My thanks to the South Yorks Aviation Museum for this shot of the (backup) airframe used for flight-testing around this time last year. People will be lying awake wondering why I've relocated the motors and propellers from underside to topside. Ultimately it is because in aerodynamic terms it provides the better foundation for safety.
Helicopters remain upright following engine failure principally because the rotor acts as a parachute. In simple terms, everything from darts upward will descend with its mass nearest the ground and the parts with most drag uppermost. The arrangement above (and many other eVTOLs) would in the absence of power prefer to be upside down... at which point your head becomes a pogo-stick.
For those in the South of England there's another at the Helicopter Museum.
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| Accompanying blurb |
