Pivotal designs, develops and manufactures light electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft for personal aviation, with operations in Palo Alto, California. The company is vertically integrated, handling design, development and manufacturing in-house, and has been working on the technology for more than a decade. Its work spans electric propulsion, carbon fibre composites, tilt-aircraft architecture, flight control systems, advanced autonomy and radar-guided autoland.
Two aircraft define the product line. BlackFly was the first light eVTOL to enter the consumer market. Helix is a commercially available light eVTOL that starts at $190,000, carries triple redundant flight controls, radar-guided autoland and a ballistic parachute system, needs no runway and can be assembled in 30 minutes. It operates under FAA Part 103 ultralight rules, which require no pilot certification but do require comprehensive training.
The company reports more than 9,000 completed flights across over 100 locations, and holds AS9100D certification. Aircraft are marketed for consumer and personal aviation as well as public safety and defence applications. Safety engineering, redundancy and autonomous landing capability are central to the engineering work.
