from Hacker News

UK's Vertical VX4 eVTOL flies outside Kemble circuit for first time

by timthorn on 5/28/25, 8:33 AM with 27 comments

  • by JSR_FDED on 6/1/25, 12:20 AM

    I think I’m not fully getting the significance of this.

    It seems such a niche thing to celebrate - electric power + VTOL but flying as a traditional plane + flying in new airspace…

    Please can someone explain?

  • by choult on 6/1/25, 12:16 AM

    Kemble is always fun to drive past - rolling hills and fields, and then suddenly 747s...

  • by FabHK on 6/1/25, 8:33 AM

    Fixed wing flight is more efficient and faster than rotor wing flight. As such, having VTOL capability but also being able to do good old fixed wing flight seems like a good idea.

    What's unclear to me is whether they can transition from one to the other in flight, but that might well be possible.

    And this solution (with dedicated propellers for forward propulsion, and dedicated rotors for VTOL lift, on a fixed wing) strikes me as much safer than the complicated pivot mechanism proposed by Lilium (a German company that went bankrupt half a year ago, laying off 1000 employees).

  • by ikekkdcjkfke on 6/1/25, 10:26 AM

    Does it have a failsafe or can a single gear failure take out the entire crew? Edit: looks like it has wings so it can glide to a landing instead of dropping like a rock

  • by kkfx on 6/1/25, 9:36 AM

    A small notes: everyone seems to imaging eVTOL for cities, but hey, they are not for them at all. Look at https://www.easa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/dfu/uam-full-... then see some advertisements like

    - https://www.unmannedairspace.info/wp-content/uploads/2024/04...

    - https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt31d6b0704ba9...

    they are made for spread living because this is the sole form of living where we can really implement the Green New Deal, but most people fails not only to realize but to accept such damn simple reality, as they fails to accept that a condo consume more natural resources to be built than single-family homes and sheds one per apartment/shop in the condo and also more natural resources to evolve.

    Until such reality, because that's what it is will not be understood eVTOL news will be like news from an unclear future no one think could be real.

  • by bigtones on 6/1/25, 12:46 AM

    A piloted vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft that doesn't take off vertically. Congratulations on this significant first UK.