Pivotal’s Personal Electric Flying Vehicle

The MJ received a request to attend a demo of a personal flying vehicle at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racket Club this month. 

The flying vehicle is all electric and made by the company Pivotal, now based in Palo Alto, California. The company was previously called SkyKar, Inc.and OPENER.aero. The company’s history shows that Pivotal was founded in 2011 in Warkworth, Ontario, Canada by Marcus Leng and is backed by Google Co-founder Larry Page.

The single seat personal use electric vehicle is known best for its vertical take-off and landing. It is part of a three-year release of variations of personal aerial vehicles, classified by the FAA Part 103 as Ultralight Aircraft. That means that the allowable airspace in which you can legally fly your vehicle is limited. Purchasing the flying vehicle comes with a mandatory 40-hour flight in-house training, followed by 10 actual flights, regardless of one’s status as a licensed pilot. 

My research on this shows that while being sold for personal use, the company is also working with the U.S. Air Force, which is testing the Pivotal models for potential military ops, surveillance, and emergency response at a lower cost than helicopters.

I attended the August 2nd demo at the SB Polo field. There I met with Tim Lum, who told me he was the first customer that purchased the aircraft two years ago. He showed me around the aircraft, including the computerized engine and inside the cockpit.

Lum, “It is all electric, made of carbon fiber so it’s ultralight, has eight electric motors, produces 1,000 pounds of thrust, and flies 25 miles in 25 minutes. There are only 18 moving parts on the entire aircraft, comprised of eight propeller-like elevators, four radar altimeters that automatically do the take-off and landing, and three redundant flight computers. If anything goes awry, there is a parachute built into the nose of the aircraft that brings it down at 160 feet elevation. There is an app on the smart phone for owners.”

When I asked him what inspired him to purchase the aircraft, he explained, “I work for the U.S. Forest Service as a smoke jumper, I’m a flight paramedic in the Air Force and DOD, and I use paragliders. This is therapy for me after what I experienced in Afghanistan, and it’s a joy to fly. Safety-wise this aircraft will be somewhere between a car and an airliner.”

We then cleared the way for the flight demo with new Pivotal pilot Alexander Miller, a Certified Flight Instructor, Commercial Multi Engine Pilot Private Aircraft Pilot, and recent Pivotal Flight Instructor and pilot. Take off is nose up vertical ascent to flying altitude, while landing is rear dive vertical to landing. Watch my videos at MJ online and MJ YouTube!

The flying vehicle is piloted using a joystick with fly-by-wire control and flight panel instruments that display in-flight navigation and aircraft status. The aircraft has a landing camera, ADS-B transponder, and beacon lights. Its cruising speed is 63 mph, with maximum climb and descent rate at 500 fpm (5.7mph). Powered by battery packs, the craft takes approximately 75 minutes to charge from 20% to 100% with a Level 2 charger (240V / 50A). With a Level 1 charger (120V / 15A), the same charging process takes about 4.5 hours.  

411: https://evtol.news/pivotal-helix-production-model