Mark Huber is an aviation industry veteran who has worked in the flight training, aircraft sales, aircraft component, and airport development businesses. He has flight time in more than 50 different and diverse aircraft, including helicopters, aerobatic aircraft, vintage warbirds, jet fighters, business jets and turboprops, and transport-category aircraft. He has jumped out of several of these—on purpose—with a parachute. His defense and aviation journalism has been published in a variety of national and international periodicals.

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Mark Huber

Bell Helicopter will unveil its design for an urban air-taxi design tomorrow at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The four-passenger design will offer full connectivity, including video conferencing capability.
“The future of urban air taxi is closer than many people realize. We believe in the positive impact our design will have on addressing transportation concerns in cities worldwide,” said Bell CEO Mitch Snyder. “While we are laser-focused on the passenger experience and eager to share with the public, Bell continues to develop our air-taxi design to provide safe, reliable transportation services to the world.”

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<div style="margin-bottom:5px;"><img alt="augmented reality" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="789b7175-a866-4abc-8fb5-31eaa015cb0c" src="/sites/default/files/webbell-ces-2017-barry-ambrose-12_0.jpg" width="2048" height="1337" loading="lazy"></div>
<figcaption style="font-size:1.5rem;line-height:1.2;font-style:italic;">Attendees can use augmented reality to see operation in various scenarios. (Photo: Barry Ambrose)</figcaption>
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This week during CES 2018, attendees can experience an augmented reality simulator, inside the air-taxi cabin, designed to portray a variety of flight scenarios, including cross-city day and night trips. Last year, global ride-sharing service Uber and Bell announced plans to partner and accelerate the eventual large-scale deployment of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles.

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<div style="margin-bottom:5px;"><img alt="seat-back monitors" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="554ed8ad-e782-4bad-8135-c8d478bece92" src="/sites/default/files/webbell-ces-2017-barry-ambrose-8_0.jpg" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy"></div>
<figcaption style="font-size:1.5rem;line-height:1.2;font-style:italic;">Seat-back monitors give passengers in the rear row a look ahead. (Photo: Barry Ambrose)</figcaption>
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Last year, Scott Drennan, Bell’s director of engineering innovation, said his company’s design would be robust enough to fly 2,000 hours per year; be “modular, adaptable, and scalable”; be able to use a variety of powerplants; have both civil passenger and military logistics applications; and likely be certified under the FAA’s new powered-lift category developed for tiltrotors. Uber believes urban air taxis can be operated for a cost near $1.32 per mile, about one-third of the price of operating a turbine helicopter.

News and issues regarding all manner of civil and military rotorcraft and their powerplants, including helicopters, tilt rotors and unmanned air vehicles.

Bell Helicopter To Unveil Urban Air Taxi at CES 2018

Four-passenger design will offer full connectivity, including video conferencing capability.

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