Wings and Wheels for Australian Pegasus

A three-hour commute to attend the Avalon Airshow on day one was especially auspicious as Australian company Pegasus was displaying its latest iteration of a flying car. In case this seems a bit ‘pie in the sky’ there’s plenty of companies vying for a slice of the sky in this domain.

Pegasus appears to be the only Australian company that is in that space but there are overseas companies – more about one of those later. However, it should also be said that many competitors to Pegasus do not offer identical craft with many making passenger craft that take off and land but are not capable of being driven on a road.

Pegasus is one of only two flying car manufacturers globally who have obtained national airworthiness certification.

Jacky Yang who is the Pegasus Chief Technical Officer was at the Avalon Airshow with two versions of the Pegasus.

According to the company a unique integration of modern automobile and rotorcraft technologies enabled it to create the Pegasus E, a true VTOL-capable drivable flying car that can be parked in any general car park or garage.

“The Pegasus is a unique product made as practical as possible. Meaning we can go and register this particular aircraft already, and we can fly anywhere that we want. So, this is something that no other company can do at the moment,” said Mr Yang.

The transition between aircraft and car can be done in three seconds at the push of one button. When the Pegasus lands, the main rotors fold in half automatically using centrifugal force – this is a patented technology.

The Pegasus E controls are also very similar to cars and rotorcrafts and a patented three- foot paddle system integrates all driving and flight controls into one package, allowing driving controls to be the same as a normal car and flight controls to be the same as a rotorcraft.

Being a hybrid flying car, the Pegasus E has a range of three hours, equivalent to 420kms. In flight, it has a top speed of 160km/h, and 120km/h (electronically limited) when driving on the road. Easy to obtain 95RON unleaded petrol is the standard fuel so users will not suffer from range anxiety – not something you want to experience while in the air. “Pegasus is a hybrid so we can make it fly for more than three hours,” Mr Yang explained. “That means between cities. Now we can also travel instead of just doing a short 10km range.”

The Pegasus E is built with advanced lightweight materials like autoclave prepreg carbon composites, titanium and aircraft grade 6061 T6 aluminium. The chassis construction aims to keep the Pegasus as light as possible. Race car style double wishbone front suspension enables the vehicle when on the road to mix it with normal traffic.

The front end is a very conventional front drive system. The rear drive is a swing-arm system, which takes all the landing load and the take-off load extremely well. This is where the innovation is because a flying car can’t be all conventional. The innovation is in the drive and the transition time.

Police ready Pegasus

Alongside the passenger version of the Pegasus at the Avalon Airshow was a police version which is a great idea though one that can’t be totally attributed to this company as another company Italian Pal-V has also taken a leap into emergency vehicle space with their PAL-V – more about that later.

Mr Young said his company has released the Pegasus police version of the flying car because they see a great scope for a vehicle that can respond much quicker to emergencies than current police cars or helicopters and cheaper to run. Other uses could be to monitor traffic or incidents. You can also envisage the use of a Pegasus for other emergency services – again something that PAL-V has initiated.

Pegasus in the Olympics

Another area that the company is considering is providing their vehicle for taxi services during the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. Mr Yang is enthusiastic about the prospect of an Australian made flying taxi used at the event, it will not only promote their company to the world but also Australia’s innovations in engineering.

To make that happen the company has opened the process of communication with federal agencies and CASA (Civil Avation Safety Authority – Australia) to ensure that current and future regulations are met. While Pegasus is a small company it has a good base of Australian engineering talent onboard including Peter Schaefer a wellknown former team manager/engineer of Formula Brabham, former team manager of the Gibson Racing Team and former structural designer and aerodynamicists for the Holden Racing Team.

Alongside Mr Schaefer is a team of aeronautical, electrical, CAD and mechanical engineers. Jacky Yang, apart from his role as CTO, is also the test pilot and holder of a delta wing pilot’s licence and a civil helicopter licence, and he is an ex-open wheeler race driver.

The future is in the air

Morgan Stanley has recently released a report based on the eVTOL market (available at: https://assets.verticalmag.com/wpcontent/uploads/2021/05/Morgan-StanleyURBAN_20210506_0000.pdf) that predicts that by 2040 the market will reach $1 trillion which is a substantial amount for what only yesterday seemed like something out of a Jetsons cartoon.

Mr Yang said that he is convinced that this technology is on the way up because there is no longer room to expand in a 2-dimensional way.

“We must elevate to the third dimension,” he said. “We can ease traffic on the ground. We can get people from point A to point B much faster.”

A Pal in the sky

Italian company PAL-V is another company that has travelled down the road of designing and building a flying car with its PAL-V Liberty that the company says has the capacity to reach a maximum speed of around 180 km/h in the air and almost 160 km/h on the road. Its wind-powered rotors provide a range of around 1300 kilometres in the air and around 500 on road.

This vehicle is about the same size as a car but transforms to a gyroplane at the press of a button. In the UK SkyAngels Air Ambulance has joined PAL-V in a partnership to provide fast transport solutions.

“Range, payload, and practicality are key factors when considering a flying car for our air ambulance service. The PAL-V Liberty is not just an aircraft, and neither is it just a car it’s both,” David Polo Marks, CEO/Airboss of SkyAngels, said.

“The fact that the aircraft can drive on roads means that it is not restricted by weather conditions and it’s a car that can fly which doesn’t need roads so makes it an ideal solution for our emergency response needs, especially in areas where ground infrastructure is limited. We are thrilled to have PAL-V as our partner and look forward to utilising their unique technology in our operations.”

The PAL-V Liberty will operate as one of SkyAngels’ fast response vehicles, with advanced paramedics and doctors able to utilise its unique abilities to get to the scene faster and more efficiently.

The PAL-V Liberty can be used on short flights over natural obstacles, such as flying to the Isle of Wright or the Isle of Man. But can also be used as quick transfer cross country, independent from the major highways and the congestion.

“The reservation of SkyAngels shows their trust in our product, and we look forward to further developing this partnership to make emergency response better,” Robert Dingemanse, CEO of PAL-V, said.

“SkyAngels Air ambulance has a unique use case for the Liberty, which also helps us to develop the business and governmental markets. Besides emergency response, it is also a tool which can be used for coast guarding, border patrol, policing and many more applications.”

Specifications:

Pegasus Flying Car - E class

Engine: Pegasus 800/160 hp

Fuel type: #95 unleaded

Dry weight: 265kgs

Vehicle Height: 1900mm

Wheelbase: 2900mm

Front track: 1800mm

Rear track: 1745mm

Rotor diameter: 5285mm

Fuel capacity: 60 litres

Ground to air transition time: 3 seconds

Ground top speed: 120 km/h

Take-off and landing distance: 0 metres

Max Air speed: 160km/h

Max cruise speed: 130 km/h

Max range: 420 km

Max flight time: 3 hours

Maximum flight altitude: 1800 metres

Useful payload: 101 kgs

Fuel economy: 20 litres per hour