The continental scale and geographical characteristics that make Australia different from other countries aspiring to be hotbeds of new electric aircraft are prompting local start-ups like AMSL Aero to take a fresh approach to jump-start the advanced air mobility (AAM) sector. So, the initial all-electric version of its Vertiia eVTOL vehicle is expected, despite the limitations of battery technology, to deliver a range of up to 250 kilometers (156 miles), while a subsequent leap into hydrogen propulsion could quadruple this target to 1,000 kilometers.
The Sydney-based company’s co-founders, Andrew Moore and Siobhan Lyndon, have been working on their Vertiia design since 2017 and aspire to bring what they say will be the world’s most efficient eVTOL aircraft—in terms of energy use and unit economics—to market by 2026, and perhaps earlier for the battery-electric version. Their secret sauce is a seven-meter (23-foot) box wing configuration that they say will deliver aerodynamic efficiency equivalent to that of models with much larger wingspans, as well as the compact scale needed to operate in tight urban spaces.
AMSL sees emergency medical support operations as a likely earlier adopter of the Vertiia, and it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Sydney-based CareFlight with this in mind. Air charter services are also a target market for the vehicle, whose cabin could accommodate six seats.
Having already flown a subscale technology demonstrator, the AMSL team is now assembling the first full-scale prototype that it hopes to start hover testing before the end of 2022, subject to the whims of the uncharacteristically wet weather being endured in southeastern Australia as the southern hemisphere spring gives way to summer. The flight test program will be used to collect data needed to finalize the design and to improve the flight control system,
Since 2018, the company has been engaging with Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority to plan type certification under Part 23 rules. Moore said the agency is closely aligned with the FAA's approach to approving new eVTOL aircraft.
So far, the program's expenses have been covered by several funding rounds, some government-backed grants, and a couple of research and development contracts from Australia’s defense department. AMSL has just completed a new funding round that raised A$23 million ($14.5 million).
Moore is an aeronautical engineer who started his career with the Royal Australian Navy, working on helicopters as part of peacekeeping missions with poor transport infrastructure and later in projects such as modifying air ambulance aircraft with companies including Raytheon. Raised by a Navy pilot father, he started flying while living on a farm accessed by one of the country’s rural airstrips, experiences that he told FutureFlight shaped his perspective on AAM’s possibilities in Australia and nearby countries across the Asia Pacific rim.
“A lot of the world doesn’t fit the standard urban air mobility model, and we believe that the right type of eVTOL aircraft can change the social fabric of the planet and enable economies to accelerate,” Moore concluded. “Australia is one of the largest users of aviation in various forms, and has the world’s second-largest air ambulance market, which is predominantly government funded.”
Much of this activity is now based on fixed-wing aircraft, with helicopters deemed to be too expensive. AMSL is designing the Vertiia to be able to withstand Australia’s varied environmental conditions, which can include snow and blistering 40-degree Celsius temperatures.
