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“OK, Andy. You are clear for takeoff.” That’s my flight instructor speaking to me over the radio into my helmet.
“Really?” I think to myself. “This is actually happening?”
I’m about to do something that my instructor tells me fewer than 100 people on the planet have done: I’m going to pilot an eVTOL, an electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle. Picture a small plane or helicopter crossed with a drone. And here’s the kicker:
I’ve never flown another aircraft in my life.
But that’s exactly how Silicon Valley-based Pivotal thinks it can crack the recreational aviation market: With an aircraft so simple to fly that just about anyone can learn with a few days training on a simulator.
The BlackFly is Pivotal’s fourth-gen preproduction eVTOL.
“It’s actually incredibly hard to do something that’s going to give you a bad outcome in one of these aircraft,” says Pivotal’s CEO, Ken Karklin. “Today’s technology has allowed us to take an aircraft with a lot more capability, at least technologically, and put it in the hands of an ultralight operator.”
An ultralight aircraft has only one seat, is only used for recreational purposes, and may or may not be powered. A powered ultralight aircraft must weigh less than 254 pounds under Federal Aviation Administration guidelines. They don’t require any certification to operate, though they can’t be flown over populated areas. Still, anyone who wants to buy a $190,000 aircraft from Pivotal is required to complete training on a simulator led by instructors from the company. Training typically takes about 10 days. (Full transparency, I completed an abbreviated version of the training, which limited the types of flying I was allowed to do.)
The single-seat aircraft I’m sitting in is Pivotal’s fourth-gen preproduction eVTOL, called a BlackFly. It’s painted a sleek black and is made from an all-fiber composite with a bubble canopy. Blackfly is powered by eight electric motors with four propellers on each wing. Since it takes off and lands vertically, there’s no wheels or any kind of landing gear. On the landing pad, the BlackFly rests on its fuselage and front wing.
Pivotal says its completely redesigned the hardware on its production model aircraft called the Helix.
Next year Pivotal expects to deliver its first production model aircraft, the Helix, to customers. This new model looks similar to the Blackfly, but Pivotal says the hardware on the inside has been redesigned for better efficiency and scalability.
Pivotal won’t say how many orders it’s taken for the Helix yet. It has sold 13 BlackFlys since the first was delivered to a customer in June 2023. Though the company hopes to court people like me, with no flying experience, it says even seasoned pilots show “unbelievable enthusiasm” after flying a BlackFly.
“This is a different kind of aircraft, one they can fly out of their backyard. They don’t have to go to the airfield.” Karklin says.
Inside the BlackFly cockpit
Pivotal, backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, uses what’s known as fly-by-wire technology in its eVTOLs. That means there are computers between the controls in the cockpit and the physical components that move the aircraft. Fly-by-wire systems make it easier to maneuver the aircraft and reduce weight.
The cockpit is simple and cozy. There are two identical, redundant joysticks on either side, so a pilot can use whichever hand they prefer. In front of me is a touchscreen tablet that displays real-time information like altitude, airspeed, motor temperatures and battery levels.
Inside a Pivotal Helix cockpit.
Next to the touchscreen is a knob that I spend a lot of time looking at. Pulling on it deploys the ballistic parachute. Though part of my training included learning to use the parachute on a mock-up, Pivotal tells me that no pilot has needed to use it in more than 7,000 real flights. Still, at the moment I’m glad it’s there.
Despite some nerves, after three days on the simulator and completing an evaluation I’m feeling confident. I ask my flight instructor, Sabrina Alesna, who’s also a fixed wing pilot, what it was like the first time she flew a BlackFly.
Every customer is required to pass an evaluation on a simulator before flying a Pivotal aircraft.
“I was shocked how responsive it was,” she says. “I’m used to constantly putting in inputs to maintain my altitude or air speed. But this aircraft does all the work for you.”
My first flight
My first flight is pretty basic. Alesna tells me to take off to 40 foot above the pad, yaw (rotate) left, yaw right, then land. Once I’m cleared, I take a deep breath and press up on the throttle. The eight motors spooling up sound like a swarm of bees. After about 3 seconds I feel a jerk and I’m pushed back in my seat as BlackFly rips off the ground. It feels similar to the simulator, but more aggressive.
I forget that I’m supposed to stop at 40 foot in the air, and by the time I remove my thumb from the throttle I’m at about 50 foot. Once I’m settled I look out to my left. The reality that I’m in a flying aircraft by myself hits, but I remind myself that I’ve done this dozens of times on the simulator.
My first flight in BlackFly at about 50 foot above the ground.
After a few seconds of hovering, I complete my yaws and start the landing process. All I have to do is pull back on the throttle, until I’m just about 10 food above the ground. At that point the computer tells me the “auto-land” feature is available, which I can now initiate. The BlackFly does the rest of the work for me, and I thump to the ground.
My next three flights will get longer and more complex. Watch the video above to see them and learn more about the training process.
After that first flight, we need to let the engines cool, but I’m ready to go again right away. With a big grin on my face, I turn to the GoPro camera facing me and say: “That was so much fun.”
