Phoenix 2 Successfully Transitions from Hover to Wing-Borne Flight

Lilium GmbH, the German Aerospace company developing the VTOL Lilium Jet, announced today that its technology demonstrator, Phoenix 2, has achieved main wing transition—which is to say, the aircraft successfully transitioned from hover to wing-borne flight. 

From a physics/aerodynamic perspective, transition entails the transference of lift from vertical engine thrust to horizontal, laminar, relative-wind flow over the test vehicle’s wings. Lilium’s achievement marks the first instance of a full-size electric jet aircraft achieving main wing transition—a landmark for both Lilium and electric aviation as a whole. 

Lilium states Phoenix 2 developed aerodynamic across its entire main wing while remaining both stable and within control parameters predicted by the company’s proprietary Flight Dynamics Model. 

Lilium Co-Founder and Phoenix Program Chief Engineer Matthias Meiner said of the successful test, “Main wing transition is a huge step forward on our path to launch, and it validates our Flight Dynamics Model.

Full credit goes to the outstanding Lilium team who worked so hard to get us here, and who remain laser-focused on the rest of the Flight Test Campaign.” 

Lilium will continue its flight-test campaign throughout the summer, expanding the Phoenix 2’s flight envelope further, including transition of the forward canards, and high-speed flights. 

Lilium GmbH was founded in 2015 by four engineers/PhD students at the Technical University of Munich: Daniel Wiegand, Sebastian Born, Matthias Meiner, and Patrick Nathen. The company’s headquarters and manufacturing facilities remain in Munich, Germany.

FMI: www.lilium.com