Aircraft
Inventor Promotes eSTOL
Dr. David Ullman says his eSTOL design is more efficient than eVTOLs
Small ducted fans on the wing surfaces of conventional aircraft offer a better solution than eVTOL, with no battery penalty, according to Dr. David Ullman.
Small ducted fans on the wing surfaces of conventional aircraft offer a better solution than eVTOL, with no battery penalty, according to Dr. David Ullman.

Dr. David Ullman is skeptical about eVTOL and its potential for widespread use as a vehicle for an urban air taxi system. “I think a lot of people who drank the Uber [Elevate] Kool-Aid are in for some real surprises,” said Ullman, who discussed his JabirWatt eSTOL aircraft this week at EAA Airventure. Ullman, a prolific inventor and a former professor of mechanical design at Oregon State University, thinks eVTOLs simply use too much power and that a better alternative is to add small ducted fans to the wing surfaces of conventional aircraft to turn them into high-performance eSTOLs that can use runways as short as 400 feet. 


Loading…