Fans of AirVenture have seen the old Opener Blackfly a few times, but the team’s new company branding and subtly improved new eVTOL were a new sight in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Ken Karklin of Pivotal gave Aero News’ own vertical flight consultant Rex Alexander a quick rundown on where things sat for the Blackfly in 2023.
The Advanced Air Mobility industry is a competitive scene, and there’s a palpable hunger in the air as Pivotal and its competitors look to carve themselves out a piece of a brand-new market. Karklin sees the Blackfly as much more than a simple Part 103-legal single-seat runabout. Crewed or Uncrewed, the basic design could be pressed into service as emergency response, patrol, survey, or firefighting aircraft.
Karlin says the Blackfly won’t just be stuck on dry land; a set of floats have been in the works to open up the wide world of amphibious operations. On top of that, Karlin hints that some bigger-boned versions of the Blackfly could be coming out too, which would slot right into a post-MOSAIC LSA market. A few lucky customers have already taken delivery of their aircraft, he adds. The little eVTOL isn’t too common yet, with only a few dozen produced so far. But the interest at AirVenture shows that there’s plenty of interest in Pivotal’s work, so that should change in no time.
Aero-TV is a production of the Internationally syndicated Aero-News Network. Seen worldwide by hundreds of thousands of aviators and aviation adherents, ANN's Aero-TV has produced well over 5000 aviation and feature programs, including over 2500 episodes of our daily aviation news program, AIRBORNE UNLIMITED, currently hosted by Holland Lee. Now in its third decade of operation, parent company Aero-News Network, has the most aggressive and intensive editorial profile of any aviation news organization and has published well over a half-million news and feature stories since its inception -- having pioneered the online 24/7 aviation new-media model that so many have emulated.
Aero Linx: Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) Founded in 1997, the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (USCAST) has developed an integrated, data-driven strategy to reduce the comm>[...]
Land And Hold Short Operations Operations that include simultaneous takeoffs and landings and/or simultaneous landings when a landing aircraft is able and is instructed by the cont>[...]
We're Everywhere... Thanks To You! Even with the vast resources and incredibly far-reaching scope of the Aero-News Network, every now and then a story that should be reported on sl>[...]
Pilot’s Inadvertent Use Of The Landing Gear Control Handle Instead Of The Flaps Selector Switch During The Landing Rollout Analysis: The pilot reported that during the landin>[...]
Also: Cosmonaut Kicked Out, Airbus Scales Back, AF Silver Star, Russian A-60 Clobbered A Samaritan’s Purse humanitarian flight was hijacked on Tuesday, December 2, while atte>[...]
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (12.12.25)
See All