National Air and Space Museum Displays Advanced Air Mobility Aircraft

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum welcomes the Wisk Gen 3 prototype electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft for a temporary display of innovations in the emerging field of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). Short-range transport aircraft lifted and propelled with high efficiency electric motors—an arrangement known in the industry as distributed electric propulsion—offer the potential to reshape movement in the 21st century. This aircraft, on loan from Wisk, will be on display for 18 months, alongside a model of the company’s current Gen 6 design, intended as a fully autonomous four-passenger air taxi. The Gen 3 is the first eVTOL to be displayed at the museum.

The Wisk Gen 3 and Gen 6 are examples of AAM aircraft that use electric motors to drive small propellers for lift and thrust. This system of distributed electric propulsion allows them to takeoff like helicopters and cruise like airplanes without many of the heavy engine, transmission and control systems used on conventional aircraft. Some AAM aircraft, such as the Wisk Gen 3, use only batteries for power. Others use hydrogen fuel cells, and some have hybrid systems using a conventional engine and fuel to power the electric motors. With advances in high-efficiency electric motors, fly-by-wire controls and aerodynamically advanced proprotors, these aircraft can operate with a much lower noise, environmental and infrastructure footprint than traditional helicopters. 

“We are always excited to display the latest technological advances in aviation,” said Roger Connor, vertical flight curator at the museum. “Advanced Air Mobility uses recent advances in propulsion, flight controls, batteries and materials to create new ways to fly. Since this is a rapidly expanding field with billions of dollars of investment and the U.S. government has made certification of these types of aircraft a priority, it is something we are eager to interpret and display for the public.” 

The Wisk Gen 3 flew 70 test and demonstration flights from 2015 to 2017. It was the first eVTOL aircraft to make a piloted transition between hover and cruise flight. With a wingspan of 32 feet, the aircraft uses 12 electric motors and lifting propellers for vertical takeoff and landing and two pusher propellers for cruise flight, or an airplane-style takeoff or landing, when the lifting propellers are shut down. Using multiple lifting propellers insures that the failure of a propeller or motor will not endanger the aircraft.The Gen 3 aircraft pioneered technologies now used in the development of the Gen 6 Wisk aircraft, which is now undergoing safety testing. 

“Wisk is honored to share a part of our aviation history with visitors to the Smithsonian,” said Jim Tighe, Gen 3 Chief Engineer and CTO at Wisk. “Gen 3 is not only an important part of our story, but also of advanced air mobility more broadly. It is a milestone aircraft that demonstrated that safe, reliable eVTOL aircraft are real. Now we’re looking forward to bringing the joy of flight to everyone every day.”

The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., is located at Sixth Street and Independence Avenue S.W. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is in Chantilly, Virginia, near Washington Dulles International Airport. It is open daily from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free, but there is a $15 fee for parking.