
- 01
FLUTR is powered by UAM-OS, a proprietary multi vehicle flight management system, that coordinates individual and multiple flights.
UAM-OS manages the traditional aviation components of terrain, weather, traffic, ATC and vehicle control with onboard and remote pilots, enabling a distributed aerial mobility system that operates with the safety level of an airline grade aircraft and fleet management system.
- 02
Autonomous means the vehicle can take-off, cruise and land with zero user input. This is technically possible today but is not currently allowed due to regulatory limitations, but will be possible within 5 - 10 years.
Semi-autonomous means that a combination of user and automatic vehicle control is used.
Remote piloting means that a pilot controls some aspect of the vehicle from another location.
More details on the system design utilized by FLUTR will be released at a later stage.
- 03
FLUTR model 1 uses automotive grade bio-diesel fuel, or SAF grade fuel.
(SAF = Sustainable Aviation Fuel).
Bio-fuels are widely available in most countries.
The next release model will be Hydrogen fueled (hydrogen combusted with turbine), as more and more hydrogen industrial and retail outlets are made available every year.
As battery technology steadily improves, FLUTR will offer a battery powered model, or earlier to customers requiring limited range operations.
- 04
There is already a hundred years of precedent for similar technology, including remotely controlled aircraft, electric airacrft, and quadcopters.
FLUTR is in effect continuing the trend by applying the latest aerospace developments to this trend. Hybrid propulsion, adavnced materials and avionics, and many others.
We set out with a clean sheet design, and then looked back to cross check our innovation against what has been done before. There are several concepts which are similar, including the Bell X22 (shown above).
- 05
FLUTR is an aerial mobility system, not just another aircraft. To be successful it has to take into account a lot of aviation problems that are difficult to solve, such as noise, cost, remote piloting, air traffic management, and many others.
The main platform has to have the best configuration imaginable. The configuration, which is the combination of aerodynamics, propulsion and structure, has to perform a given flight mission reliably, quietly, safely, and routinely. For the urban aerial mobility mission profile, the development of a configuration that satisfies these requirements has been extremely difficult. But after years of analysis and design we beieve that the FLUTR configuration is the best possible for the mission of moving millions of people everyday directly from their homes via the air.
FLUTR has been designed to solve a problem, it is not a solution looking for a problem to solve.
And although technically FLUTR is an "aircraft", we like to refer to it more as a "vehicle", as the line between cars and other mobility options get increasingly blurred.
Additionally, FLUTR has a firm development roadmap that leads to the ultimate goal of pure electric flight, if that technology allows.
Perhaps most importantly, FLUTR is designed by aerospace engineers and aviation professionals who are used to working in the highly regulated aviation industry. We are not trying to adapt a drone design to carry people, rather we are designing in the carriage of people from inception, which requires an extremely high level of safety consideration.
