Raphael Thys
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/RYSE Aero Tech
It’s easier to operate a flying ATV than you think—or, at least it was for me. That’s not a humblebrag either. It was designed so any idiot like me—who backs up into his recycling bin every time he pulls out of the driveway—can jump in and use it.
Making sure I fly without freaking out, though, was another question entirely.
“Alright, you’re doing great,” the voice of Mick Kowitz, the CEO and founder of RYSE Aero Technologies, chirped in my ear via a radio relay in my helmet. “Now just pull back on the left handle and press the button to take off.”
The machine I was sitting in—dubbed the RECON—is known as an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and it’s Kowitz’s brainchild. While not technically a flying ATV, it’s pretty damn close. As I pulled back on the handle, six battery powered propellers whirred to life around me and my seat began to rumble. Images of the new Top Gun movie flashed in my mind’s eye before a macabre intrusive thought popped into my head: If I stuck out my arm just a little bit, I’d sever my hand entirely from my arm. A shiver ran down my spine as I attempted to bury the mental image.
I pressed the takeoff button on the center console. For a moment, nothing happened. As I was about to tell Mick that something was wrong, though, the motors whirred louder as the RECON lurched sideways. Before I could react, I felt a weight on my chest and my heart jump into my throat as it lifted me off the ground and into the sky.
The Daily Beast’s intrepid reporter tests out the RECON for himself.
Though I was piloting the craft that day, “nervous journalists on field reporting trips” aren’t exactly the target demographic for RYSE. In fact, Kowitz told me that he wanted to put the aircraft into the hands of a much different and unexpected kind of person: farmers and ranchers. Other eVTOL companies like Joby Aviation and Vertical Aerospace have their sights set on private transportation (think flying Ubers and Lyfts), while others are focused on building the aircrafts for military and defense.
“We tend to think of farmers and put them in the bucket of hillbillies, but I picked them for the exact opposite,” Kowitz said. “They’re actually the most innovative users in the world. They’re the first to use fully that run on GPS for the last 20 years. Nobody was doing that. Tesla’s only had autopilot in their cars for eight years.
That’s why Kowitz believes that farmers, ranchers, and other folks in rural communities can largely benefit from a . These are people who own hundreds if not thousands of acres of land, farms and fields that need to be regularly maintained and analyzed. If there are animals grazing on it, a farmer might need to be able to get out there quickly to help their livestock in case of emergencies.
He’s the exact type of farmer that RYSE needs to convince that a RECON—which is slated to cost $150,000—is a good investment. To do that, they need to address two of the biggest eVTOL challenges: battery life and safety ().
The RECON gets around training requirements needed to get something like a pilot’s license, because the aircraft falls under the category of “ultralight aircraft” —anyone can jump into the RECON and start operating it pretty much right away. The company’s video tutorials that show the user how to operate the vehicle takes about 45 minutes to watch, said Kowitz. Users are still required to follow FAA regulations on where they can and can’t fly, like over airports or through cities; and payload restrictions.
Still, kept my anxiety at a fairly high level as I prepared for my ride in the RECON. Going through the instructions for how to fly the vehicle across an empty parking lot seemed easy to understand—the only question was would I be able to do it and survive.
I tried to imagine what a farmer might think up here, trying to get a good look at her crops or find a lost calf, and I could almost see the value in this vehicle for the agriculture industry. And if RYSE could get farmers to buy into eVTOLs, . That’s still a long shot—but it’s possible.
Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast