Transcend Air is rebooting its ambitions for the advanced air mobility sector after confirming that it is now working on an improved version of the Vy 400 turbine-powered VTOL aircraft it has been developing since 2018. The new twin-engined Vy 421 model will be around 25 percent larger than the earlier design. It will be aimed at civil and military applications and will be able to carry eight people or a cargo payload of 3,500 pounds on flights of just over 1,000 miles at speeds of up to 486 mph.
What is unchanged is the U.S. company’s conviction that neither electric nor hybrid-electric propulsion offers a viable path to commercialization for new forms of vertical lift aviation. Instead, Transcend’s engineering team is looking to maximize speed, range, and payload performance by combining a pair of GE Aviation’s 2,500-shp CT7-8 turboshaft engines with its tiltwing architecture. Additional vertical lift is to be provided by four small ducted fans fitted in the rear fuselage.
