Of the four crowdfunding efforts reviewed yesterday ~ enough to put anyone off ~ two belonged to Thorsten Reinhardt, an emigre German based in Ashford. His father once ran Germany's third-largest software company, which he had founded, but eventually lost the bulk of his fortune over any number of business deals or ventures that turned bad. After which he died of a stroke at my age, which is not the sort of reading I could recommend at bedtime.
Together they had developed a dual-cycle generator which they tried to sell to Bolivia, of all places, and that they hoped to use to power the full-scale version of the drone seen above. What is remarkable about the story is that neither Reinhardt knew much at all about aircraft, but still convinced institutional investors to part with as much as £20 million back in around the mid 20-teens, for as much as a five percent stake. This Thorsten refused, considering it not enough, and would later cash out the credit cards to the extent he and his family were left homeless.
He now gives TED talks on how to come out the other side with your sanity intact, and that is likely more lucrative than building drones is ever likely to be. The old adage ~ that to make a small fortune in aviation you need to start with a large one ~ is as true where eVTOLs are concerned as it ever was, which even financial analysts are starting to realise.
Prior to the electrical revolution few people advanced personal VTOLs quite so much as Canadian engineer Paul Moller, who in turn had made a fortune prior with a better exhaust muffler. And yet I doubt anyone knows of the guy since the collapse of his own company... around the same time Thorsten's quest for poverty was just beginning.
Maybe God is trying to tell me something?
