the early-stages of prototype development and were not yet ready for production and sale to customers when I last visited them.
They introduced their Dragon at the annual EAA Oshkosh July convention. They do an excellent job of packaging all the kit parts in well-labeled, multiple-blister-packs, for step-by-step assembly, or one could also contract with their associates in CA to have it assembled for you, for a currently estimated additional “$12,000.”
I first met with RYSE-Recon on July 27, 2023 and then frequently with them at their offices in Mason, OH until their bankruptcy and now locking me out from their defunct offices.
The Sorry Story of the RYSE-Recon Total Failure and Theft of My Deposit Money
My first visit up to RYSE was they were just first getting started in Mason, OH over two-years-ago.
This was the parking-area behind their offices where I observed their inventory of parts on my first visit a couple of years ago. Here was my contact Eric Stephansen who is their test-pilot and a Pitts pilot. (He flew with a friend to the annual EAA Oshkosh convention that I virtually attended the Saturday-before VTOL convention from my office here in Cincinnati/Covington, KY.)
“I feel the need. The need for speed.” Eat your heart out, Tom Cruise!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15CuZgcbldaZmOZzlVvptIHrFaqwrTV85/view
On a Sunday afternoon a couple of years ago, I drove my C8-Z51-HTC Corvette up to their office address to be sure that they really existed. Behind their offices I noted that trailer, with its pallet-loads on skids, tucked beneath, the same as seen in their website video-recording (above), while checking-out their facility there in Mason, OH. Yes, they really did exist and even returned phone-calls, at least early-on, but have since gone belly-up and stolen all of our deposit money. (Here is their interview with Mick Kowitz, Chief Fraudster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PktEk1W3KIE&ab_channel=FarmProgressDaily.)
RYSE Aero Was Taking Reservations for Their Ultralight RECON eVTOL
The single-seat aircraft was designed for work in agricultural markets and other rural operations.
By Jonathan Welsh - January 12, 2023
As an ultralight aircraft, the RYSE-Recon can be flown by people without pilot-certificates but only in unregulated air-space in rural areas and not over people.
RYSE Aero Technologies (https://ryseaerotech.com/) was taking $5,000 deposits for prospective buyers of its RECON ultralight eVTOL vehicle, such as myself, which was aimed at farmers, ranchers, and other customers operating on large properties and in agricultural-settings.
This Mason, Ohio, now bankrupt and failed company claimed that their single-seat aircraft used 6 motors and automated flight systems that allowed it to operate much like the small, radio-controlled UAVs that are familiar to consumers. Essentially, the craft maintains stability while the operator steers. Designed for simplicity, the aircraft uses battery-packs that were claimed to be easy to remove and recharge, like those used on electric-lawn-mowers, RYSE claimed.
The Recon was to have been operated as an ultralight aircraft under Part-103 of the FAA regulations, as the Company told me, adding that while users will require training to fly the vehicle, they will not need a pilot-certificate. As an ultralight, the Recon had hoped to have the opportunity to enter the market sooner than larger, more-complex eVTOLs that will require certification under standards the FAA was still developing, but totally failed and ended-up bankrupt, taking all of our deposits with him.
RYSE had claimed the Recon to have a range-of-25-statute-miles and a top-speed-of-63-mph, which is slightly below the 55-knot limit set by regulations. Ultralight-rules also forbid flying in controlled-airspace, or over congested-areas or open assemblies of people, so customers looking for a suburban commuter vehicle will have to wait for certified-eVTOLs to become available.
“We have received countless requests from enthusiasts and agricultural buyers to purchase a RECON,” said Mick Kowitz, CEO of the now defunct RYSE Aero Technologies. “We want to begin the purchase process by allowing future buyers to secure a position in line now, so when we begin production manufacturing, everyone can know what and when to expect delivery.” [Boy, have I heard that one before but was dumb enough to believe him!]
The Company said its reservation-system lets customers claim what it calls an “assembly-position” for a Recon and gives them a way to determine the date, time, and location of delivery. RYSE also said the initial round of manufacturing “will prioritize reservations for properties such as farms, ranches, and vineyards first, and then later accommodate reservations for more general property-owners.” Their Sales Rep. assured me all of these deposits would be kept in a bank’s escrow-account when I specifically asked her about this and as documented in my many communications with her. (She and all of the staff have now been terminated, and their office is completely empty, save for all the equipment and the pictured prototype that I am slapping a lien on until they return my $5,000 deposit. They can now start locking me out, but I’m coming for them from Small Claims Court and with off-duty Sheriff’s Deputies.)
RYSE told me and everyone else that their “reservation plan” would allow it “to better manage the supply-chain and more-effectively meet customer needs.” The Company kept claiming to begin deliveries late last year when I returned from my home in La Jolla to my office in Covington, KY but never did and then defaulted and went belly-up taking my deposit with him.
Here Is My Report on My Week Spent with These Folks in Arizona
This One-Person eVTOL Flies You Over Trees at 60-MPH—and You Don’t Even Need a Pilot’s-License
RotorX's Dragon requires no pilot's license, while promising flight times of 20-minutes at altitudes of 100 feet. Flying too high? It also comes with a parachute.
By Michael Verdon – Robb Report - Published on December 17, 2022
4140 W Mercury Way, Chandler, AZ 85226, Closes 5:30 PM, (602) 377-5482 [Courtesy RotorX]
RotorX has just opened sales of its one-seat Dragons to wannabe “Star Wars” speeder pilots willing to build their own mini-eVTOLs. The Arizona company says it will begin delivering the flying Dragons in ????
The Dragon will have an 8-prop coaxial-layout—think octocopter—with 16-kW electric-motors, powered by lithium-batteries, for each prop. The multi-engine configuration is designed for redundancy in case of a single engine failure. It will be piloted by joystick but also comes with a “sensor-drive auto-landing system” for safety. The cool auto-hover feature is ideal for flying over your friends, hovering to gloat.
The Dragon is similar to the Jetson-ONE, which is being built in Italy on a similar timeline. Jetson planned to start shipping its first units in 2023.
The single-seat Dragon is an octocopter with multiple blades and engines for redundancy. [Courtesy RotorX]
Both electric-aircraft have similar max flight times of about 20-minutes. The Dragon will have a top speed of 60 mph and maximum pilot weight of 200-to-250 lbs. Both personal-eVTOLs will have ballistic-parachutes [great idea!] for safety and other failsafe’s though flying 12-feet-off-the-ground—rather than 100-feet above it—might be the safest way to pilot the aircraft.
Because it’s classified under the FAA’s ultralight-category, the Dragon doesn’t require a pilot’s-license to operate. Regulations for that class of aircraft do mandate no flights near airports or crowded areas. It’ll be built in kit-form, a RotorX rep told Robb Report, though assembly could happen at its Company’s Arizona headquarters with assistance from its technicians. RotorX will also provide flight-training for clients.
A full-scale Dragon undergoing tests in the Arizona desert recently. [Courtesy RotorX]
While this new mini-eVTOL-class doesn’t have an official name, it’s becoming a thing. Besides the Jetson-ONE and the Dragon, other personal eVTOLs like the RYSE-Recon and two-person Air One are claimed to be “coming online in the next two years.”
The Company says the first 100 Dragons for “pre-order” will be priced at $85,000, compared to the list-price of $99,000. [Video: https://www.autoevolution.com/news/the-rotorx-dragon-is-here-as-the-worlds-first-personal-air-vehicle-that-anyone-can-fly-205934.html#agal_0 ]
Introducing the DRAGON Personal-Air-Vehicle
December 16, 2022 by Stancollins - RotorX Aircraft
Through a partnership between defense contractor Advanced Tactics and America’s top two-seat helicopter company, Rotor X Aircraft, comes the new standard in recreation for those with an appetite for excitement and adventure. With delivery beginning in September of 2023 and a price-tag of under-$100,000, the new DRAGON-Personal-Air-Vehicle is positioned to change the concept of outdoor-recreation.
The all-new DRAGON-Personal-Air-Vehicle is the safest and easiest to fly personal-air-vehicle in the world. With speeds of over 60-mph and a passenger weight of up to 250 lbs., this fully-electric ultralight-eVTOL aircraft is nothing short of a thrill. Currently, the flight-time is around 20-minutes, however, due to the modular-design of the aircraft, you will be able to easily swap-the-batteries when the charge gets low.
The DRAGON-Personal-Air-Vehicle comes with safety features and a level of performance that is unmatched by other emerging single-seat-eVTOLs. Some of the safety-features include a ballistic-parachute, sensor-driven-auto-takeoff-and-landing-system, reinforced-aluminum-landing-gear, and a co-axial-propeller-configuration which means that if one motor stops, the others will compensate allowing you to land safely.
Under the FAA’s Part-103 regulation, the DRAGON-Personal-Air-Vehicle is classified as an Ultralight eVTOL Aircraft which means you do not need a pilot’s license to fly it. You also do not need a 3rd-class-medical so if that is why you were unable to get your pilot’s-license, you will still be able to fly the DRAGON-Personal-Air-Vehicle.
Operating your DRAGON is as easy as flying a drone but Advanced Tactics/Rotor X will also provide free-online-training as well as, in-person-training at the Advanced Tactics facility.
The components of your DRAGON will ship all together along with the tools you’ll need to complete the build. The innovative design of this ultralight-eVTOL aircraft allows for a quick-and-easy assembly, [that is what they all say!] Buyers will also be provided with instructions and a video-guide. For those that require extra guidance, there is also the option of utilizing our builder-assist-program at 1-of-3 builder-assist/training-facilities around the country. With this program you will be able to assemble your Dragon while also learning-to-fly-it.
There are many unique features of the DRAGON ultralight-eVTOL-PAV. Because the Dragon-eVTOL-PAV began as an unmanned-military-aircraft-technology-development over the last-12-years, it has several unique autonomous-functions and safety-features. Another totally unique feature in this industry is that there will be a 2-seat-version of the Dragon-eVTOL for pilot-training, and there will also be builder-assist and pilot-training facilities in several locations in the USA with California, Arizona, Texas, and Georgia on the list.
This joint-effort is expected to see the kit-version of the DRAGON-ultralight-eVTOL-PAV rolling-off the assembly-line in a new facility in Chandler, Arizona as an easy-to-assemble-kit by the Fall of 2023. The Dragon ultralight eVTOL-PAV-kit is expected to take only a week, or 2-weekends, to assemble, and require-only-a-few-hours-of-training that includes following FAA Part-103 flight-regulations for ultralight-aircraft. With the ability to continue hovering even after a motor fails and having a ballistic-parachute and helicopter safety landing-gear the DRAGON-eVTOL-PAV aircraft will be the safest in the industry.
The development and testing of this commercial aircraft – the Dragon-ultralight-eVTOL-PAV– was internally funded by Advanced Tactics and is licensed by Rotor X Aircraft to sell and produce the DRAGON-eVTOL-PAV-kits for the general-public.
Those interested in being a DRAGON owner should go to the website and make their $19,500 pre-order-deposit now while the introductory-$85,000-price is available for the first 100 DRAGON kits sold. The regular DRAGON kit-price is expected to be $99,000 after the first 100 pre-order kit sales are completed. The first DRAGON kits are estimated to start delivery by September 2023.
Website: Dragon – Personal Air Vehicle (www.rotorxdragon.com is no longer operational. Not a good sign!)
Specifications
- Empty Weight: 253lbs
- Max Passenger Weight: 250lbs
- Max Flight Time: 20-minutes
- Top-Speed: 63mph
- Battery-Type: Lithium-Batteries (LiPo 100V)
- Motors: 6Electric 16kW-motors
- Chassis-Type: Aluminum-Frame
- 3-Axis Joystick
- Battery-Recharge-Time: 2-hours
Dimensions: Length: 118.1 in., Height: 77.3 in., Width: 78.5 in. (with arms-extended)
Safety Features:
- Ballistic-Parachute
- Low-Battery-Alerts
- Reinforced-aluminum-landing-gear
- Hands-free-Hover
- Auto-Takeoff-and-Landing-System
- Co-axial-Configuration (if a motor stops, the other propellers will pick up the slack)
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Phone: (602) 429-9449, Instagram: @rotorxdragon, Facebook: facebook.com/rotorxdragon, Youtube: www.youtube.com/@rotorxdragon
My Original Proposal to James G. Kidrick, President & CEO, San Diego Air & Space Museum
Thank you so much for taking the time to work with me regarding my half-baked, but still cooking, ideas regarding a donation of an eVTOL-type ultralight for inspiring youth and others with a potential aviation interest.
Years ago, I took my then 12-year-old condo neighbor to Montgomery Field for a biplane ride hoping that he might become interested in pursuing an aviation-related career. Your suggestion of locating such an activity at your facility at Gillespie Field fitted perfectly with my plans. I’ve taken a run over there a number of times to remind me again of your Gillespie facilities, having not been back there for a couple of years. (BTW – we are both exactly the same age, having both been born in 1942; that is this flying-field and I, not you.)
A tethered eVTOL-based ultralight-simulator setup could be utilized at your annex facility. There is also a sufficient vacant area, at your facility, that could also potentially be used. It could be used exactly as is, with no field improvements required.
You are a 501(c)3 organization qualified for my $10,000 fund transfer from my Vanguard Charitable account for this initial project. I've set-up your organization’s account linked with my Vanguard Charitable account for the easy transfers of additional funds, as needed, when we have decided on any additional project specifics. I've budgeted around $10,000 for this current first-step and have transferred the initial $9,000, plus enough to purchase a trailer, if required. These funds are immediately available to pursue the first-step of this project. The exact eventual total budget and future project details are still to be determined. I’ve already provided Vanguard Charitable with $200,000 in overall funding for this project. It is immediately available at Vanguard Charitable for withdrawal, as needed.
{Ultralight Donation – Plan D – Part 1}
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