Hungarian electric air rescue

The team of young engineers from Pécs won the third place in the design competition of the Royal Hungarian Institute of Aviation Science with a brilliant solution. The team would also build their electric-powered vertical take-off and landing vehicle in the future.

The British Royal Institute of Aeronautics announces an international aircraft design competition every year. It was issued in February this year, with the submission deadline being August. The team of young designers from Pécs, namely Soma Varga, Zsolt Koltai, Ákos Matyus, Gábor Rabovszky and Péter Pieczarka, who are employees of Magnus Aircraft, applied for this competition. Their competitors were teams of engineers from India, the United Arab Emirates, the US and England.

The announcement of the results revealed that the Hungarian team took third place with a project called Orca. It is an eVTOL, i.e., an electric-powered, airborne ambulance aircraft.

During Hurricane Irma, air ambulances faced that rescue was very complicated, rescue services were burdened. A vehicle had to be designed that could transport patients faster and more efficiently than gas turbine helicopters

Said Soma Varga, team leader, designer responsible for the aerodynamics of the aircraft. – The jury highlighted that the quality of our design and career work was the highest.

In addition to the pilot, the Orca’s vehicle cabin can accommodate a doctor and an inpatient to be transported. The aircraft is powered by seven electric rotors, the first two of which are rotatable, so they also help with lifting and advancing the aircraft. The two-tonne machine is capable of carrying a total of about 300 kilograms of payload, and according to previous simulations, it can cover at least 110 kilometers with one charge.

Soma Varga said: they will continue the work, because their planned vehicle is feasible, they will want to build it. Their plan is to be completed in a few years with a working prototype. The first step is to build a 1: 4 scale version to test the control, the interaction of the surfaces, and perform a validation test flight.