Colorado-based XTI Aircraft has signed a Letter of Intent with Fort Worth’s AVX Aircraft Company—a leader in advanced vertical lift solutions—to provide development, design, and certification services to support XTI’s proprietary and patented TriFan 600.
The TriFan 600, seen above, is a fixed-wing aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability. The vertical lift crossover airplane “is expected to revolutionize point-to-point air travel by combining the comfort, speed, and range of similar size conventional business aircraft with the flexibility, convenience, and pinpoint transportation only achievable with a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft,” XTI said.
Leveraging AVX’s ‘seasoned engineering talent’ in vertical lift technology
Scott Pomeroy, chairman and CEO XTI’s Nasdaq-listed parent company, XTI Aerospace, said the agreement “provides XTI Aircraft with seasoned engineering talent and a company highly experienced in designing and developing vertical lift aircraft technology.”
“AVX will help refine our current design, which we expect will accelerate the TriFan 600 development program while significantly reducing expenses for certain engineering capabilities and services,” Pomeroy added in a statement.
Under the agreement, XTI Aircraft, led by XTI Aerospace SVP of Business and Program Development Don Purdy, will provide management, direction, and oversight of the TriFan 600 program, XTI said. AVX will become the prime contractor “including detailed design, program management, subcontract management and certification support services.”
“The AVX team is delighted to work with XTI on this development program and apply our decades of rotorcraft engineering experience to the TriFan 600,” AVX President Kendall Goodman said in a statement. “We look forward to working hand-in-hand with the XTI leadership team to deliver this market-driven solution for their customers.”
Use cases from charter services to medevac and rescue
XTI’s Purdy said there are numerous use cases for the TriFan 600 “within the Part 91 business, Part 135 charter service, and Part 121 scheduled service operations, in addition to special mission roles such as medevac and rescue, where time is so critical.”
“We look forward to working closely with AVX in the coming months,” Purdy added.
AVX was founded with a VTOL vision for civilian aircraft
Fort Worth’s AVX Aircraft “was founded with a vision of bringing advanced vertical lift solutions to the civilian aircraft market,” the company says. In 2010, AVX began applying its “unique patented coaxial rotor design technology” to the military marketplace, refining and maturing the technology as it competed in “numerous” U.S. military aircraft development programs.
AVX later expanded its Unmanned Air Vehicle designs and other engineering services for commercial and military applications under its current ongoing series of contracts with the U.S. military, the company added.
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