Advanced General Aviation Concept Study for a Roadable Aircraft

The past fifty years has seen a myriad of attempts to develop roadable aircraft designs. It is undeniable that the flexibility offered by these personal air vehicles (PAV) would prove useful in urban and suburban environments prone to road traffic congestion, as well as in improving the efficiency of regional business commutes. Surprisingly, only few designs have managed to reach the production phase. The opportunities offered by recent advances in electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems open the door for more revolutionary designs that may prove more appealing in the market. The authors have carried out a research on roadable aircraft designs and this paper introduces the approaches taken and the capabilities developed to translate the need and requirement of customers into potential design concepts. The proposed methodology enables fast generation of concepts, rapid evaluation of interesting concepts, and finally, down-selection of the most promising design. In order to showcase the process, a notional set of mission requirements is set forth, roadable aircraft concepts are generated and one design is analyzed. Finally, requirement sensitivity and technology trade-off studies are conducted for the proposed roadable design.

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