e-Starling Jet ARC Aerosystems Ltd. Bedfordshire, United Kingdom www.ARCAerosystems.com

The ARC Aerosystems e-Starling Jet is a Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) electric jet that will carry passengers on regional and short-haul flights.

The e-Starling will be an electric business jet. It is a fixed wing aircraft with a V-tail. Three jet engines are fixed above the wings and tail. For VTOL the fuselage opens sliding hatches for two fixed vertical propellers and the engines fixed on the wings extend cowlings that angle 90 degrees down for four VTOL points of thrust. Should the jet slip below stall speed it will automatically adjust to hover. The vehicle will carry up to seven people. While ARC is working toward autonomous flight they also plan for a fly-by-the-wire system and an operator with 20 hours of emergency training to be at the controls. Two alternate hybrid electric configurations, the Starling and UAV Starling, are also being developed by ARC.

The Starling will be able to use vertiports and small landing areas. The company is targeting the business and luxury travel markets.

On Nov. 30, 2020, ARC announced the successful electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) first flight of its 1/2-scale e-Starling prototype.

The half-scale eCTOL demonstrator, with a length of 22 ft (6.7 m) and a 26-ft (8-m) wingspan, used a trailing-edge coaxial propeller on each side of the fuselage. The aircraft flew at 90 mph (145 km/h) for five minutes in an eCTOL configuration, setting the groundwork for eVTOL tests flights in 2021. According to a press release, the company plans on performing a test of the aircraft’s autonomous flight capabilities following this successful eCTOL test.

ARC Aerosystems’s aircraft are venture-capital funded. Sales are expected by 2024. The e-Starling will cost about ten million dollars.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: eVTOL aircraft
• Pilots: None
• Passengers: 7
• Cruise speed: 260 knots (482 km/h, 300 mph)
• Range: 644 km (400 miles)
• Propeller Count: 3
• Wing type: Fixed-wing
• Tail assembly: V-tail

Resources:

• ARC website
• e-Starling Jet homepage
• Video: World’s first hybrid-electric VTOL business jet
• First Press Release: Introducing the Starling Jet
• Article: Samad Aerospace Intros VTOL Business Aircraft Concept, AIN Online, Feb. 5, 2018
• Article: VTOL Hopeful Makes EBACE Debut, AIN Online, May 30, 2018
• Article:  Samad Aerospace targets passenger flight with electric e-Starling, Aerospace America, July 17, 2018
• Video: Samad Aerospace’s half scaled e-Starling CTOL test, Samad Aerospace, Nov. 30, 2020

News source: evtol