Kalistan

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AeroKal takes steps toward Hydrogen Powered aircraft
Solution could lead to longer in country flights
Sulari, Duchy of Ananto
August 8, 5656


AreoKal's Model AKV-2 offers significant step forward in goal of freeing consumer air traffic from Fossil Fuels

AeroKal has been in the process of shifting its operations more smaller aircraft and most importantly, less carbon based fuel operated vehicles designed to make shorter trips commensurate with Kalistan's intra national distances while reducing the pollution created by the operation of standard Kerosene based jet engines. Recently, a new prototype by AeroKal, the AKV-2 made several successful piloted test flights that put the goal of creating a fleet of pilot-operated electric AeroTaxis into focus.

"We have successfully run three manned tests between June and August of this year," said AeroKal Spokesman Frank Kellogg. "All three tests were successful and piloted, and allowed us to test the tilt rotor tech which allows us to move from vertical take off to powered flight, which is a feature you will see in carrier based VTOL aircraft. All three manned flights were conducted using battery operated models and flew between Dana and Spencer Suldanor, or a distance of around 167 miles as the crow flies. The test flights were all successful, reached a max operating ceiling of about two and a half miles, and a maximum speed of just under 200 miles an hour, making the trip slightly faster than the same trip would have been on RailSul given the stop in Sulari. The trip used 95% of the charge in the batteries, with one person (the pilot) so obviously there would be a lot of room for improvement there before the system is commercially feasible."

One area of improvement that the company is already focused on is hydrogen fuel cell technology that will allow an all electric motor run off of fuelcells rather than batteries. "Early prototypes with unmanned models show this to be very possible ," said Kellogg. "Our last unmanned model with hydrogen fuel cells produced almost no emissions, and flew more than 500 miles non stop. This was a full scale pre-production model of the AKV-2. While distance will be reduced with a full load (a pilot and four passengers, for example) a lot of that is offset by not requiring a bank of batteries. We could see something along the lines of models that allow trips for four passengers of about 350 to 400 miles in the near future, just with our existing technology."

The VTOLs that AeroKal is currently investing in will only supplement the the existing fleet of intercontinental jets and smaller civilian aircraft, most of which still relies on kerosene based SAF. AeroKal has ended all production lines on large body commercial airlines, opting instead to begin licensing Jets on its flights from AeroLeon in Egelion, with whom it hopes to work with to begin purchasing replacements as its currently planes begin going out of service in about 10 years. AeroKal will continue to build smaller jets for corporate accounts, but will focus on lower emissions and less expensive Civil Aviation. Part of that civil aviation branch is already a line of propeller driven aerotaxis that fly from remote areas across both Kalistan and Ananto to and from cities. "The Aero taxis are capable of taking up to 8 passengers from the most marginal airstrips into our cities where they can make connecting flights," said Kellogg. "Some of the flights are, shall we say, less than smooth, as you would expect with a small civil aircraft, and they still do create emissions, so we are going to be attempting to correct these issues with the VTOLs. But the advantage of civil aviation air taxis is that they can take off from and land on lakes, reservoirs, and barely their "air strips" as short as a city block long, they are tough as nails, and they are reliable."

AeroKal said they intend to continue testing the battery operated AKV-2 with a hope to introduce the first commercial service in Sulari in 5658. "One of the roles we see for this model is that of an actual taxi," said Kellogg. "It has the ability to function as a vertical helicopter almost, but also as a front rotor aircraft. I think use that way might be more doable on a regional basis. But in the cities, if we can get the infrastructure built, theoretically we could take off and land this thing in a spot about 10 yards by 10 yards, and most of the larger buildings in downtown Sulari have that kind of space. We'd want to work with the Free City to designate certain areas as Velodromes to allow for regular flights from the outskirts into the town and viceversa." Kellogg also said that a smaller model with a more compact footprint would likely be developed with the focus on taxi service in smaller Free Cities like Kaliburg or Vrassa City.

The exciting news encouraged a rush of investment in the KalSiE. AKC, AeroKal's stock price, saw an increase on the day of ₭3.45 Imperial, or about 3.2% on the late afternoon news. The increase was led by large institutional investors, though some mom and pop investors also got in before the end of the day.

You can watch footage of the most recent AKV-2 test flight here.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sCY67JJEFU]

@TheRepublic