Jetson, Joby and Pivotal Fly eVTOL Demos at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center During UP.Summit

Personal flying machines, quiet air taxis and drone delivery aircraft shared the runway with rockets last week at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The demonstrations took place during UP.Summit, the transportation innovation conference that NASA hosted at the center for the first time as part of MAX POWER, its multi-day aerospace expo and air show held Nov. 4-8.

Who flew

The flying took place around Kennedy’s historic Shuttle Landing Facility. According to AvBrief, which covered the summit, flight demonstrations came from Joby, Beta, Wing and Gravity, along with Electra’s ultra-short takeoff and landing aircraft. Among the highlights:

• Jetson ONE: the single-seat electric multirotor flew hover and maneuvering demos, with Blue Origin’s New Glenn upper stage as a backdrop, a scene Space.com picked as its Nov. 9 photo of the day. Jetson also staged an aerial race demo, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy climbed into one of the aircraft on the ground.
• Pivotal BlackFly: Pivotal’s single-seat VTOL took off and landed on Nov. 5, according to Florida Today, which also photographed the company’s Helix personal aircraft on display.
• Joby: the company’s electric air taxi flew what AvBrief described as a nearly silent demonstration.
• Electra: the hybrid-electric EL9 showed off its very short takeoff and landing ability.

Static displays included Beta’s all-electric Alia CX300, a GE hybrid-electric aircraft, a recently flown SpaceX Falcon 9 booster, a full-scale mockup of the Vast commercial space station and Tesla’s Roadster.

Bigger announcements

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who skydived into the event, used MAX POWER to unveil the agency’s newest experimental aircraft, the X-70 Fractal. AvBrief reported that Isaacman also announced CAPEWEEK, a new annual aerospace event at Kennedy meant to build on the summit and open more of it to the public. NASA said thousands attended across the week.

Why it matters

Most of what flew at Kennedy is not available to the public as a ride or a product yet. Joby’s air taxi is still working through FAA type certification, and personal aircraft like the Jetson ONE and Pivotal’s designs are sold under the FAA’s ultralight rules in Part 103, which allow single-seat recreational flight with no pilot certificate but bar flights over congested areas and commercial use. Still, putting these aircraft in front of NASA leadership, the transportation secretary and investors in one place shows how quickly advanced air mobility is moving from trade show renderings to aircraft that actually fly. Florida has become a hub for that activity, with eVTOL pilot program work in Tampa Bay and Orlando and an earlier Jetson ONE purchase by a university police department.

What this means for drone pilots

Personal eVTOLs and multirotor drones share a lot of DNA: distributed electric motors, flight controllers that handle stabilization, and battery management that defines the mission. Pilots who understand how multirotors fly, how weather affects performance and how airspace is structured already have a head start on this new category of aviation.

Big air shows and high-profile visits like this one often come with temporary flight restrictions, and drone pilots near the Space Coast need to check them before every flight. Knowing how to find and read TFRs is the kind of knowledge tested on the FAA’s Part 107 exam. If you want to turn drone flying into a career and keep pace with where aviation is going, start with Drone U’s Part 107 test prep course. Students have been known to take the online course in 3 days and pass the test.

Sources: HoverNews; AvBrief; Space.com; Florida Today; NASA.

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