As Lilium imagines, the prospect of a wide range of flying taxi services depends on the ability of these aircraft to seamlessly transition from vertical flight to horizontal flight. Recently, this aviation start-up company has just demonstrated a key factor of this function. It is reported that Lilium changed the main wing of its all electric aircraft in the air to achieve this effect. The company said that this was the first time in the industry**
In order to lift and land vertically and travel effectively between them, evtols like Lilium need to generate lift in different ways. When in vertical lift and hover configurations, the company's aircraft uses small duct fans to achieve or maintain altitude. Ideally, when in forward flight mode, it will operate like a conventional aircraft, saving power and relying on its carefully designed wings to generate lift.
Lilium said that although its unique small fan design consumes a lot of power during lift off and hover, it provides performance benefits by minimizing drag when flying forward. In any case, switching between these flight modes is a key function of the entire operation, and the company has now demonstrated a key part of this capability using its Phoenix 2 demonstration aircraft.
This transition was completed on its entire main wing, and the aircraft is said to have remained stable throughout the test. In addition, according to Lilium, this makes the aircraft the first full-size electric aircraft in history to transition from hover to wing flight. The company will continue its test program in the coming summer to strive to achieve the transition of the front wing.
Matthias meiner, co-founder of Lilium, said: "the transition of the main wing is a big step forward on the launch path. It verifies our flight dynamics model. This is due to the outstanding Lilium team, who have made great efforts to make us achieve this goal, and they are still focused on the rest of the flight test activities."