Big words, but the revolution in urban transportation is promised by the long-established American aircraft and helicopter manufacturing company Bell (currently under its full name: Bell Helicopter Textron Inc.). One of the biggest throws at the Las Vegas consumer electronics show, CES’s automotive section, is the Bell Nexus tipper-rotating hexakopter air taxi, which attracts crowds of visitors as a magnet, which the company sees as not an expensive toy for the rich, but a cheap and modern way to travel.The Bell may not need to be introduced to anyone, but here are a few milestones that will prove that.
TEXASI HAS NOT STARTED BUILDING AIRCRAFT TODAY.
A II. they took their share of World War II with the production of the nearly ten thousand copies of the P-39 Airacobra, and then at the dawn of the jet era Bell manufactured the first American jet fighter, the P-59 Airacomet. The X-1, an experimental rocket aircraft that first broke the speed limit of sound, is the company’s creation, as is the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) simulator (in which, say, Neil Armstrong left his teeth almost there). Of course, Bell is really strong in helicopter development and manufacturing: the bubble-headed Bell 47, the Vietnam War warhorse, the “Huey” UH-1 Iroquois and its various variants, the AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter and the V-22 Osprey tipper rotary military transport co-manufactured with Boeing well known, you can say legendary-iconic flying structure.
If we look at civil aviation for peaceful purposes, Bell has come a long way since the development of the first civilian helicopter, the Bell 47, to which a series of pioneering developments have been linked. In keeping with the spirit of the times, the company’s engineers have been working with steam power to develop air taxis taking off from the ground in recent years, and the current state of this work, the prototype of the Bell Nexus, was unveiled at CES.
At Monday’s press conference, Mitch Snyder, president and CEO of Bell, said the Nexus will be safer, quieter and cheaper than any civilian helicopter so far. Nexus ’hybrid-powered (i.e., electric and gas turbine) six-channel ducted fan was placed in a tilt-rotor system in a hexagonal shape above the cab. Thanks to the tilt rotor solution, the Nexus will be able to get out of place and then turn the six propellers to a horizontal position at high speed. Much of the technical data is yet to be reported, so much so that it appears that the 2.6-tonne aircraft will be able to fly a distance of about 241 kilometers at a top speed of roughly 240 km / h. The flight experience will be enhanced by huge windows, and some of them will even provide an augmented reality experience as a transparent graphic display – as planned.
Technology is not the barrier
The boss says the Nexus will be flying in the early 2020s and is expected to be available around 2025. In the meantime, of course, the Nexus will have to pass a lot of tests, but Snyder is confident that Bell’s experience so far will help bring the project to life. “Bell is the only company with experience in building dump rotor machines. We have all the knowledge we need to build the Nexus, we just need to hone existing technologies,” Snyder stressed, adding that there is no real technological barrier in front of them, much more so. regulatory issues are still well open.
The Nexus is planned to be capable of carrying both passengers and luggage, in which case four people can sit behind the pilot and the flight manager. The aircraft will be able to take off from properly designed helicopter take-off platforms in large cities. Of course, for the Nexus to be a successful air taxi, more and more of these landing and take-off points will be needed. Expansion exploration Uber is already interested in the Nexus, by the way, and it will be revealed in the next decade whether freight sharing will bring civilian helicoptering to the wider masses.
The Nexus is not a toy
In any case, the wider masses already loved the Nexus very much, although Bell only exhibited a static model that was not yet able to fly at CES. The large machine, painted with bright midnight black and decorated with led lights, had to line up a large line to sit in the futuristic booth for a few moments. The seats are comfortable (obviously), the design is like street sports cars, Bell’s pretty cool new logo, the dragonfly included in the shield pops up in several places. You can see more touch screens on the pre-pilot console, which of course isn’t the final control, but Bell says driving the Nexus won’t be harder than driving a small plane, and the smart systems to be built will take on a number of tasks on the future Nexus. on the shoulders of pilots. “The point is to have more time during the flight for what people like to do,” Mitch Snyder said in a panel discussion on the podium next to the plane on Tuesday.
In recent years, of course, we’ve seen a number of promising flying car, air taxi concepts, and working specimens among them, but these were mostly difficult-to-implement prototypes for small companies that haven’t really become anything so far. The Nexus – if Bell successfully overcomes the pitfalls and even massive walls of regulatory aviation regulations – could be a more promising product. This is indicated by the fact that Bell has serious partners in development and production: navigation is planned by Garmin, flight control fly-by-wire computers by Thales, hybrid drive by Safran, and batteries by EPS. “It’s not a recreational machine or a toy,” said Scott Drennan, Bell’s vice president of innovation, referring to the fact that the Nexus isn’t sinking on some kind of community funding side and then going to be a project that dies in the ashes.
Recent article
Air taxi News & Articles
Development of Airbus’ air taxi could accelerate
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
NASA’s new engine in action
Drones News & Articles
India also sees potential in agricultural drones
Drones News & Articles
Airbus launches drone production
Flying Cars News & Articles
SkyDrive Japanese flying car to enter commercial service in 2026
Additional aircraft
ARC Aerosystems’ newest aircraft the Linx P9
Drones News & Articles
Expect lots of drones in the future
Propulsion-Fuel
NASA funds development of a new type of nuclear engine
Drones News & Articles
The world’s fastest flying four-rotor drone
Drones News & Articles
The drone market is a good long-term investment
Drones News & Articles
In Romania, a drone is already taking samples from hospitals to the robotic laboratory
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
ZeroAvia’s Dornier with hydrogen-electric propulsion system flies for the first time
EVTOL & VTOL
What growth can we expect in the Evtol market in the coming years ?
Drones News & Articles
Flying drone home delivery is also being tested in Budapest
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
How are air traffic control and air navigation services adapting to eVTOL ?
Flying Cars News & Articles
What safety measures would be introduced in flying cars to prevent accidents ?
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Revolutionising crop production with aircraft
Drones News & Articles
Valkyrie drone placed in the US Air Force National Museum
Drones News & Articles
Black Swan unmanned aircraft can handle transport in Europe
Drones News & Articles
Drone-operated motorway planned in the UK
Air taxi News & Articles
What impact will the development and introduction of air taxis have on the workforce and the labour market ?
Drones News & Articles
Edible wing drone could save people in distress
Additional aircraft News & Articles
Could modernised versions of airships return ?
Additional aircraft News & Articles
Aviation on the verge of a revolution
Drones News & Articles
Chinese drone could stay in the air almost forever
Additional aircraft News & Articles
The world’s first flying motorcycle is about to fly
Drones News & Articles
Walmart’s drones now deliver in seven Member States
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
How are companies and governments working to develop and regulate electric Evtols and what challenges do they face in bringing these vehicles to market ?
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
What developments have been made in the field of electric motors ?
Air taxi News & Articles
Stellantis joins forces with air taxi developer Archer
Flying Cars News & Articles
The Alef A flying car is on sale – taxis could be on the way in three years
Flying Cars News & Articles
The Israeli flying car on AIR
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
The first supersonic aircraft engine to run on sustainable fuel
Drones News & Articles
Drones could help weather forecasting
EVTOL & VTOL
The Volocopter is also expected to be commercialised in 2024
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Joint electrification between Renault and Airbus
Air taxi News & Articles
Air taxis are almost here in everyday transport
Flying Cars News & Articles
Xpeng wants to mass produce its flying car in 2024
Drones News & Articles
The European Commission has unveiled a plan to boost the growth of the drone industry within Europe
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
First drop test with an eVTOL lithium-ion battery
More articles you may be interested in...
Flying Cars News & Articles
What safety measures would be introduced in flying cars to prevent accidents ?
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Revolutionising crop production with aircraft
Drones News & Articles
Valkyrie drone placed in the US Air Force National Museum
Drones News & Articles
Black Swan unmanned aircraft can handle transport in Europe
Flying Cars News & Articles
The Alef A flying car is on sale – taxis could be on the way in three years
The Alef A model is a flying car being sold by Alef Aeronautics for around.......... READ MORE
Flying Cars News & Articles
The Israeli flying car on AIR
An Israeli start-up is attempting to distinguish itself by creating an eVTOL intended for widespread.......... READ MORE
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
The first supersonic aircraft engine to run on sustainable fuel
Boom Supersonic's Overture aims to revolutionize supersonic passenger travel with its new engine. The Overture.......... READ MORE
Drones News & Articles
Drones could help weather forecasting
A drone with a wind sensor was used to collect weather data in the Sea.......... READ MORE
EVTOL & VTOL
The Volocopter is also expected to be commercialised in 2024
Volocopter's evtol made its first live flight near Paris in November, and it is hoped.......... READ MORE
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Joint electrification between Renault and Airbus
Renault Group and Airbus have entered into a partnership to develop technology that will speed.......... READ MORE
Air taxi News & Articles
Air taxis are almost here in everyday transport
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has recently expanded the list of aircraft and helicopters.......... READ MORE
Flying Cars News & Articles
Xpeng wants to mass produce its flying car in 2024
The founder of the company, Csao Tölinek, expects that mass production of these vehicles could.......... READ MORE