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Lilium achieves main wing transition on its Phoenix 2 eVTOL aircraft:
German company Lilium, developer of the first electric vertical take-off and landing (eVOTL) aircraft, announced that it has successfully achieved the transition of the main wing of its Phoenix 2 model.
«This is a landmark moment for Lilium and for electric aviation as a whole», the company said. For the first time, it successfully completed a transition test of the aircraft's main wing from a stationary flight position to a configuration for horizontal flight.
A transition like this has never been completed in flight on a full-size demonstrator aircraft before. It is also one of the biggest hurdles in eVTOL operations.
From an aerodynamic point of view, completing the transition means that the aircraft is able to switch from generating lift solely from the engines (as occurs in the hover phase) to generating lift from the airflow above and below the wing (as occurs during horizontal flight).
[...] The Phoenix 2, unlike many of Lilium's competitors' models, uses a series of thirty fans located in the wings and powered by batteries.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 14 2022, @06:12PM (2 children)
TFA says: "For the first time, it successfully completed a transition test of the aircraft’s main wing from a stationary flight position to a configuration for horizontal flight. A transition like this has never been completed in flight on a full-size demonstrator aircraft before."
Maybe the distinction is that the Harrier is a real aircraft with real operators capable of doing real missions, rather than a "demonstrator", whatever that means.
Or maybe this is just talking about some technical distinction, such as using the wings themselves to redirect thrust as opposed to the rotating nozzles used on the Harrier?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 14 2022, @07:47PM (1 child)
electric demonstrator, would you feel better if they put a little 'e' in front of every word?
thirty electric fans is probably just as noisy and energy comsumptive as a jet engine tho.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 14 2022, @07:59PM
I don't think adding 'e' in front of every word would help since it would probably make the article quite difficult to read.
However, I think I would feel a little bit better if the article did not make simple errors that turn what might otherwise be a true statement into a false one.