Boeing Subsidiary Pioneering SoCal AAM Network

Wisk Aero, the California-based, Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) concern and wholly-owned Boeing subsidiary, has contemporaneously expanded its presence in Los Angeles—that most sublime, civilized, livable, and harmonious of U.S. cities—and advanced the state of the larger AAM industry by establishing Southern California’s first public air-taxi flights and discussions with local and city officials.

In October 2023, by dint of a series of test flights undertaken at Long Beach Airport (LGB), Wisk became the first eVTOL air-taxi maker/operator to fly in the greater Los Angeles Area. Subject test flights provided opportunity for Wisk to conduct autonomous flight operations in a complex, real-world commercial airport environment, alongside other passenger airline operations.

The company concluded its flight program at the Long Beach Airport with the first public demonstration of an eVTOL air-taxi flight in the Los Angeles region during Long Beach’s Festival of Flight. The multi-transition flight was conducted using Wisk’s 5th Generation (Cora) autonomous, eVTOL aircraft.

In addition, the company also hosted the Mayor of Long Beach as well as local and state officials from the Los Angeles region, including Orange County, and Boeing leadership, for a discussion pertaining to the future of Advanced Air Mobility in the region.

Wisk CEO Brian Yutko stated: “Autonomous flight is possible today and it’s happening now in L.A. Los Angeles is a target launch city for many in our industry and we are extremely proud to be the first air-taxi company to fly in L.A.—and to have done so with an autonomous aircraft. We are fortunate to have the partnership and support of Boeing throughout the area to help build relationships and advance our mission. We are thankful to Long Beach for their ongoing partnership and support as we make safe, everyday, autonomous flight a reality for Southern California, and the world.”

Wisk’s presence in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area is traceable back to 2022, when the company announced a partnership with Long Beach through the city’s Long Beach Economic Partnership (LBEP). The partnership is focused on evaluating, planning, and implementing AAM in Long Beach as part of a broader regional network, with a focus on autonomous flight. Most recently, Wisk sponsored research on the economic impact of AAM for the region, which was conducted by California State University, Long Beach.

Long Beach mayor Rex Richardson remarked: “I am proud to see the future of flight becoming a reality in Long Beach. Long Beach has been a leader in aviation for decades and those careers helped build and sustain the middle class here for generations. I am looking forward to working with Wisk and Boeing to create good jobs and integrating a safe, quiet, and environmentally responsible transportation option in Long Beach.”

In July 2023, Wisk successfully completed the world’s first public demonstration flight of a fully-autonomous eVTOL fixed-wing air-taxi. The historic effort comprised multiple transitions from hover to wing-borne flight and maneuvers carefully chosen to comprehensively demonstrate the aircraft’s in-flight capabilities.

Wisk’s all-electric VTOL attains and sustains flight by means of a lift + cruise scheme in which the contraption’s twelve rotors articulate to provide both vertical and horizontal thrust.

Once airborne, the vehicle transitions to forward, wing-borne flight—its six, forward, five-blade tractor rotors providing thrust, and its six, four-blade aft rotors locking into an aerodynamically advantageous, stationary configuration in which the planes of the rotors’ disks lie parallel to the aircraft’s longitudinal axis.

Excepting a preponderance of under-wing booms and propeller assemblies, the architecture of Wisk’s sixth-generation eVTOL is surprisingly unassuming—comprising a single high-mounted, high-aspect-ratio main-wing spanning fifty-feet, and a  fuselage that bears a passing resemblance to that of a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter fitted out with a conventional empennage in place of a tail-rotor. A forward baggage compartment—or frunk—is located in the vessel’s nose.

The four-passenger, pilotless machine has an advertised cruise speed of 110-120-knots, and a cruise altitude of 2,500 to four-thousand-feet AGL. Wisk claims the vehicle is capable of traversing ninety-miles on a 15-minute battery-charge.

Unlike remotely piloted aircraft, which are flown by earthbound human pilots, Wisk’s eVTOL operates autonomously. Safety of flight is supported by the selfsame proven technologies that account for more than 93-percent of the automated in-flight functions of modern commercial aircraft. Wisk’s sixth-generation eVTOL utilizes sophisticated detect-and-avoid systems and logic-driven, procedural-based, decision-making software that provides reliable, deterministic outcomes. Notwithstanding the robustness and redundancy of its autonomous capabilities, Wisk’s air-taxis are monitored in perpetuity by multi-vehicle supervisors that provide human oversight of every flight and retain the ability to assume control of the aircraft if necessary.

In stark contrast to sector competitors the likes of Joby, Archer, and Volocopter—each of which seeks to commence commercial production of its respective eVTOL concept in 2025, Wisk intends to bring its eVTOL offering to market sometime before 2030.

With a target per-passenger-mile price of three-dollars, Wisk’s sixth-generation aircraft is designed to democratize flight—at least to a degree consistent with extant technological and economic constraints.

FMI: www.wisk.aero