The future is now as eVTOL aircrafts are starting to work their way into our sky. Rani Plaut is bringing individual flying aircrafts to the average consumer with the AIR ONE, which will be set in motion in 2024. We talked with Plaut about the Air One and the importance that air mobility brings to our future.
You’re the CEO and co-founder of AIR, a business working towards the future of air mobility. Why do you think air mobility will be a valuable tool for generations to come?
Time is our most precious resource. You can’t buy time with money, but you can choose to use new technology and products that will save you time. Right now, people spend so much time sitting in traffic that could be better spent doing things they love on their own terms. What we’re doing is enabling consumers to go exactly where they want, when they want. We’re on the cusp of a new era of air mobility, where the skies are no longer limited to airlines and professional pilots. Our mission is to give everyone the freedom to fly.
The future of air mobility isn’t just personal, but electric, which also has enormous environmental benefits. The adoption of electric air mobility will help reduce the pollution caused by tons of cars idling in traffic every day. By enabling people to use innovative electric vehicles to fly unencumbered to their destinations, we’re helping save the environment in style.
The Air One, a two-seater aircraft, has recently been revealed by your company. Where did the idea for this come from?
Chen Rosen, my co-founder and AIR’s CTO, has been in the aerospace industry for years. After spending some time developing drones, he was inspired to apply his expertise to personal air mobility development. There are many innovations and insights from both the aerospace and automotive industries that, when combined, can truly transform the way people get from point A to point B.
A big obstacle that comes with creating these aircrafts is ensuring safety to your customers. How can you guarantee people that they will be secure when flying this aircraft?
From inception, we prioritized safety in the design process to ensure owners feel as secure in the Air One as they feel in their car. The occupants of the Air One are enveloped in a high degree of redundancy, simplicity and safety while the vehicle is constantly scanning its surroundings for hazards. This also includes cross checking its systems for discrepancies throughout the entire flight. Its integrated Fly-By-Intent system ensures an understanding of the driver’s intentions and translating that into the necessary control inputs, basically eliminating the possibility of a loss of control. We also built in redundant design elements to ensure safety in case of an issue: the eight rotors are the only critical moving parts in the entire design and the vehicle can remain airborne with the loss of a battery pack, rotor and even a wing. In case of a failure, the system will prompt the driver and politely ask him/her to land as soon as is practical. Furthermore, the Air One comes with a ballistic parachute as an added layer of safety.
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When I think about operating a flying vehicle, I picture all of the training pilots must go through to be certified to fly. How challenging is it to maneuver these aircrafts for the average person?
The Air one was designed to be extremely simple to operate. We’re currently working directly with the FAA on exactly what the training will entail, but our aim is something similar to a Sport Pilot license, which requires 15 to 30 hours and costs roughly $4,000. Thanks to our ‘Fly-By-Intent’ technology, the driver only needs to point the joystick in the desired direction and the system will make the necessary control and power adjustments needed to get there. Furthermore, the only control in the Air One is the single joystick which controls direction, speed and altitude.
What inspired you to get involved in this type of work?
My background is in physics and mathematics, which led me to a lifetime of work in the automotive and aerospace industries. I am also a firm believer in the power of smart technology to unlock human potential and solve the problems we, as a society, have created. Reducing even a small portion of ground transportation will result in the relief of systemic congestion, and I believe the way to do this is by introducing sustainable air mobility into our communities.
Your company began its process in 2017. What do you envision the future of your company to look like?
The future of personal mobility will rely on trailblazers who will help to pave the way for wider adoption. Air One vehicles will begin to roll out in 2024. This will be a crucial moment for the eVTOL industry as a whole, as it will be the first time consumers see flying vehicles like this in their everyday lives. In addition to manufacturers and policymakers, these trailblazing early adopters will set the tone and be able to influence how the rest of the society embraces this new form of mobility as it begins to take off. As eVTOLs gain public acceptance, we plan to design and release additional models in the hope of giving as many people as possible the freedom to fly on a regular basis.
Photography by: Courtesy AIR
