General Aviation Workhorse Surefly VTOL completes first untethered flight

The Surefly drone took off with a person inside for the first time: It hovered a few feet above ground for ten seconds, before touching down again. The process was witnessed by FAA officials to guarantee, that all safety restrictions were adhered to. Surefly seeks to gain certification of the aircraft in late 2019 or early 2020.

Workhorse´s Surefly drone can accommodate two persons. The aircraft is equipped with eight rotors and was designed to enable short flights within a range of 70 miles. A backup battery was installed in the aircraft. The Surefly drone was officially unveiled at the Paris Air Show in June last year.

It is planned, that the pilot will tell the aircraft where we would like to go. The aircraft then, by using a fly-by wire system, will proceed to the destinations by itself.

The flying taxi will reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour, which equals one hour of flight time with gasoline. 4,000 feet will be reachable for the Surefly drone.

Surefly's CEO Steve Burns, said: "For a craft like this, hovering is not much different than flying, so next step afterward we'll hover maybe five feet then 10 feet and then eventually we'll start to fly."

Moreover, the flying taxi features a gasoline generator. If that should fail, it still has five minutes of flying time on a lithium powered battery. In a worst-case scenario, there is also a parachute for landing.