PRESS RELEASE – 02/11/2022
SKYFLY TECHNOLOGIES LTD – skyfly.aero
Contact information:
Adam Landau – Head of Communications
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Skyfly partners with world leading Porsche specialist
- Richard Tuthill, owner of road, rally and race car manufacturer Tuthill Porsche, has joined the Skyfly team
- The partnership looks to strengthen Skyfly’s affinity with high-end automotive production methods and light-weight engineering practices
- Richard Tuthill brings a wealth of production and engineering experience to Skyfly as well as a broad network of clients and suppliers
- Tuthill Porsche have a track record transforming cars from shells into bespoke high-performance, fully spec’d rally and race cars in a matter of days
- Richard Tuthill is a private pilot with a keen interest in personal air transport
- The Axe by Skyfly is a personal two-seat Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft due to enter production in 2024
“When I met up with Richard for the first time and showed him the design and introduced him to the team, it was obvious that this collaboration was going to work. Richard had an instant understanding and appreciation of our aircrafts approach and design. His attitude fits in perfectly to form the ultimate team to build and deliver this aircraft. The Axe shares an affinity with high performance cars, from the composite structures through to the engineering practices. Our partnership with Richard Tuthill and the Tuthill Porsche brand strengthens this affiliation.”
– Michael Thompson, CEO Skyfly
With over 40 years’ experience building and restoring bespoke Porsche for customers around the world, Tuthill Porsche is synonymous with the world’s most successful Porsche rally and race cars. They are perhaps best-known for their Safari 911s and, more recently, their Porsche 911K, a spin off of the iconic 911 which Tuthill Porsche re-engineered to achieve a wet weight of just 850kg. Tuthill Porsche are well known for their limited-edition off-road Porsche developed in collaboration with Singer.
“Richard is the perfect addition to complement Skyfly’s aeronautical engineering team. He enjoys challenges and is an outstanding engineer who sees solutions rather than problems. He has perfected delivering a complex product over decades and brings a world of experience and networks to Skyfly. Above all, he has the same drive we have to make things happen and deliver the unique, must-have luxury item of this decade. Richard shares our vision for an affordable, quiet and usable private eVTOL which will transform people’s lives, drastically reducing journey times and create more time to live.”
– Jaap Rademaker, CCO Skyfly
Richard’s production facility in Oxfordshire is one to be admired, transforming cars from bare shells to fully spec’d race or rally 911s in as little as seven days. Richard will bring his engineering knowledge and passion for attention to detail which has enabled him to consistently deliver customers with a high quality product and high quality experience.
“My background in motorsport is all about reliability and consistency. I have an amazing network of clients, suppliers and friends on all continents and hope to enable the Skyfly team to reach all of them. My passion for low cost personal air transport has been a constant passion and something I have been waiting to find an opportunity to be involved in. My manufacturing and engineering background will add real value to an already extraordinary team.”
– Richard Tuthill
Richard has been on the look out for an aircraft that can offer the flexibility and versatility of a helicopter, with the safety and redundancy of a plane. When he first saw the Axe by Skyfly, he was instantly hooked on the design, approach to certification and the market which enables private owners to operate their aircraft from their private property in a much more cost effective manner than a helicopter.
“Simplicity is the key to most things in life and the Axe was born from this philosophy. I’m not aware of anything like it currently in development. The engineers have seen a number of things which others have not. It gives Skyfly the unique opportunity to bring it to market cost effectively and in a short time frame that I don’t believe others can offer. I can’t wait to own one.”
– Richard Tuthill
What is the Axe eVTOL?
With a fully-electric range of 100 miles, or 300 miles with an optional hybrid generator, and a cruise speed of 100mph, the Axe by Skyfly is a truly revolutionary two-seat eVTOL aircraft available for USD 180,000. It is designed for personal use and is as easy to fly as a consumer camera drone. Thanks to its small footprint and low noise, the Axe can be kept at home and flown directly to a destination, in complete comfort and with aerial views to enjoy, without traffic jams or bumpy roads.
Its unique four-winged design (patent pending), developed by renowned aeronautical engineer Dr William Brooks, enables the Axe not just to take off and land vertically like a helicopter, but also to fly, take off and land like a conventional airplane. This globally unique ability to also take off and land on a runway means Skyfly’s Axe is the only personal two-seat eVTOL aircraft that you can fly with any existing airplane pilot’s license. By providing lift, the wings also enable a much larger range compared to “rotors only” eVTOLs, an extra layer of safety due to its good glide performance, and a class-leading 30-50kw energy use in cruise, comparable to a Tesla but not requiring an eco-unfriendly road..
The Axe also offers greatly increased safety compared to a helicopter, thanks to its eight-motor distributed propulsion, each with its own power supply and its glide ability arising from its four wings, which enables power-off landing. Additionally, the Axe is fitted with a ballistic parachute – which a helicopter can never have due to the positioning of its rotors.
Skyfly does not aim to develop an air taxi that shuttles commercial passengers into city centres, nor is it venturing down the onerous commercial certification route, which leads to high development costs. Instead, Skyfly follows existing certification routes for private kit-built aircraft, which greatly reduces costs for the owner and enables the Axe to be sold at a base price of 180,000 USD.
Unlike commercial air taxis, which require as-yet-unbuilt “vertiport” infrastructure, the Axe eVTOL can take off and land in a garden or any agricultural land where the landowner has given permission, without needing modifications or expensive infrastructure. This use is legal and well established, with many light aircraft owners operating in this way worldwide from private “farm strips”.
The Axe is not just an idea or concept, but a fully designed aircraft. Extensive analysis and prototype testing has been carried out and manufacturing is being readied for series production. Our two teams of aircraft engineers have developed the Axe as a versatile personal aircraft with strict focus on low weight and aerodynamic efficiency and performance. Aside from generating lift from its wings, the Axe also differs from other eVTOL designs in that it uses existing technology from proven and certified suppliers to provide key components, including the propulsion system, battery system and flight control system. Furthermore, unlike other winged eVTOLs, it has no rotating motor or wing elements, but instead has fixed angle rotors, saving on weight, cost, complexity and maintenance. For more information about how the Axe stands out from other eVTOLs, watch our full explainer video.
Skyfly’s Chief engineer, Dr William Brooks, has designed the Axe with efficiency at its core, with the four wings giving it the highest energy efficiency in comparison to other two-seat eVTOL aircraft. Compared to many other eVTOL designs, which have no or inadequate wings, the Axe’s wings generate useful lift in forward flight, improving efficiency, range and safety, while also giving it the ability to make conventional wing-borne take-offs and landings if required, saving yet more energy.
Skyfly sees the Axe as a direct competitor to currently-available two seat airplanes or helicopters – one that is much easier to fly, safer, quieter and more affordable to buy, operate and maintain. In addition, whichever bigger airtaxi eVTOL wins the race – these will require pilots, and the two seat, side by side Axe eVTOL is the ideal training vehicle – as the only eVTOL worldwide able to train pilots in fixed wing takeoffs and landings, and emergency glide landings, as well as vertical takeoffs and landings.
Following two years of development, CFD and CAD designing, followed by prototype flight testing, the Axe was officially launched in the summer of 2022. In the months since then, the Axe eVTOL by Skyfly has secured dozens of orders and has attracted the attention of air mobility specialist investors. Their backing allows Skyfly to push forward with its development schedule. The strong and lightweight composite fuselage tooling for series production has meanwhile been manufactured and delivered, and with that, Skyfly is now building its first aircraft, with manned test flights due to begin in Q1 2024. Customer deliveries will follow at the end of 2024, when UK certification is expected.
To find out more about the Axe visit www.skyfly.aero
To watch a video of our prototype flying, visit our YouTube channel.
The Axe EVTOL by Skyfly
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