Skyportz’s air taxi vertipad design has received the Blue Sky Innovation Award at the Avalon International Airshow in Australia.
Innovation Awards Convenor, Dr Gregor Ferguson, explained that Skyportz’s entry was particularly strong: Skyportz noted a problem with downwash velocities, anticipated that it could become significant (as it would affect the social license of all air taxi operators by endangering their passengers), then presented a solution that was clearly the result of significant thought.
Dr Ferguson said, “The Judging panel was impressed by all of the entries, and the Skyportz vertipad was a worthy winner in a very strong field of entrants.”
The issue of downwash and outwash safety has been highlighted by the FAA in January in its Engineering Brief 105A where the American air regulator indicated that vertipads will need to have a wind safety zone beyond the landing surface. This safety zone has been defined as where the wind speed exceeds 34.5 mph.
The actual required physical dimensions of the safety zone will differ between aircraft, but will expectedly result in significant additional footprint requirements. Research conducted by Professor Justin Leontini at the Swinburne University concluded that the Skyportz modular vertipad may dissipate energy up to 250% faster than an air taxi landing on a flat tarmac, thereby safely shrinking the land size required for vertiports
The Australian air regulator, CASA recently released vertiport guidelines, signaling a commitment to facilitate Advanced Air Mobility in Australia. EASA and FAA have also released vertiport guidelines, signaling the wide policy support for new landing sites globally.
Skyportz CEO, Clem Newton-Brown, commented, “The Skyportz vertipad patent has some very real applications as cities move to establishing vertiport networks outside of existing airports and helipads. It means that with our vertipad you can safely use less land or fit more vertipads onto smaller plots. We are now in discussions with potential partners to licence our technology in all emerging markets so we can make our vertipad available to all.”
Skyportz added that the company aims to break the nexus between aviation and airports, enabling commercial and industrial property developers to host vertiports, “The vertiport infrastructure is the missing piece of the puzzle for this industry. It is only with a multitude of new vertipad landing sites in places people want to go, that the industry will be able to deliver on the promise of aviation on demand.”
