3 Jetson Executives Just Completed the First eVTOL Race in Tuscany
Want to see how an aersopace CEO would rather spend his time, instead of pouring over spreadsheets and market forecasts? Jetson chief executive Stéphan D’haene took on two other members of the company’s C-Suite in a first, one-person eVTOL race.
The Jetson is a single-person electrical vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft designed for non-pilots, being built in Italy’s Tuscany region. It will be certified in the U.S. as an FAA Part 103 ultralight experimental aircraft that does not require a pilot’s license to fly, with similar ultralight designations in other countries.
The Jetson One has an aluminum frame, carbon-fiber exterior and eight propellers on four arms.
Jetson
Jetson founder and CTO Tomasz Patan, who also designed the Volonaut Airbike and chief pilot Andrea Spresian were the other members who flew their Jetsons around a “racetrack” of large orange pylons. CEO D’haene flew the company’s first production unit, the SN1, while Patan and Spresian flew pre-production units. “This event is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, and it paves the way for exciting developments in the future of urban air mobility,” said D’haene in a statement. Jetson thinks that competitive racing could be an attractive pastime for new owners.
The Jetson C-Suite each kept their aircraft at a respectable distance without lapping each other, but showed how fun the one-person craft looks as it tilted, swerved, and turned tightly around the orange cones. With Italy’s Tuscany region bathed in golden light, the race looked like a cross between a Star Wars speeder race and students on broomsticks at Hogwarts.
The aircraft and matching white helmet bear a resemblance to “Star Wars.”
Jetson
Jetson is one of multiple one-person eVTOL makers that hope to capture a share of a recreational aircraft market that does not yet exist. The FAA requires that any aircraft under its Part 103 be lightweight (the Jetson is 253 pounds with batteries) and that it can’t fly near populated areas. One of Jetson’s competitors, Pivotal, has begun to commercially sell its one-person Helix, which has a longer fuselage shape than the more squat, dune-buggy look of the Jetson, and the Helix cockpit is enclosed.
Jetson released a video last month showing one of its first production aircraft flights, after about five years of development. The mini-aircraft has an aluminum frame with carbon-fiber body panels. Eight rotors, powered by 8 electric motors, are mounted on four arms. The unit incorporates a triple-redundant computer system, with fly-by-wire controls for auto-landing and a ballistic parachute. Its top speed is 63 mph and range is a maximum of 20 minutes.
The aircraft is controlled by joystick.
Jetson
The units are priced at $128,000. Jetson says the first available deliveries will be in 2027, since the production slots for this year and 2026 are sold out. It’s hard to gauge how far along Jetson is with production, since this race included its first production model. A Jetson executive told Robb Report in 2022 that deliveries would start the following year, but were delayed by supply-chain issues. The build schedule for 493 units on its website shows that buyers who put down $8,000 pre-order deposits are overwhelmingly from the U.S.
Back at the three-way C-Suite competition, CEO D’haene won the race. That makes sense, since the CEO always wins.
