Boeing Passenger Air Vehicle

The Boeing Passenger Air Vehicle (PAV) is an American autonomous personal air vehicle prototype developed by the Boeing NeXt division of Boeing with the assistance of Aurora Flight Sciences.[1]

Passenger Air Vehicle
Boeing Passenger Air Vehicle mockup at Dubai Air Show 2019
Role Personal air vehicle
National origin United States
Manufacturer Boeing NeXt
First flight 22 January 2019
Introduction planned for 2024
Status Under development

Development

Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences designed an electric VTOL prototype, developing it to prototype by 2019.[1] First, a model 1:10 was used to test the concept; it was flown with and without a fuselage. Further flight tests, with a 1:4 scale concept aircraft, were also conducted by Aurora.[2]

The PAV first flew on January 22, 2019, in Manassas, Virginia,[3] hovering before further tests and a transition to forward flight.

By September 2020, Boeing was to close its Boeing NeXt division, in response to financial losses in the wake of the 737 MAX groundings and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on aviation.[4]

Design

The three-surface aircraft has twin booms each supporting four lift rotors slightly angled alternatively outward and inwards, a pusher propeller and the rear wing has vertical surfaces at each end.

Accident

On June 4, 2019, the PAV crashed during its 5th test flight. Boeing representatives declined to disclose details of the crash.[5]

During the flight test engineers noted some brief data dropouts and abnormal motor speeds, and decided to terminate the flight. The pilot entered the autoland command, and after a small descent, the aircraft motors went to idle and the aircraft impacted the runway. The aircraft was substantially damaged. A review of the recorded data revealed that vibration occurred and briefly exceeded the jerk logic threshold used to detect contacts to the ground (in addition to squat switches). The aircraft entered the ground mode, subsequently commanding the motors to shutdown.[6]

Specifications (PAV)

Data from Electric VTOL News and THE VERGE,[2][7] (January 2019)

General characteristics

  • Crew: None (autopilot)
  • Capacity: 2 passengers, 225 kg (496 lb) payload
  • Length: 30 ft 0 in (9.14 m)
  • Wingspan: 28 ft 0 in (8.53 m)
  • Empty weight: 1,268 lb (575 kg)
  • Max takeoff weight: 1,764 lb (800 kg)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Pusher,[8] horizontal axis Electric
  • Powerplant: 8 × Lifting,[8] almost vertical axis Electric each 100 hp (75 kW)
  • Propellers: 5-bladed

Performance

  • Cruise speed: 110 mph (180 km/h, 97 kn)
  • Range: 50 mi (80 km, 43 nmi)

See also

Related development

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

Related lists

References
  1. "Boeing Autonomous Passenger Air Vehicle Completes First Flight" (Press release). Boeing. Jan 23, 2019.
  2. "Aurora Passenger Air Vehicle (PAV)". Electric VTOL News.
  3. "Boeing's autonomous electronic VTOL passenger vehicle completes first flight". intelligent-aerospace.com. 23 January 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  4. Charles Alcock (September 17, 2020). "Boeing NeXt To Close, Raising Doubts over eVTOL Activities". AIN online.
  5. Siebenmark, Jerry (2019-06-12). "Boeing's Autonomous Prototype Crashes". Aviation International News.
  6. English, William R. (13 March 2020). "National Transportation Safety Board Aviation Accident Final Report for DCA19LA154". National Transportation Safety Board. National Transportation Safety Board. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-26.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  7. Andrew J. Hawkins (23 January 2019). "Boeing's experimental autonomous aircraft completes its first test flight". theverge.com. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  8. "Boeing Passenger Air Vehicle (PAV)". transportup.com. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
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