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Could electric drones you can sit in take off?

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Monday, March 31, 2025

Could electric drones you can sit in take off?Katharine Da CostaReporting fromOxfordshireBBCThe Skyfly Axe can take off vertically like a helicopter or land on a runwayImagine an electric drone mixed with a fixed wing plane - that is the concept behind a new two-seater aircraft being developed by start-up company, Skyfly.The Axe promises the flexibility of a helicopter but without the cost, noise pollution or carbon emissions.It is a vertically capable aircraft, or Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which means it can take off like a helicopter.It also has two fixed wings that allows it to take off and land from a runway.The company claims the Axe has a top speed of 100mph, it can carry up to 172kg - approximately the weight of two 13.5st adults - and has a range of 100 miles, about the distance from Oxford to the Isle of Wight.Michael Thompson, CEO of Skyfly, is optimistic the new model will be delivered to customers early next yearThe team, based near Banbury in Oxfordshire, has taken five years to fine tune the design."Compared to a conventional aircraft it's got eight motors which is very strange," says Dr Bill Brooks, Skyfly's chief technical engineer."And it's a tail-first layout called a canard so it's got the tail at the front. The all up weight is 750kg but 240kg of that are batteries so all the structure is carbon fibre to keep it as light as possible," Dr Brooks says.Safety is an important part of the design too. 'Environmental benefits'The large wings help it to glide in the event of power failure and there are two motors at the end of each wing so that if one fails the other can compensate.It is also equipped with an emergency ballistic parachute to bring the aircraft and passengers down safely.As well as being safer and cleaner than conventional aircraft, Michael Thompson, Skyfly's chief executive, says electric models are significantly quieter too."When you're taking off, you're no longer annoying everyone around you from a noise perspective, so I do think electric propulsion brings not only environmental benefits but from a noise pollution point of view, it's a huge benefit as well," he says.Dr Bill Brooks is the chief engineer and test pilot at SkyflyWho is it marketed at?Other eVTOLs under development include those looking to provide an electric flying-taxi service like Bristol-based Vertical Aerospace (VA) . VA, as well as Archer and Joby in the US, are designing electric powered aircraft to carry up to four passengers.Skyfly's Axe, by comparison, is more compact and aimed at the private market.The do-it-youself kit-plane comes with a price tag of £250,000.It is aimed at existing pilots who want to transition away from diesel piston engines.Jason Pritchard, executive editor of eVTOL Insights, says it is also likely to appeal to flying clubs in order to train new members:"The eVTOL aircraft industry is still in its infancy with initial operations a few years away, but it also needs to train large numbers of pilots in the coming years," he says."Additionally, the Axe's design can also train pilots with the skills and controls necessary to land an aircraft without power, which is a necessary tool."SkyflyThe two-seater light aircraft has a range of around 100 milesWhat about charging infrastructure?While the Axe can be charged up overnight with a conventional three-pin plug, just like EV cars, electric aircraft will need the charging infrastructure to be scaled up. Aerovolt, based in West Sussex, has installed rapid chargers at seven UK airports with 40 more in the pipeline.Its founder, Philip Kingsley-Dobson, says demand is growing. "A lot of piston aircraft can't use leaded fuel in the future so they're looking for alternatives and ways we can decarbonise the lower end of aviation," he says.'Cutting edge'There are no eVTOL aircraft currently permitted to fly in the UK.Skyfly's Axe has successfully completed manned test flights in both hover and forward flight modes but still needs to be certified by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).With 40 pre-orders from buyers all over the world, the company hopes to deliver the new model to customers early next year.A CAA spokesperson said: "We are working with innovators to test and fly brand new forms of aviation that keeps the UK at the cutting edge of flight technology and supports the sector to grow."New technology comes with new challenges and safety remains our priority in all this work."

Skyfly's aircraft promises the flexibility of a helicopter without the cost, noise or emissions.

Could electric drones you can sit in take off?

Katharine Da Costa
Reporting fromOxfordshire
BBC The Skyfly Axe two-seater aircraft with two wings and four rotor blades sitting on an airfieldBBC

The Skyfly Axe can take off vertically like a helicopter or land on a runway

Imagine an electric drone mixed with a fixed wing plane - that is the concept behind a new two-seater aircraft being developed by start-up company, Skyfly.

The Axe promises the flexibility of a helicopter but without the cost, noise pollution or carbon emissions.

It is a vertically capable aircraft, or Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which means it can take off like a helicopter.

It also has two fixed wings that allows it to take off and land from a runway.

The company claims the Axe has a top speed of 100mph, it can carry up to 172kg - approximately the weight of two 13.5st adults - and has a range of 100 miles, about the distance from Oxford to the Isle of Wight.

Michael Thompson, CEO of Skyfly, is optimistic the new model will be delivered to customers early next year

The team, based near Banbury in Oxfordshire, has taken five years to fine tune the design.

"Compared to a conventional aircraft it's got eight motors which is very strange," says Dr Bill Brooks, Skyfly's chief technical engineer.

"And it's a tail-first layout called a canard so it's got the tail at the front. The all up weight is 750kg but 240kg of that are batteries so all the structure is carbon fibre to keep it as light as possible," Dr Brooks says.

Safety is an important part of the design too.

'Environmental benefits'

The large wings help it to glide in the event of power failure and there are two motors at the end of each wing so that if one fails the other can compensate.

It is also equipped with an emergency ballistic parachute to bring the aircraft and passengers down safely.

As well as being safer and cleaner than conventional aircraft, Michael Thompson, Skyfly's chief executive, says electric models are significantly quieter too.

"When you're taking off, you're no longer annoying everyone around you from a noise perspective, so I do think electric propulsion brings not only environmental benefits but from a noise pollution point of view, it's a huge benefit as well," he says.

Dr Bill Brooks is the chief engineer and test pilot at Skyfly

Who is it marketed at?

Other eVTOLs under development include those looking to provide an electric flying-taxi service like Bristol-based Vertical Aerospace (VA) .

VA, as well as Archer and Joby in the US, are designing electric powered aircraft to carry up to four passengers.

Skyfly's Axe, by comparison, is more compact and aimed at the private market.

The do-it-youself kit-plane comes with a price tag of £250,000.

It is aimed at existing pilots who want to transition away from diesel piston engines.

Jason Pritchard, executive editor of eVTOL Insights, says it is also likely to appeal to flying clubs in order to train new members:

"The eVTOL aircraft industry is still in its infancy with initial operations a few years away, but it also needs to train large numbers of pilots in the coming years," he says.

"Additionally, the Axe's design can also train pilots with the skills and controls necessary to land an aircraft without power, which is a necessary tool."

Skyfly The two-seater Axe in vertical take-offSkyfly

The two-seater light aircraft has a range of around 100 miles

What about charging infrastructure?

While the Axe can be charged up overnight with a conventional three-pin plug, just like EV cars, electric aircraft will need the charging infrastructure to be scaled up.

Aerovolt, based in West Sussex, has installed rapid chargers at seven UK airports with 40 more in the pipeline.

Its founder, Philip Kingsley-Dobson, says demand is growing.

"A lot of piston aircraft can't use leaded fuel in the future so they're looking for alternatives and ways we can decarbonise the lower end of aviation," he says.

'Cutting edge'

There are no eVTOL aircraft currently permitted to fly in the UK.

Skyfly's Axe has successfully completed manned test flights in both hover and forward flight modes but still needs to be certified by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

With 40 pre-orders from buyers all over the world, the company hopes to deliver the new model to customers early next year.

A CAA spokesperson said: "We are working with innovators to test and fly brand new forms of aviation that keeps the UK at the cutting edge of flight technology and supports the sector to grow.

"New technology comes with new challenges and safety remains our priority in all this work."

Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of

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The Polluting Paper Mill That Helped Inspire the First Earth Day

Earth Day coordinator Denis Hayes grew up in Camas, Washington, surrounded by natural beauty and unchecked pollution. The post The Polluting Paper Mill That Helped Inspire the First Earth Day appeared first on The Revelator.

Every day drivers head north on Route 205 out of Portland, Oregon, cross the mighty Columbia River and the state line, and arrive in Washington. Many of them will immediately head east, where on a clear day they’ll soon see snow-capped Mt. Hood looming over Highway 14. Also known as the Lewis & Clark Highway, this busy road will take them toward the suburban cities of Camas and Washougal. But as they arrive in Camas and cross a narrow bridge, something else will loom over the scenic view: an enormous paper mill on the river’s edge. That paper mill, which at one point processed hundreds of tons a day, has been a defining element of Camas for more than a century. The town grew up around it. Residents walked down the hill to work there and sent their kids up the hill to go to school, where the local basketball team is still called the Papermakers (complete with a mascot, the Mean Machine, that looks like an anthropomorphic paper press). A portion of the mill in downtown Camas. 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Platt/The Revelator The effect was immediately visible in town, where the roofs of cars corroded under the acidic onslaught. “People began to ask, well, if it’s doing that to my car, what’s it doing to me,” Hayes said. “The answer, with regards to the automobiles, was that instead of reducing the pollution, they put a shower at the end of the parking lot” to rinse cars before they drove home. Wildlife was affected, too. “Every now and then you’d go down to the Columbia River slough and find scores of dead fish, in some cases hundreds of dead fish, just floating there,” Hayes said. Camas had its good sides, of course. “What I did have growing up was the ability to walk through some of the most magnificent forests on Earth and to ride my bicycle down through the Columbia River Gorge and the spectacular scenery,” Hayes recalled. But even there the paper mill took a toll. “You’d go out in the forest and go hiking in the summer, in these astonishingly beautiful Douglas fir forests, and then two years later you go back there and it is almost clearcut. There was this catastrophic approach to clearing out natural resources.” The beauty and the destruction “came together and sort of made me think, not too profoundly, that it must be possible to make paper without destroying the planet,” he said. Camas was just one of Hayes’ influences, and Hayes was one of many people behind the first Earth Day and the environmental successes that followed. But what followed remains significant. “The context then was one where we were pretty highly motivated to try to get some kinds of regulations someplace,” Hayes recalled. “This is not a personal accomplishment. 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