With personal flying machines being unveiled almost monthly, Assen Aero is the latest company to emerge from stealth mode and show their A1 prototype. The A1 is a ducted fan tri-copter that combines drastically improved performance with great looks. “The biggest concerns about these emerging vehicles are about their safety, noise and duration of flight” says Assen Andonov., the founder and CEO of Assen Aero. The A1 flying bike is designed to take advantage of the benefits of ducting the propellers to produce a quiet, safe and efficient personal flying machine.
With most of the talk recently being focused on ‘flying cars” and air taxis, Assen Aero is aiming at the more gradual introduction of these new vehicles initially by keeping their speeds below 60 MPH. “We believe that the way to influence social acceptance is by removing the risk from the public and so we have focused on the leisure and extreme sport application as we believe these vehicles will blend more naturally into people’s lives in these roles” says Andonov. The company plans to organize racing events and demonstration flights next year to promote the utility of the eVTOL vehicles, and to pave the way for easier acceptance of the personal flying vehicles in our daily lives.
The company was founded in 2015 after a conversation with a close friend who had visited Haiti and saw the many cracks on the streets due to the earthquake that hit in 2010. ‘How can an ambulance cross to the other side of the street if there’s a crack in the middle of the road?’ asked himself Andonov and the idea of the flying bike was born. It took the company two and a half years to design and manufacture the prototype and now they are testing it at an undisclosed location in South Florida.
Visitors to Airventure 2018 can see the A1 VTOL at Assen Aeronautics booth number IC-13 at the EAA Innovation Showcase. The show is open July 23rd to July 29th
For more information visit www.assen.aero or send an email to: info@assen.aero