Patent filings for the bullet-shaped mystery aircraft based at the Southern California Logistics Airport, previously reported by AVweb, point to lofty ambitions for intercontinental travel from local airports. The aircraft is registered to Otto Aviation Group LLC based in Yorba Linda, California, and patents filed by William Otto include wireframe sketches of the airplane. The interesting shape appears calculated to minimize drag relative to interior volume—with little regard for manufacturing complexity.
One of the patents, for a combined turbocharger and “supplemental thrust device,” describes the purpose of the patent as enabling a new class of aircraft to compete with hub-and-spoke commercial air travel: “To be a viable competitor, the system should have true origin to true destination speeds that significantly exceed current system speeds. It should require no additional infrastructure, and it should package passengers in small enough units that both the passenger load and the aircraft are militarily insignificant targets. To be truly competitive, it should provide non-stop transcontinental and intercontinental travel from any local airport to any other local airport. And ticket prices should be highly competitive with current average ticket prices.”
