Trending NewsExposFlying CarsVertical Flight Society holds 12th Annual eVTOL Symposium

27 January 2025
By Mike Hirschberg, VFS Director of Strategy
The Vertical Flight Society (VFS) has been a leader in the advancement of the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) revolution since it held the word’s first conference on the topic in 2014. VFS is holding its 11th Annual eVTOL Symposium in Phoenix, Arizona, on Feb. 4–6 — part of the VFS Transformative Vertical Flight (TVF) 2025 conference — focusing on the promise, progress and challenges of eVTOL aircraft, with more than 75 speakers from leading aircraft and technology developers, suppliers and government agencies.
VFS is the world’s leading non-profit organization working to advance vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) technology and advanced air mobility (AAM) applications, including battery-electric, hybrid-electric and hydrogen-electric propulsion for electric short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) and electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) applications.
TVF 2025 also includes the Society’s 12th Biennial Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting, with two dozen technical paper presentations on the latest theories, breakthroughs and developments in autonomy and uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS). TVF 2025 is preceded on Feb. 3 by its Short Course on Electric VTOL Design and followed by an open house of Honeywell’s flight center on Friday, Feb. 7, providing TVF 2025 attendees with a tour of its Boeing 757 and Leonardo AW139, and showcase the company's AAM technologies. The seventh annual short course — taught by eVTOL pioneer Dr. James Wang, who invented and designed the AgustaWestland Project Zero, the world’s first all-electric VTOL technology demonstrator aircraft in 2011 has had a major impact in the development of today’s eVTOL leaders and workforce.
TVF 2025 is the world’s longest running conference on eVTOL aircraft and will provide comprehensive updates and insights into this exciting new sector of the global aerospace industry. What sets TVF 2025 apart from other conferences is that it is organized by the technical and business leaders of the vertical flight and advanced air mobility (AAM) industry. VFS members have been at the forefront of helicopter/rotorcraft, powered lift and other VTOL developments for the past 80+ years. TVF 2025 provides an opportunity for engineers, technology leaders, business leaders, scientists, regulators and investors to hear in-depth briefings what’s been accomplished and what’s on the horizon, and network with the visionaries and technology leaders.
Overall, TVF 2025 has a packed agenda with nearly 100 speakers from industry, academia and government, covering eVTOL, drones, helicopters, advanced rotorcraft and other AAM technologies. Details — including the technical paper presentation schedule, plenary and AAM speakers, the short course, tour and exhibits — are posted at www.vtol.org/TVF2025. “In 2014, VFS’s first TVF conference was organized and attended by the leading visionaries who created today’s AAM industry,” said VFS Executive Director Angelo Collins. “TFV 2025 continues this legacy with an in-depth focus on the latest eVTOL developments and the challenges that remain. VFS has been instrumental in bringing the community together and the TVF conference has been a catalyst for broad research, investment and regulatory support for eVTOL developments for more than a decade.”
TVF 2025 in Detail
TVF 2025 features a full day opening plenary session with more than 15 leaders from industry, academia and government addressing developments in both autonomous VTOL and electric VTOL aircraft. Government plenary speakers represent the US Army, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as well as the Mayor of Phoenix. The FAA’s Larry Fields, Acting Deputy Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety (AVS-2), is the government keynote speaker and will provide insights and updates on the agency’s regulations for autonomous aircraft, AAM, UAS, beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations and a perspective on future plans. Executives and technical leaders from Honeywell, Boeing Vertical Lift, Daedalean, Near Earth Autonomy, GoAERO, Archer Aviation, Beta Technologies, Joby Aviation, Pivotal Aero and Wisk Aero, will also provide insights into their industry-leading developments in autonomous and electric aviation. Over the following two days, the Electric VTOL track includes talks by executives from AAM developers Elroy Air, Eve Air Mobility, Jaunt Air Mobility, MagLev Aero, Odys Aviation, Piasecki Aircraft, SkyDrive, Sora Aviation, SURVICE Engineering, Transcend Aero and Unmanned Aerospace, among others. Technology companies include BAE Systems, Bloomy Controls, Dassault Systèmes, Rotor Technologies, Toray Advanced Composites, VerdeGo and many others. Representatives from the FAA will give insights into regulations, standards and research developments, while the US Department of Transportation will give an update on the AAM Interagency Working Group (IWG) and its efforts to develop a national strategy for AAM.
The Autonomous VTOL track includes presentations and technical papers on research from NASA, the US Army, US Navy and leading research companies, as well as numerous universities around the world. In addition to the “Titans of Autonomy” session of VIP subject matter experts, technical topics include air vehicle design, autonomy and artificial intelligence (AI), simulation and testing, electric propulsion and key challenges.
The Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting was first held in January 2005 in nearby Chandler, Arizona. The biennial meeting was originally called the “Unmanned Rotorcraft Systems” conference, but quickly expanded to cover micro air vehicles (MAVs), large and small UAS (sUAS), their ground stations, various levels of autonomy, and off-world uncrewed VTOL aircraft. TVF sponsors include Honeywell (Diamond sponsor level); BAE Systems (Platinum); Boeing, Bloomy, Dassault Systèmes, Joby Aviation, Piasecki Aircraft, SkyDrive, Toray Advanced Composites and Unither Bioelectronics (Gold); as well as Pivotal, Phoenix Sky Harbor and Stell Engineering (Silver).
A History of Advancing VTOL and AAM
VFS began supporting the eVTOL revolution in 2013, holding the first TVF conference the next year — the world’s first meeting of the eVTOL community. At the time, the idea of electric VTOL aircraft was greeted with widespread skepticism; since then, growing technical progress, flight demonstrations, government validation and private investment have helped reverse public perception. It is now recognized that the vertical flight market is poised for significant expansion over the next few years as eVTOL aircraft enter service that may be better suited than conventional helicopters for certain missions, such as lower operating costs, lower noise and greater design safety.As of today, the Society has cataloged more than 1,175 different electric VTOL concepts from some 450 companies and innovators on its authoritative World eVTOL Aircraft Directory at www.eVTOL.news. When VFS launched the site in April 2017, only a dozen eVTOL programs were known to be under development. The site currently also hosts more than 1,000 eVTOL news stories, including more than 400 in-depth articles from the Society’sVertiflite magazine, the leading periodical on eVTOL and rotorcraft developments. VFS has also published its Electric VTOL News e-newsletter every two weeks since 2016.VFS was founded as the American Helicopter Society in 1943 by the visionaries of the early helicopter industry, who believed that technological cooperation and collaboration were essential to support this new type of aircraft. Today, history is repeating itself, with VFS playing a similar role helping to advance today’s revolutionary eVTOL aircraft.VFS has been the world’s largest technical community of engineers, technologists and specialists developing vertical flight aircraft for more than 80 years. A growing number of professionals are entering the vertical flight industry and VFS provides them with numerous opportunities to increase their knowledge and exchange ideas.
All those interested in vertical flight, autonomy, UAS and AAM are invited to join VFS at www.vtol.org and come to TVF 2025 in Phoenix!