Japanese Aircraft Company Plans to Sell You Kits to Build and Fly Your Own eVTOL

The Japanese are making progress on the eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) market, with aircraft manufacturer Tetra Aviation recently announcing its first commercially available personal eVTOL. It is scheduled for delivery next year.

Tetra Aviation has gained quite a reputation in the industry, after winning a prize at the GoFly competition in 2020. What they’re advertising now is a full-electric, single-seat Mk-5 VTOL kit for personal use.

Depending on the serial number (SN) of the aircraft, the eVTOL can offer several ranges. The delivery model will be SN3 or even larger. The range of an SN3 will be 94 miles (151 km). An SN2 aircraft will run on a 13.5 kWh battery and will offer a range of 47 miles (76 km). But there are also larger models in plan, with an SN4 for instance flying you for 100 miles (160 km) on a single charge.

Tetra’s Mk-5 measures 28.2 inches in width, 20.1 inches in length, and 8.2 inches in height (8.6 x 6.1 x 2.5 meters). SN2 will weigh 1,076 lbs (488 kg) when empty and will have a maximum takeoff weight of 1,250 lbs (567 kg).

With an aluminum and CFRP (carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers) structure, the eVTOL is lightweight and has thin and long wings. It runs 32 fixed lift rotors. Tetra will equip the SN3 with a ballistic parachute for safety measures, triple-FC (Fiber Channel) redundancy, and four redundant elevon pairs.

We have no information on pricing for now, but the good news is that Tetra Aviation wants to sell the Mk-5 as a homebuilt, experimental kit. What that means is that if you have a private pilot’s license in the United States, you’ll be allowed to fly one. The company says it will also sell them in mass production as a complete, certified eVTOL.

Tetra presented its Mk-5 single-seat eVTOL at the AirVenture OshKosh air show.