SIKORSKY ARCHIVES PHOTO


The Ship That Launched a Thousand Flights


Sikorsky’s VS-300


Sikorsky’s “last-ditch” effort to save his company established an industry.


By James T. McKenna T 40 ROTOR DECEMBER 2022


HE VERTICAL AVIATION INDUSTRY IS ON the threshold of a new era, one promising frequent flights of multirotor aircraft powered by distributed sets of computer-managed electric motors. Advocates for this fledgling sector of


electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft are developing vehicles capable of carrying small loads of pas- sengers and light payloads between urban and suburban vertiports, independent of runways.


Nearly 200 eVTOL projects were unveiled in 2021, with


estimated funding doubling, according to the Vertical Flight Society, which closely monitors the sector. Another 100 were added through July 2022. Most are still confined to drawing boards, but some developers are flight testing aircraft, with ambitious certification goals. Tis surge in engineering, development, and financing


mirrors a two-decade period 100 years ago in which increased interest, energy, and funding—and the dedicated pursuit of


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