The Rotor X Aircraft Manufacturing Company (RX), makers of the Rotor X Phoenix A600 Turbo helicopter, is entering the electric Air Taxi market with their revolutionary world’s most efficient helicopter, called the RX eTransporter. RX is now operating the former RotorWay International factory in Chandler, Arizona which made kit helicopters for 53 years.
The patent pending RX eTransporter is pitched as “dramatically more efficient and less expensive than all other eVTOL concepts being proposed or developed today”. RX is working in collaboration with its partner company Advanced Tactics Inc (AT) of Torrance, California. This 4-rotor (or quad-rotor) helicopter named the RX eTransporter, is the first of its kind for civilian and industrial use. This 6-passenger helicopter provides plenty of leg room and comfortable charter-jet type interiors, and the open-interior version is ideal for air taxi operations, package delivery, search and rescue, personnel recovery, and MEDEVAC operations.
Typical eVTOL Air Taxi aircraft use small inefficient propellers for vertical lift, have very complex and expensive geometries, complex engine drive-systems and tilt-mechanisms, inefficient wings, and less payload capacity – even with the extensive use of expensive carbon-fibre construction.
Instead of relying on a large wing to make the aircraft more efficient after takeoff the RX eTransporter uses a smaller wing that only enhances the natural lift of this helicopter. It does not require a tail rotor; this greatly increases the efficiency of the RX eTransporter. The RX eTransporter can takeoff and land vertically and fly for over 1.5 hours, or hover for over 45 minutes on a single charge. Typical eVTOL’s that are in the news today can only hover for a few minutes before needing to land. Having this outstanding eVTOL hovering capability makes the RX eTransporter ideal for commercial cargo and personnel flights immediately after completing FAA air worthiness testing next year.
The RX eTransporter technology has been in development for over a decade, with many heavy lift multi-rotor prototypes completed by partner company Advanced Tactics Inc (AT).
Because of its high efficiency, the RX eTransporter can have a maximum hover for over 45 minutes on a single charge while also being able to conduct forward flights exceeding 1.5 hours. At a maximum cruise speed of 140 mph and utilizing its wing for even more energy conservation the aircraft would fly over 200 miles on one charge. On military missions, an additional 50 miles of range can be achieved.
Through a partnership with AT, Rotor X Aircraft Manufacturing Company (RX) will make civilian versions of the aircraft being developed for the U.S. Air Force. “The eVTOL Air Taxi is our goal,” says the company. “We are seeking FAA air worthiness certification later this year, and we plan to have the first flight in the Fall of 2021 with expected commercial FAA air taxi certification by Fall of 2024”.