Orange County now has a trio of prominent companies developing flying electric taxis and airborne transporters.
The latest to join is Plana, a South Korean startup.
The company said last month it has opened branches in Irvine and Silicon Valley to facilitate Federal Aviation Administration certification of its five-person, propeller-equipped vehicles that can travel a little more than 300 miles.
Plana joins Hyundai Motor Group’s Supernal, which has a major engineering and research center in Irvine, and Santa Ana-based Overair.
Each is developing electric-powered vertical takeoff and landing vehicles—known in the industry as an eVTOL. Plana says its aircraft is “hybrid-electric” since it also uses sustainable aviation fuel in its powertrain.
While all three are developing vehicles often referred to as flying taxis, the technical classification is Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). That denotes transporters carrying people and some goods more efficiently and quietly than using helicopters, both locally, regionally and between cities.
All of them aim to reduce harmful emissions.
Plana, headed by MIT Ph.D. Braden Kim, said March 29 it plans to partner with American companies to expand.
Irvine Newcomer
The FAA certification sought by Plana is a process that verifies the airworthiness of all parts, including design, as well as the type and production qualification of the airframe as a passenger aircraft.
The process is extremely rigorous to guarantee safety.
“FAA certification is one of the most important processes for companies in the aerospace industry,” said Plana’s Kim. “With the establishment of the U.S. subsidiary, we plan to increase our interactions in the newly created AAM market as well as FAA certification.”
“Plana is developing an aircraft that uses sustainable aviation fuel in its turbogenerator-based serial hybrid powertrain, and thereby reduces carbon dioxide emissions by more than 80% compared to existing helicopters,” the company said in a March 29 statement.
It aims to fly 500 kilometers, or 310 miles, with five people including a pilot. The company is currently conducting test flights and verification of a scaled-down aircraft.
Plana’s Irvine branch started last month and the staffing size was not immediately available, a company spokesperson told the Business Journal.
The exact location for the Plana branch office in Irvine is still being studied and the company expects to move in June or July.
“We are a fast-paced startup company and anything can be fluid,” according to the spokesperson.
Challenges in the eTVOL sector include developing the necessary infrastructure, such as charging and refueling stations.
OC Personnel Moves
Overair in Santa Ana said last month that Maxar Technologies alum Tom Whayne was appointed as the company’s chief financial officer.
Whayne will “help Overair prepare for rapid scaling,” co-founder and CEO Ben Tigner said in a statement announcing his appointment.
In Irvine, Supernal said in February that Jay Merkle had been appointed as senior director of regulatory affairs. Merkle previously spent 30 years at the FAA.
He was most recently executive director of the agency’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Office.
