The Short-hop-adventure-craft Category Takes Off

Inside the flight deck of Pivotal's Blackfly eVTOL, an ultra-smart ultra-light with eight propellers, electric propulsion and no pilot's licence required.

- Michael Verdon

SOARING 200FT OFF the ground, alone in a small aircraft, with no piloting experience sounds like a nightmare to some. For electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) start-up Pivotal, it sounds like the future. For this writer, it was a chance to strap in once again to test the air (literally) around this burgeoning space, having previously piloted another recent entrant, the Ryse Recon. The latest opportunity came via Pivotal’s prototype Blackfly, a single-person electric ultra-light that can be mastered without the flight training required for a private pilot’s licence. At least, that’s the claim from the Silicon Valley-based outfit, backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, before I arrived at its headquarters to see for myself.

Which isn’t to say the training that is required isn’t thorough. Before I could take off, I needed to complete a typical owner’s course consisting of a 7-day, 19-lesson curriculum in Pivotal’s simulator (a multi-axis seat and virtual reality goggles recreate the flight deck, which rears back 90 degrees for vertical takeoffs) that virtually replicated the airport in Byron, California, where 3 days of real flights would take place. Guidance and expertise came from John Gilbert and Sabrina Alesna, both pilots and flight instructors.