Formerly | Zee.Aero |
---|---|
Company type | Private |
Industry | Aircraft |
Founded | 2010 |
Founder | Sebastian Thrun |
Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people | Sebastian Thrun (President and CEO) |
Website | kittyhawk |
Kitty Hawk Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer producing electric ultralight aircraft.
The company was founded as Zee.Aero in 2010. [1] It was supported by Google's co-founder Larry Page. [2] In September 2022, it was announced that the company was winding down, though their joint venture with Boeing, Wisk Aero would continue. [3]
The Flyer was an ultralight aircraft which was kept aloft by eight battery-powered propellers. [4] [5] The engineering was led by Cameron Robertson and Todd Reichert. [6] The production Flyer was introduced on 6 June 2018. A license was not required to pilot the Flyer, as it was built under US FAR Part 103 ultralight regulations. [7] After 25,000 unmanned or crewed flights combined, using 111 aircraft, Kitty Hawk ended the programme on 3 June 2020; [8] CEO Sebastian Thrun stated that, with Flyer, the company "could not find a path to a viable business". [9]
Since March 2018, Kitty Hawk Corporation had been testing an autonomous, electric air taxi prototype in New Zealand called Cora and code-named Zee.Aero. [10] [11]
In 2019, the Kitty Hawk Cora autonomous personal air vehicle prototype was split off into a joint venture between Wisk Aero LLC and Boeing, becoming the Wisk Cora. [12] [13] In December 2019, the Cora team was rebranded and spun off as a separate company called Wisk Aero. [14]
In 2019, Kitty Hawk introduced a new aircraft called the Heaviside. [15] It is designed to be quieter than normal aircraft. [16] [17]
In 2022, Kitty Hawk introduced the 2nd iteration of its Heaviside, named H2. [18]