We Fly: Skyryse One

Here's an inside look at developing a safer, simpler, and smarter helicopter.

Max Trescott

Wednesday, April 02, 2025 at 03:00 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Skyryse One is being certified on the versatile Robinson R66 turbine helicopter. [Credit: Skyryse]

Key Takeaways:

Skyryse's SkyOS is introduced as a potentially transformative "operating system for flight," aiming to simplify controls and significantly enhance safety for helicopters and potentially fixed-wing aircraft.
The Skyryse One, a modified Robinson R66, features a single control stick and fly-by-wire system, making helicopter operation more intuitive, stable, and accessible to a wider range of pilots.
Key safety features of SkyOS include dynamic envelope protection, which prevents unsafe flight conditions and maneuvers, and automated engine failure management (autorotations), designed to drastically reduce accident rates.
With first deliveries expected in 2025 and partnerships to expand its technology to other aircraft, Skyryse envisions a future of near-zero fatalities, making flight simpler, safer, and more accessible to all.

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Major inflection points in GA are rare and only occur every couple of decades. GPS and glass cockpits are two examples from the past 40 years, and both have provided profound, long-term impacts on safety and efficiency. Skyryse’s SkyOS, which it describes as an operating system for flight, has the potential to be another transformative change for helicopters and possibly fixed-wing aircraft as well.

If you’re a fixed-wing pilot, it would be easy to dismiss the Skyryse One helicopter—a single control stick, IFR-certified version of the Robinson R66—as a curiosity that doesn’t apply to you, but please keep reading. Skyryse is in the process of revolutionizing the way helicopters are flown, making it easier and safer for anyone to fly those equipped with SkyOS. In fact, some of the first orders have come from fixed-wing pilots who want to transition into flying a helicopter in the safest way.