Ryse Aero’s single-person eVTOL is like a flying all-terrain vehicle

Air taxis are responsible for most of the hype surrounding eVTOLs (electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles), despite their long road to market, high upfront cost, and numerous regulatory hurdles. Ryse Aero Technologies, an Ohio-based start-up that makes aircraft similar to all-terrain flying vehicles, believes the eVTOL technology is best used in a short-term market.

Founded in April 2021, the company recently opened bookings for its ultralight Recon: a single-seat eVTOL with takeoff and landing capabilities on land and water and a maximum altitude of 400 feet. It is powered by six independent motors, each equipped with replaceable and rechargeable batteries.

“The idea was to make something extremely safe, extremely reliable that anyone can fly with,” Ryse CEO Mick Kowitz told TechCrunch, noting that the 286-pound Recon is classified as ultralight. That means it’s designed to be used by one person, can’t fly over crowded areas, and can’t carry heavy loads.

It also means that the Federal Aviation Administration does not mandate a set number of hours of training, so anyone can fly it.

“We give you about an hour to two hours of training and you lead,” Kowitz said.

Ryse has built four prototypes to date, as well as some pre-production vehicles it is currently testing with farmers. The startup sees many potential use cases for the aircraft — search and rescue, parks and recreation, oil and gas drilling — but Ryse’s go-to-market strategy is focused on agribusiness in the United States.

“We really tend to reduce crop and soil compaction and potentially reach your fields at planting time,” Kowitz said. “You may have an infestation on the field and the ground is too wet, but you still have to get out. What farmers do is drive their truck or quad bike as far as they can and sometimes walk two or three kilometers to see where the problem is. Recon can grab them quickly without much compression.”

Soil compaction also occurs when the soil is loaded by foot traffic, trampling by cattle, cars or other agricultural machinery. This compresses pores that would otherwise carry water or air, stopping root growth and causing a lack of oxygen.

In addition to preventing soil compaction, Kowitz says Recon can save farmers, ranchers and vineyard owners an even more precious asset: their time. The Recon has enough battery power to fly 10 miles and 10 miles back, which equates to about 25 minutes of gameplay at a top speed of 103 mph.

“Your time is valuable, and in the farming world a lot of people don’t necessarily value their time because it’s a commodity they feel they’ve had enough of,” Kowitz said. “In agricultural life they also lived with the idea that time is what you spend going to that field, but if you get places and save an hour, two hours a day, what value is that to you?

How about $150,000? That’s what the Recon will be looking for when it hits the market. And that may seem like a penny to a city slicker like you or me, but in the agricultural world it’s nothing, at least according to Kowitz. A tractor alone costs about $500,000, and many farms buy more than one.

While it’s too early to say for sure how long a Recon will last in the field, Kowitz said Ryse has conducted vibration, sensor and environmental tests and believes the aircraft will likely have an eight to 10 year lifespan.

There is already a demand for the Recon. According to Kowitz, Ryse has already earmarked about $15 million in future booking revenue, meaning 100 potential customers have signed up to schedule a delivery date.

The only possible question facing the company is whether its planes can actually be used for commercial operations. The FAA’s Ultralight Aircraft Decision, Part 103, states that the vehicle may only be used for recreational or sporting purposes. Ryse said there are many operators using this type of aircraft to improve their operations without breaking the rule, and the company has been in talks with the FAA about the “worry-free” use case. The FAA did not comment specifically on Ryse, but the agency told TechCrunch it was evaluating each case on a case-by-case basis.

Ryse shouldn’t worry too much about this as the company is building a production facility and aims to produce 10 vehicles per month by 2023, with deliveries later in the year. The company has raised $5.5 million and hopes to raise another $25 million for its Series B round to increase production to 100 units per month in the coming year through 2025.