A clean-energy air taxi firm has received clearance from the UK aviation authorities to begin test flights, with early customers including SkyAngels air ambulance charity and a pilot training school.
ARC Aero Systems has received permission from the Civil Aviation Authority to conduct flights for its Avian Pegasus electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) gyroplane that uses a self-charging hybrid-electric engine that can run on a range of fuels, including hydrogen.
This has led the company, which has inserted this engine into a 'tried and tested' jump takeoff gyroplane developed in Canada in the 1960s, to launch a £1.5 million funding round as it looks to offer the aircraft to commercialise the vehicle and "transform rural transportation".
Unlike other eVTOL transport providers that are reliant on significant infrastructure investment to operate, ARC says its Pegasus self-charging engine requires no e-charging facilities and only needs a small area of level ground to land and take-off.
Pre-sales of 15 Pegasus aircraft have been secured so far, including 10 from the SkyAngels charity and a further five to be commissioned by a Scottish-based pilot training school and an aerial service operator.
Funding is being sought through crowdfunding and contributions from private investors to help the company test Pegasus with the aim of bringing it to the market in 2026, and a larger nine-seat Linx P9 compound rotorcraft for 2029.
ARC founder Dr Seyed Mosheni, who has to-date raised around £9 million for the company from investors including the British Business Bank and grants from the Low Carbon Innovation Fund and Innovate UK, said: “Through our adapted design of the Avian Pegasus, we are developing an aircraft that is already certified by global aviation authority rules and has existing pilot training programme syllabuses."
He said the company is "at an exciting stage in our development and already securing advance orders for Pegasus demonstrating the wider market confidence in our innovative proposition".