Yet another eVTOL company has announced it is in flight trials with the intention of upending the urban transportation market and Astro Aerospace, of Dallas, isn’t shy about the Jetson analogies. Not only is the company named after the 1960s cartoon family of the future’s dog, its prototype autonomous passenger carrying drone is called Elroy after the young boy in the demographically perfect family unit. Elroy flew at Toronto Markham Airport in Ontario last week and company officials said the tests showed them they are on the right track. “Our flights this week were a success,” said company spokesman Michael White. “Wednesday we did a 4.5-minute dynamic flight, multiple maneuvers, [attained] 60 feet in altitude and 50 kmh (30 knots),” he said. “Very good data was collected to continue to help move us forward.”
Astro envisions an aircraft in which passengers will use touchscreen displays to choose a destination. Aircraft systems can take over after that and take the single occupant where he or she wants to go using input received over 4G LTE cellular network. There is also a fly-by-wire control system for those who want to play George Jetson. Except for the motor power cables, all system communications are by fiber optic. The aircraft has a 250-pound payload, top speed of about 45 knots and endurance of about 20 minutes according to the company website.
