World's First
VTOL Seaplane
SeaHorse Air Limited is a UK based joint venture between Flowcopter (UK) and Evdron (Singapore). SAL is developing a 4 passenger aeroferry named "Seahorse H5" to run a micro-airline type service to fly people safely through the air while travelling close to the surface of the sea in coastal/island regions.
The Seahorse H5 (SH5) is a triphibian that can move on land, air or water. It takes off and lands vertically, so it needs just a small deck or a small open patch of ground or water to take off or land. It will operate in airborne mode staying close to water at a maximum altitude of just 15 meters (50 feet) above sea level to safely ferry people & cargo along coasts/islands/atolls.
It will navigate its way through waters using thruster as a yacht when near harbours, marinas or jetties and seamlessly transition between sailing and low-flying modes.
The SH5 weighs in with other similar crafts to help define Maritime Air Mobility (MAM) as a new category of transportation thats now possible with current technologies.
SH5 overview video
SeaHorse H5
A VTOL Seaplane
Sea . Air . Land
Specifications: Range: 3 hours, 450 Km Speed: 150 Km/h MTOW: 1950 Kg Payload: 650 Kg Takes off from water or land Land on on water or land Thrusters for moving on water Powered wheels for moving on land. Partial Thrust vectoring for forward movement without tilting the cabin. Features: Pilot plus 4 passengers Luxurious, air conditioned interiors with a standing aisle Airbags, Seat belts and Life vests on each seat. Luggage includes 4 check-in bags+4 cabin bags. Toilet provided Pantry for beverages and snacks Safety First: Complete redundancy built-in using triple propulsion systems. Can survive failure of any one of its three drivetrains and stay airborne or land safely. Since low flying, can land in just 8 seconds. Cabin designed to survive a free fall on water from its operating height of 50’ feet. The propulsion system including the fuel is moved to the floats making the cabin/fuselage completely safe. Also, in a car its mainly the airbags that save people in high speed accidents. But airbags deploy after the accident has actually happened so there’s a limited amount it can do in milliseconds. In products of this “low flight category”, the gyro will sense falling a few seconds before the impact, giving rise to new type of airbags that completely cocoon each occupant (If any airbag company is interested to share their existing product, or co-create, please mail deepak).
Seahorse H5 Renders
Sustainability
SH5 is not electric but we arguably have a much smaller operational carbon footprint than electric. In fact we are not averse to electric and our craft is designed such that we could use an electric motor to power the hydraulic pump, however on seeing a holistic picture, we realised the battery tech is not ready yet.
Thing is, traditionally the argument of electric vs IC engines is based on automobiles where electric is definitely a much better power source since in IC engines most of the fuel is burning to keep the engine on and not necessarily to move the car efficiently. But in the air there are no traffic jams or traffic signals to stop and wait for, therefore a fraction of the fuel is burnt, and only to keep moving efficiently.
The added considerations are:
Net Zero
The Rotax 917i engine is compatible to be used with ethanol which is a fuel that can achieve Net Zero emissions.
Also we have designed our craft and propulsion system such that when the power density in a battery increases to mitigate the 2 issues highlighted next, we can simply swap our IC engine with an electric system to power the same hydraulics.
Charging
Electric cars give a range of 400-1000km per charge which could take a week to a month to use up, depending on how you drive it.
eVTOLs give a range of 20mins to 1-2 hours max. So the amount of charging required daily makes it fairly power intensive. This power required for charging has its own carbon footprint.
Discarding Batteries
The batteries in electric cars need to be replaced after 5 years or so. Ever thought how many sets of eVTOL batteries need to be discarded annually? These need to be charged after every full duration trip of 20mins to 1-2hrs and batteries have a limited life of 1500-3000 cycles after which, they need to be replaced with a new set. Now considering the eWaste and the carbon footprint of producing new batteries, you still think batteries are the right choice currently?
SAL @ Air Service World Congress
July 2024, Maldives
Video of SH5 at ASWC 2024, Maldives
Founders
SAL has an experienced founding team working to bring SH5 to life
Seahorse Air Limited
3.3, Edgefield Industrial Estate, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH20 9TB United Kingdom