In 2010 I was almost done studying Industrial design and wanted to make an aircraft. Why? You may ask. Because aircraft in general is a niche for a select few, and I would love to see more people (especially young people) take to the sky. Flying is an inherently effective way of moving about, and it should be accessible to us all. But as I saw it and still see it, the products available are not really very inspiring, nor are they practical, and the worst part is they cost a lot of money.
And that's how it began. This idea, a sketchbook with a "good looking, really fast and super practical, simple-to-fly, silent, green hybrid electric aircraft". Of course as any young novice, I was completely oblivious to the challenge ahead and had no limits when it came to doubling down on doing stuff nobody had ever tried. Something I would after 15000 work hours (about half way) in my Dad's garage later regret, as I with a lot of frustration and next to no resources tried to solve issues I had no experience in solving.
Of course as a product developer I thrive in challenges, and need them on a daily basis just to feel alive, but at some point it felt like eating an elephant, and the question loomed in the background: "would this aircraft ever fly"?
To be able to do this; it was a step by step process. Open sourcing to get knowledge from the wast depths of the internet, adding on volunteers like my father, a friendly neighbor and many others. Searching for grant money, building a network of highly skilled and highly motivated individuals. Two steps forward, one step back and sometimes even three steps back.
Now standing on the airport and seeing the plane lift off for the first time is an unearthly feeling, and very hard to describe. It is a mix of ultimate fear and never ending pleasure. The 30 od thousand work hours and 8 years in a dark, small and dusty space is forgotten. That all the parts I built several times over and 250 kilograms of carbon fiber and epoxy carefully hand pasted onto molds have all culminated in this graceful being that wants to live in the sky and on the water is beyond my imagination. That the electric motor purrs like a cat and pushes the plane into the air is a view to behold, and a sound to remember.
And here I get to the "help me - slogan". So I got to this point without much resources. I never wanted to ask investors to risk their money on a young guy with no experience and a fancy plane in a sketchbook. I wanted to show a flying vehicle that they could see, touch, hear, smell, fly, and say: "hey, look we did this. Now imagine what we could do with some serious backing". So this is where I am now. I want to produce this plane and get it out to people, but to get there money is a requirement.
We started an EU based Equity crowdfunding scheme 3 days ago and now we need to spread the word. So if you like this story please share it with your friends, and if you love the idea then you should invest some euros in our company. I assure you we will dig deep to make flying available to more people and do it in an effective way.
Sincerely yours
Tomas
More info: seedrs.com
The little core Team
That's me on the left. The thrifty design student in the middle, my awesome neighbor Jon F and my dad Knut. Posing after first assembly of the plane after paint in 2017.