German aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal said, "Designing a flying machine is nothing; Building it is something; Testing it is everything."* I have used this quote for years to explain the state of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The VFS World eVTOL Aircraft Directory now lists nearly 800 concepts , ranging from student and industrial design concepts to large-scale technology demonstrators and advanced prototypes. About 100 concepts have flown in some form of large scale, with about three dozen supporting active development programs. The Directory tracks concepts not companies, so while there are nearly 800 concepts - both active and defunct - there are only 375 companies/designers. As an example, it catalogs 15 different Volocopter concepts, but it has only three active products: VoloDrone, VoloCity and VoloRegion.
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