02 / Aircraft

SkyBus-CW3

12-seat compound-wing eVTOL

A 12-seat compound-wing eVTOL — it lifts like a helicopter and travels like an aeroplane.

250 km/hcruise
20.4 mspan · folds 15.6
8 rotorscoaxial ×4
7–8 kmglide, power-out

Concept render

It lifts off vertically like a helicopter — no runway. Once up, the wing takes over and it cruises like an aeroplane: more than twice the speed of the rotor-borne phase, at half the energy per kilometre of a pure multirotor.

12
Passengers
250
km/h cruise
36–68
km per route
1/5
Energy vs multirotor
VTOL
No runway needed
1/9
Of a helicopter fare

Airframe data

Seats: 12
Cruise speed: 250 km/h
Cruise altitude: 600 m
Wingspan: 20.4 mFolds to 15.6 m on the pad.
Length: ≈ 10.1 mDerived from the assembly STEP coordinates.
Rotors: 8 · coaxial ×4
Powertrain: All-electric · battery swap
Power-out glide: 7–8 km on the wing
Pads: Piers, airports, border posts, industrial parks

Why it converged on a compound wing

Stored energy needed to fly the same 12-seat mission, by configuration. Lower is better.

Safety

7–8 km

If the power goes away, the wing still carries it 7–8 km.

Stored energy required for the same 12-seat mission · kWh

Coandă lift bodyConcept study
3,033
Pure multirotorNo wing, hover all the way
2,419
Fixed wingNeeds a runway
649
Compound wing — CW3Selected
508
↳ Selected

SkyBus-CW3 head-on render showing the 20.4-metre wing — Head-on — 20.4 m span, four coaxial nacelles

The build

The assembled airframe, photographed. Any frame opens full-screen.