On Jan. 20, Overair announced that it had commenced its ground test program to evaluate the full-scale propulsion system for the Butterfly eVTOL quad tiltrotor aircraft in the desert northeast of Los Angeles. The Santa Ana, California-based eVTOL developer said that the tests marked a milestone in its efforts to conduct the maiden flight of the Butterfly by 2023. According to Overair, the Butterfly's large rotors - which span 20 ft (6.1 m) in diameter - will have a much lower tip speed than the smaller-diameter propellers of other eVTOL aircraft, making the Butterfly quieter and less power-intensive than competitors. For the tests, the motor and rotor are mounted on top of a large truck. "Next stop, full-scale prototype, with long-lead-time parts currently underway," said Jim Orbon, Butterfly program manager, in a statement. The news follows an announcement in a VFS eVTOL Writers Group on Aug. 11, 2021, in which Overair revealed a new design of the Butterfly featuring equal-diameter front and rear rotors; the original design, which was first unveiled in 2018, had smaller rear rotors.
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