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In conjunction with the unveiling of a new website (www.metro-Skyways.com), Urban Aeronautics has announced the launch of full-scale development for the CityHawk hybrid-power, eVTOL flying car. The vehicle will be developed at Urban’s subsidiary, Metro Skyways Ltd, with first manned flights in 2021 to 22, to be followed by full FAA certification.
CityHawk offers a true equivalent to a ground taxi or family sedan in both appearance and passenger capacity. Its uniquely compact, “wingless” fuselage and “six-degrees-of-freedom-uncoupled” flight modes deliver true, unencumbered, three-dimensional access and mobility. This places it as the first in its class with genuine fly anywhere, land anywhere capability.
Initial development and testing will utilize two, 1,000-horsepower-class turboshaft engines coupled to electric power generators for operating the vehicle’s thruster propellers. Upon the issuance of an FAA type certificate for the basic air vehicle (in conjunction with Urban Aero’s Canadian partner, Cert Center Canada (3C)), the company will transition the design of the main power supply for CityHawk to 100 per cent clean, hydrogen propulsion.
The pre-production ‘configuration freeze’ for CityHawk is the result of having successfully completed a series of customer demonstrations of the company’s unmanned variant, Cormorant, at Urban’s second subsidiary’s Tactical Robotics Ltd.
The one-ton Cormorant has so far completed 250 flights validating the technology that is behind both Cormorant and CityHawk. CityHawk’s design is identical to the Cormorant’s configuration, however, it will be equipped with two engines in order to conform with the FAA’s existing commercial certification requirements which call for the continuation of flight in the event of an engine failure. This safety feature is in addition to CityHawk’s ability to deploy a ballistic parachute in the event of a catastrophic failure of any kind.
CityHawk is designed to meet the most stringent, current FAA requirements for twin-engine helicopters (FAR 27). Its main advantage over helicopters and currently proposed eVTOL aircraft is its car-sized dimensions, resulting from its wingless, rotorless design, combined with its significant payload of up six occupants.
All of the vehicle’s rotors are internal to the fuselage, achieving unmatched safety to ground personnel and unparalleled noise reduction resulting in an acoustic footprint equivalent to that of a passing by car.
Metro Skyways’ CityHawk is the first of two, hybrid-powered, manned FancraftTM planned for development.
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