Intriguing Concept Was Once Destined For Market... But Now, Never Mind...

One of the more intriguing flying machines to show up in the last few years is about to be thrown on the trash heap of interesting ideas that never quite made it.

The Kitty Hawk Flyer program was shown off some five years ago. It was designed to be a Part 103-legal ultralight aircraft. At 250 pounds empty weight, it fell into a category of aircraft that could be flown by anyone — FAA Part 103, which regulates ultralight flying machines, and permits recreational use of these aircraft even if pilots don’t hold a conventional pilot’s license.

Kitty Hawk reports that over the course of this and other development projects, that they built and flew 111 aircraft. More than 75 people flew Flyer.

"We proved to ourselves that people could safely operate Flyer — and become a pilot — with less than two hours of training. On a single day, we trained 50 new novice Flyer pilots, none of whom were licensed. Overall, we conducted more than 25,000 successful flights crewed and uncrewed with our Flyer fleet — a huge number. And most importantly, those who flew Flyer thought the experience was “magical.” The feeling of being inside a human drone is hard to describe. For those of us who flew it, it has changed our perspective on the power of flying forever," they noted.

Despite this, Kitty Hawk has dumped the program.

"... we are winding down the Flyer project. We have learned what we needed from it  —  things like vehicle design and testing, manufacturing aircraft, and most of all, how humans would experience eVTOL. We are proud to have built the first electrically-powered VTOL aircraft in the world flown by non-pilots. Just as with our earlier Cora aircraft, Flyer is clearly a milestone in the history of Kitty Hawk and eVTOL vehicles.

Since Flyer began, more powerful eVTOL vehicles have been invented, such as our own Heaviside plane, which has a range of 100 miles, speeds of up to 180 mph, and the ability to fly over cities. Going forward, we are doubling down on Heaviside as our primary platform. But we would never have gotten here without launching and learning from Flyer, and the amazing team of people who built and operated it.

We are incredibly proud of the Flyer team and what it has accomplished. Flyer stands out as one of our most ambitious bets. While the vehicles themselves will now retire, the Flyer legacy will live on as we continue on our quest to free the world from traffic!"

FMI: https://kittyhawk.aero/