Korean startup Plana Aero, founded by the guy that led Hyundai/Supernal's early eVTOL program, has begun work on a new long-range, hybrid-electric VTOL air taxi designed to carry up to seven people about 500 km at speeds up to 350 km/h.
The machine in the concept renders has a fairly unique look; its long, thin fuselage sweeps out into an upper main wing, and a knife-thin pair of canards extend from lower down the main tube up front. The propulsion system is a full vectored thrust design, using large, tilting five-blade electric props. Two are mounted to the canards, two at the outer front edges of the main wing, and the third pair sit closer to the fuselage on the trailing edge of the main wing, making the overall layout in hover mode something akin to a hexacopter.
As a larger, hybrid-powered, long-range, relatively high-speed design, the aircraft looks like a good regional air minibus candidate. Plana's roadmap would get a demonstration aircraft built by 2024, and a fully certified machine into production by 2028.
