AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2021 - 36

PILOT BRIEFING
FUTURE FLIGHT |
Avionics
announcements
Going public
eVTOLs attract money-and high-end nav systems
BY THOMAS A. HORNE
ONE NEW TREND in eVTOL aviation has
been the move to take these new ventures
public. For this we can thank SPACs-special
purpose acquisition companies. SPACs
are publicly listed companies whose sole
purpose is to raise money through initial
public offerings (IPOs) so they can target
and purchase what they believe are promising
private companies. A SPAC lets its
chosen targets also go public. It's an easy
way for cash-hungry private companies to
sell stock without the bother of launching
their own IPOs.
Lilium, fresh off a campaign publicizing
its proposed network of vertiports in
Florida, has been the latest to profit from
the SPAC craze. SPAC Qell Acquisition
Corp. (Nasdaq: QELL), which valued
Lilium at $3.3 billion, funded the company
with $380 million of its own, plus
$450 million more in stock holdings. Soon,
Lilium should be listed on Nasdaq.
Lilium says it will use its new money to
fund a new, seven-seat version of its " electric
jet. " Originally, the idea was to create
a five-seater, but apparently the promise
of a Florida shuttle service has driven the
36 | AOPA PILOT July 2021
company to go up in size. The new airplane
is slated to enter flight testing in 2022.
Lilium isn't the only eVTOL firm raking
in SPAC money. Joby Aviation stands
to receive a cool $1.6 billion from a SPAC
deal it made with Reinvent Technology
Partners (NYSE: RTP), which valued Joby
at $6.6 billion. Volocopter got $239 million
from a SPAC merger with BlackRock
(NYSE: BLK).
Those companies are going to need
every penny of those stratospheric fundings.
It may not take a lot of money to
design and build a prototype, but it takes
a huge investment to certify new designs,
and millions more to manufacture them.
The SPAC craze may even end up calling
the shakier eVTOLs' bluffs. At last count,
there were 90-odd companies involved in
designing electrically powered, alternative
aircraft. Only a handful have any manufacturing
experience.
Even so, look for more such SPAC
deals as eVTOLs march, unsteadily, into
the future.
EMAIL tom.horne@aopa.org
Joby Aviation signed a
long-term agreement with
Garmin to install the G3000
touchscreen avionics suite in
its S4 eVTOL. " Garmin has a
remarkable track record of
developing innovative and
reliable products, " said Joby
Aviation founder and CEO
JoeBen Bevirt. " They are
market leaders in this space
and we're proud to have
their advanced technology
onboard. " Joby says the 200mph,
150-statute-mile S4 is
expected to enter service as
early as 2024.
Pipistrel said it had
chosen Honeywell's AH2000
attitude and heading
reference system (AHRS) and
air data module (ADM) for
its Nuuva V300 unmanned
cargo aircraft. Honeywell
was previously chosen to
provide the fly-by-wire flight
control system for the V300
prototype.
" Nuuva V300's
groundbreaking operational
concept requires highly
accurate, dependable, and
robust navigation sensors,
and the AH-2000 and
ADM are key enablers of
this functionality, " said Tine
Tomazic, Pipistrel's chief
technology officer. " This
technology allows us to
deliver simple and intuitive
mouse-click control to fly the
vehicle, eliminating the need
for operators to be trained
with traditional piloting skills,
which helps ensure rapid
scale-up of operations for our
customers. "
The 119-knot, 3,750-pound
maximum takeoff weight
hybrid-electric V300 can
carry loads up to 1,014
pounds and fly as far as 1,350
nautical miles. Its maximum
endurance is set at 12 hours.
-TAH
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2021
