Rotor Roundup: What’s on the Horizon for Helicopters and eVTOLs?

FLYING looks at the near future of both categories.

Friday, May 17, 2024 at 01:46 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

The Bell 525 (at right) proposes to bring the first fully digital, fly-by-wire rotorcraft to the civil market. [Courtesy: Bell Helicopter]

Key Takeaways:

The rotorcraft industry is undergoing significant evolution, with ongoing advancements in traditional helicopters and rapid development in the emerging eVTOL and powered-lift aircraft categories.
New conventional helicopter models like the Bell 525 are nearing certification, boasting features such as fully digital fly-by-wire controls, triple redundancy for enhanced safety, and improved fuel efficiency.
Leonardo Helicopters is actively pursuing certification for both its conventional AW09 helicopter and the high-speed AW609 tiltrotor with both EASA and the FAA.
The eVTOL market is highly competitive, with multiple companies (e.g., Archer, Beta, Overair, Eve) progressing through flight testing and certification phases globally, following EHang's prior certification in China.

See a mistake? Contact us.

The rotorcraft marker has always set itself apart within the general aviation industry, not only because of the different production requirements to develop and manufacture a helicopter versus a fixed-wing aircraft, but also because the category takes a different kind of training and operational environment to attain a commensurate level of safety.

FLYING took the opportunity to see what’s on the horizon in terms of both traditional helicopters and the red-hot powered-lift and eVTOL categories ahead of the Helicopter Association International’s HeliExpo in February at Anaheim, California.