![]() ![]() There is no doubt that science fiction writer HG Wells was ahead of his time. His character Dr Cavor in the 1901 novel, The First Men in the Moon, invented a gravity-defying substance called cavorite. Some 120 years later, Canada-based startup Horizon Aircraft is calling its five-seater eVTOL the Cavorite X5. Horizon is targeting long range, regional air travel. The vehicle has been designed to carry four passengers and one pilot.īrandon Robinson told Revolution.Aero he has always been an aviator. His grandfather was a war pilot and father is the co-founder and lead engineer of Horizon. Robinson flew before he learned to walk – at six-months-old – and went on to fly F-18s for the Canadian Air Force.īrian Robinson, Brandon’s father, has always been a mechanical engineer. He once built an aircraft from scrap metal and has an eye on manufacturing anything he designs, said Brandon.Ībout two years ago, the company started working on the Cavorite X5, a machine with a “special wing system” designed to spend “99% of the time like a normal aircraft”. ![]() It has now completed 200 test flights with its subscale prototype. And then throughout the entire mission they have very high drag, very slow configurations.” Robinson said: “Most eVTOLs carry around a lot of batteries for that vertical take-off and landing portion. Horizon’s solution lay in the way birds fly: “long, efficient, low drag, normal wing-borne lift”. “The hybrid electric power system allows us to save a huge amount of battery weight,” he said. The eVTOL is powered by an electric motor coupled with a conventional gas burning engine. “We get a lot of push back until people realise it's hybrid electric. Gas has 40 times the energy density,” said Robinson. “ They say, ‘No wonder you guys can go as far as you can go. Those two things make a lot of aerospace engineering sense.” Because one, you return to normal aircraft mode and two, you're carrying gas on board. The Cavorite hopes to carry passengers over 280m/h (450 km/h) over a 310-mile (500 kms) range. Horizon has projected the operating costs involved to fly the Cavorite X5 in a number of different models. This will enable the aircraft to perform most of its flight in a low-drag configuration – which Horizon claims is “safer” and will make the Cavorite “easier to certify than radical new eVTOL designs”.Ĭhief executive Brandon Robinson says testing of the half-scale prototype will “help reduce technical risk” as the company continues detailed design of the full-scale version.Where a helicopter might cost about $1000/hr to operate (we will exclude the amortised costs of the airframes, even though Cavorite X5 will cost less per unit), we are about 15% of that so about $150-$200 per hour.” Robinson said: “I like to point simply to the aircraft’s variable operating costs. Its fan-in-wing layout features sliding covers to smooth the wing profile for cruise flight. Six fans are embedded in each wing and two in each canard. The push-propeller Cavorite has a forward-swept wing design, with canards and a twin fin. Horizon says the eventual production aircraft will have capacity for a pilot and four passengers, and be powered by a hybrid-electric system capable of battery recharge during flight, giving a range of 270nm (500km). The 50% scale version is 4.5m (15ft) in length with a wingspan of 6.7m. Decade of Airline Excellence Awards 2020Ĭanadian hybrid-electric aviation specialist Horizon Aircraft has unveiled a half-scale prototype of its proposed Cavorite X5 eVTOL aircraft.Airline Business special: CEOs to watch in 2021.FlightGlobal Guide to Business Aviation Training and Safety 2021.EDGE: A new global force in aerospace and defence.Shell Aviation: What will it take to Decarbonise Aviation?.What does the future of aviation look like in 2022?.Guide to Business Aviation Training and Safety 2022.What will it take to Decarbonise Aviation?.Canadas Horizon Aircraft has popped up out of stealth mode with an interesting. Airline Business Covid-19 recovery tracker Interview: Horizon presents its long-range Cavorite X5 hybrid eVTOL.
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