Horizon releases Cavorite hover test footage

Horizon Aircraft has released the first footage of its Cavorite X5 scale prototype in the air.

Earlier this month Revolution.Aero reported that the Canada-based eVTOL developer had successfully completed initial hover testing of its prototype. Now the company has published the footage of the tests which occurred back in December.

Horizon now plans to move to transition flight testing in the first quarter of 2023 at the ACE Climatic Wind Tunnel located near Toronto, Ontario. The OEM’s patented concept allows the aircraft to fly 98% of its mission in a very low-drag configuration like a traditional aircraft.

Brandon Robinson, CEO, Horizon said: “This aircraft has exceeded expectations during initial hover testing. It is extremely stable, is capable of full hover at only 65% power, and has hovered with 20% of its fans purposely disabled in order to test system redundancy. This is a large-scale aircraft, with a 22-foot wingspan, over 15 feet in length, and capable of speeds over 175 mph. It continues to yield valuable data that is constantly improving our full-scale design.”

The full-scale aircraft will be powered by a hybrid electric system that can recharge the battery array in-flight while providing additional system redundancy.