ARC Aerosystems concept to rival established helicopter market
There are plenty of interesting designs in the world of advanced air mobility (AAM), but you don’t always have to recreate the wheel. Glenn Waters, director of advanced technologies at
There are plenty of interesting designs in the world of advanced air mobility (AAM), but you don’t always have to recreate the wheel. Glenn Waters, director of advanced technologies at ARC Aerosystems, explains why it is using legacy technology to develop its AAM solution.
“The certification standards for the technology already exist, and that will allow us to provide an updated version of it in a much more straightforward manner than trying to evolve systems that there is actually no agreed certification basis for at all,” he said.
The company has evolved from its initial gyrocopter design to the Lynx P3, a three-seater version, and is now looking to develop a nine-seater aircraft. “The justification for the nine-seater version is an aircraft that can operate pretty well irrespective of any infrastructure,” Waters continued. “This aircraft concept does not need any aircraft infrastructure development, it is intrinsically safe, it requires no software certification at all, and it leverages the entire aerospace supply and MRO chain.”
ARC’s aircraft will compete with the existing helicopter market but at a significantly cheaper price, and it will have two major advantages – the acquisition and operational cost basis, and the hybrid wing configuration, which gives it a larger range than any equivalent helicopter.
The aircraft is also entirely agnostic to the best green technologies, whether that is all-electric or hydrogen propulsion. ARC has secured some development funding and is at the beginning of its journey to starting operations.
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