Are you ready to go on an entirely new and thrilling journey? Sweden’s Jetson One, a lightweight and incredibly fun to fly recreational all-electric personal vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft capable of reaching speeds of 63 mph (102 km/h), has already sold out its 2022 manufacturing run. With the safest personal electric aerial vehicle to date, this small aircraft is sure to make the sky accessible to everyone.
The Jetson One is meant to be played with and enjoyed. A space frame made of aluminium and carbon fibre holds its single seat in place. It’s a typical drone-style multicopter with eight props mounted coaxially on four arms and an 88 kW motor (118 horsepower). Jetson claims that even if one of the engines fails, the plane will still fly safely.
A throttle lever on the left, a joystick on the right, and a pair of pedals that control yaw are used by the pilot to operate the aircraft. On a small dash that resembles a smartphone in a cradle, minimal system information is displayed.
If you let go of the sticks, the triple-redundant flight computers will make an emergency landing, and the system keeps pilots out of trouble by using LiDAR-enabled terrain tracking and obstacle avoidance. In addition, a fast deployment ballistic parachute serves as the last protective barrier.
The dimensions of this adorable-looking eVTOL are 2845 mm x 2400 mm x 1030 mm (112 x 95 x 41 inches), and the prop arms fold in to make it smaller than a touring motorcycle in your garage. It weighs size 90 kg (198 lb), and you’ll probably need some assistance lugging it about.
Jetson is offering these as half-assembled home-built kits, with owners flying them across the US on a private pilot’s licence as experimental/home-built aircraft. Although bumper bars appear to be an option for keeping children, dogs, and innocent passersby away from the spinning props, in the event of a collision, there will be a lot of quickly spinning carbon fibre in the air surrounding the pilot’s head and shoulders.
Jetson has created a fun video of a man operating one of these vehicles. They stayed near to the ground, which gives the footage a real feeling of dynamic motion. That may be a relatively safe and entertaining way to pilot these machines, such as zero-gravity dune buggies.
In terms of flight endurance, an 85 kg (187 lb) pilot can expect only 15 minutes of airborne time before the battery needs to be recharged for an extended time. If you’re trying to appreciate your new US$92,000 gadget, fifteen minutes is not enough. Yes, $92,000, with a $22,000 payment to reserve a build space.
However, Jetson’s initial 2022 production run of 12 units have already been sold out. So at this point, it appears that only three places are available for 2023.
Despite this, it is a functional eVTOL buy with a price tag and a two-year production timeline. Enjoy the aerial video below, in which Jetson does a great job of capturing what it may be like to fly one of these adorable looking vehicles.
Source: Jetson Aero