Urban air mobility (UAM) company Lilium has partnered with Honeywell to develop avionics and flight control systems for its seven-seat Lilium Jet. The electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft will be outfitted with Honeywell’s Compact Fly-by-Wire System and an integrated avionics system tailored specifically for the Lilium Jet. Lilium, which is also building a network of vertiports for its air taxis, is aiming to launch commercial operations in 2024.
“At Honeywell, we believe in the promise of the Urban Air Mobility segment and we see the enormous potential it has to bring about a new age of aviation and forever transform the way we think about flight and transportation,” said Stéphane Fymat, Honeywell vice president and general manager of urban air mobility. “We’re extremely excited for our avionics to be on board the Lilium Jet, where they will help ensure not only safe operation, but also make it easier for pilots to fly and provide a more comfortable journey for those onboard.”
As previously reported by AVweb, Lilium officially unveiled the seven-seat version of its Lilium Jet eVTOL last April. According to the company, the aircraft will cruise at 175 MPH with a range of around 155 miles. Lilium has previously flown two- and five-seat versions of the jet and received a CRI-A01 certification basis from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for the seven-seat model last year.
Good aviation news report, as intended for this Avweb section. Now just wait for the ol’ geezers to react. Who will be first to shoot it down? AF, WK, Y?
You forgot me …
This thing belongs in the Bravo Sierra column. 2024 … yeah, right. The FAA can’t even get MOSAIC going in less than 5 years … if ever. This thing will join Boom and Aerion in the scrap heap.
Good for Honeywell. They, like most aviation mfrs, willl work with anyone who will pay for their expertise.
Shoulda gone autonomous.
Is that a shootdown, Joe?
I think it’s more like raising the ante.
Forget the impossible speed, range, load and altitude projections that would even embarrass Jim Bede; WHAT ABOUT THE NOISE from 30+ very high speed propellers?
I can’t imagine low level operations over high density populations with that deafening roar.
What about rotor blast? Helicopter rotor blast is slow compared to the speeds associated with high disc loading applications.
That’s the thing; regardless of “technology”, they still have to operate in society. I think most city dwellers would not be keen on the idea of opening lots of new airports inside the city.
Does “below 60 dBA at 100 meters” equate to a “deafening roar”? Granted, those numbers are obviously projections, subject to the usual marketing hyperbole. However, Lillium does stress that the plane has a “low noise profile”, based on the use of ducted fans with acoustic liners. The full size plane may be vaporware, but the motors are already real enough to lend some credence to their estimates.
Rush, Measuring sounds at 3 football fields away (and probably not with the exhaust pointed downrange at the sensor) does not seem like a fair test.
An American football field (with endzones) is under than 100 meters; I’m not sure where you are coming up with “3 football fields”. But regardless of the distance, they are at least using actual numbers – e.g., “x decibels at y feet” – as opposed to measuring the sound level in terms of how much it roars.
And you press a button after landing and it folds into a briefcase.
… which you won’t be needing anyway since your job disappeared when Spacely went 100% 3D printing and you got caught in the right-sizing fallout.
Now that I M 68, I don’t really feel I am one of Joe Jetstar’s “ol’ geezers”. When I was a forty something, maybe 68 qualified. Now I think the “ol’ geezer” bar is really 85+. I will let Joe know when I am 85 if I feel his “ol’ geezer” bar needs to be re-examined…again.
Honeywell is always happy to take money from anyone capable of paying for their products. I am happy Lillium has flown a 2 seat and 5 seat prototypes. I am happy they have received CRI-AO1 EASA certification. I am happy they are building “vertiports”. Although I do question where are these “vertiports”, what do they look like, and have they gotten the FAA blessings required considering the FAA has not an official urban mobility certification rulebook ( which would include all the regulatory legaleze for “vertiports”). Consequently, my Bravo Sierra meter started to quiver about the “vertiport” construction. But my Bravo Sierra meter went full tilt boogie when Lillium “is aiming to launch commercial operations in 2024.”
Joe Jetstar…does asking legitimate questions about a company’s claims by a middle age 68 year old make me an “ol geezer”? Thus, by your standards, automatically banning me to the purgatory of flaming fellowship with other equally, relatively young inquiring minds who also have an increased sensitivity to Bravo Sierra because we love aviation, love flying, love new aviation technology, but have enough aviation time on the planet to have experienced many promises made but few kept. Still young inquiring minds would like to know.
Sooo… I guess this is going no where.
If Garmin was doing it, I would invest.
Gets them b-points I guess. :-o)
Vaporwear.
I didn’t feel the need to comment.
An untenable solution for a problem that doesn’t exist, but people like to feel good about saving mother earth.
BTW at only 57 and an endurance athlete I am hardly a geezer, but hope to be one someday, in the distant future.