David King is the chief engineer at Vertical Aerospace, a British company developing an eVTOL — an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft — intended to work like a flying taxi.
If he could give his 25-year-old self one piece of advice, King said, it would be: “Don’t be afraid of the unknown.”
“Just discover, and embrace the discovery, and learn as you go, but get to discovery safely and effectively,” he told Business Insider.
King, who has more than 35 years of experience in aerospace, spoke to Business Insider at July’s Farnborough Airshow, where Vertical’s VX4 prototype became the first eVTOL to publicly perform a transition flight. Its wing-mounted propellers tilted so it could fly like an airplane, before transitioning back to land like a helicopter.
King began his career after earning a graduate degree from MIT in 1989. He later became the chief engineer on programs at Bell and Leonardo before joining Vertical in 2023.
Looking back, he said he had come to appreciate “how much of a rewarding experience it is to learn something new every day.”
That’s a handy perspective for a company building a new type of aircraft. eVTOLs are designed to function like helicopters but make much less noise, so the hope is they could be used over cities more frequently.
The goal is to transform commutes and other short trips. For example, Vertical says its Valo air taxi could fly the 22 miles from Miami Airport to Fort Lauderdale in 11 minutes, compared to an hour by car.
Most manufacturers have said they expect a seat on board to cost about the same as a luxury rideshare option like an Uber Black.
However, there is still work to be done for air taxis to be certified by aviation regulators.
“When you test it at the next higher level of integration, you’re going to have some level of discovery,” King said. “Get there quickly, then you learn, adjust your models, and then go test it.”
For King, the key is making those discoveries without taking unnecessary risks. He said young engineers should put “guardrails” around testing so that they can learn safely, but move quickly enough to avoid becoming stuck trying to make a model perfect before testing it.
He recalled getting discouraged by unexpected results when he was younger, but embracing this has been a huge help.
“Once people get energized by discovery as opposed to discouraged by discovery, you can see the iterations happen quickly,” he said.
Vertical is targeting entry into commercial service in 2029.
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