Kitty Hawk Flyer Permanently Grounded

What goes up, must come down. Such is the fate of the Flyer, an eVTOL project launched in 2015 headed by Sebastian Thrun (a former Google Fellow who founded Udacity).

The Flyer had its wings permanently clipped, according to the company. The eVTOL, which, at 250 pounds, qualified as an ultralight aircraft that didn’t require a pilot’s license, had logged more than 25,000 successful flights.

Most of the company’s 70ish employees will be laid off, but some will be transferred to work on Heaviside. The company describes Heaviside as a one-passenger electric aircraft with a range of 100 miles at speeds up to 180 mph that operates significantly more quietly than a helicopter.

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