Palo Alto–based company Pivotal took to the skies at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club this Saturday to demo an unusual single-seater, ultralight aircraft, the BlackFly. On the ground and in flight, it looks like a mix of a drone, a kayak, an airplane, and a helicopter. In actuality, however, the BlackFly is an all-electric aircraft that uses eight small propellers and motors to provide thrust and lift. This allows for the BlackFly to perform vertical take-offs and landings like a helicopter.
The BlackFly is Pivotal’s first aircraft and was under development for close to 15 years, initially in founder Marcus Leng’s backyard. The version at the Polo fields weighed in at 348 pounds, above the ultralight category’s weight limit of 254 pounds as it had added accessories like the ballistic parachute. Saturday’s flights were piloted by Pivotal customer and ex-paratrooper Tim Lum, who said he had flown thousands of times in the BlackFly, using it to explore his home state of Washington while recharging the aircraft with his Cybertruck.
Lum stated that he had explored many ultralight aircraft but none performed as well as Pivotal’s. He admired the BlackFly’s versatility and how he could pack it up in a trailer and charge it off his truck.
The BlackFly — formally called an eVTOL, or electric vertical takeoff and landing craft — has a range of 20 miles and a cruising speed of 55 knots, or 63 mph. It takes about 75 minutes to fully charge its batteries. It costs $190,000 to purchase one of these hybrid fliers.
The keel of the BlackFly allows it to tilt backward when taking off as the front rotors face upward in the traditional helicopter orientation. The rear rotors kick in under computerized control. The model demonstrated had skids and pods, which could also move the aircraft along the ground in a standard take-off configuration.
Under the new FAA Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification and previous ultralight designations, the BlackFly does not require a pilot’s license, but Pivotal requires the completion of a week-long training course as a condition of purchase.
Matt Hubert, Pivotal’s head of Quality and Supply Chain, was onsite and remarked that looking into turbo hybrid engines would be the clearest path to increasing the range in the future but would add weight and potentially reclassify the aircraft type.
In addition to recreational flying, Pivotal is looking into emergency medical applications for the aircraft. The BlackFly provides a way to rapidly insert a medic into hard to reach locations, the staffers said, and the company was pursuing lease agreements with California fire departments and the Department of Defense to explore more practical applications for their product.
The company’s newest machine is its next-generation aircraft, the Helix, which is expected to be released next year.
