Rafi Yoeli Explained

Rafi Yoeli
Birth Place:Tel Aviv, Israel
Citizenship:Israel
Education:Ph.D., Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Occupation:Pilot, inventor, designer, CEO
Employer:Israeli Air Force
Aerospace Industries Ltd.
Boeing, Seattle
Organization:Aero Design & Development Ltd.
Urban Aeronautics
Known For:Urban Aeronautics X-Hawk
Tactical Robotics Cormorant
CEO

Rafi Yoeli is an Israeli pilot, inventor, designer of two proposed flying cars (Urban Aeronautics X-Hawk, Tactical Robotics Cormorant), and CEO of Urban Aeronautics Ltd., which he founded in Yavne, Israel in 2000.

Early life and education

Yoeli was born in Tel Aviv, circa 1950,[1] and later served as a reserve officer in the Israeli Air Force.[2] He attended Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.[1]

Career

Following his Israeli Air Force service, Yoeli joined Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., then was with Boeing in Seattle for 18 months. In 1989, Yoeli founded Aero Design & Development Ltd (AD&D, Ltd.), acting as managing director.[2] In 2001, he started his own company in Israel, Urban Aeronautics, to develop "robots and flying machines."[1]

During the 2000s and 2010s, Yoeli designed and tested the Tactical Robotics Cormorant, formerly AirMule or Mule, a flying car unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), built by Tactical Robotics Ltd., another subsidiary of Urban Aeronautics Ltd.[2] [3]

Designer

Yoeli envisioned a hovering vehicle similar to helicopters, but with rotors below the cockpit and passenger seating above it.[1] He developed a plan for a flying rescue vehicle that, while still able to hover, would not have the restrictions that helicopters have, due to rotors, enabling his flying car to work in crowded terrains as in a city or urban area, where rescue would normally be much harder or impossible. Though initially designing a flying car modeled after a sports car; Yoeli realized that a car modeled after a rescue vehicle would sell more successfully. Urban Aeronautics Ltd. was founded to officially develop the concept of the Urban Aeronautics X-Hawk.[4]

In an interview with Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet; Yoeli stated that his flying car, the X-Hawk, would be developed for both military and civilian personal use. The flying car was scheduled to be available to consumers in 2020, at a cost of about $3.2 million USD.[5]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Innovators - TIME. Time. 30 April 2007. McGirk. Tim.
  2. News: When Cars Fly. Haaretz.
  3. Web site: Cormorant UAV Test Flight Expanded: Watch Internal Rotors Time.
  4. Web site: Commence holding breath: X-Hawk flying car could be here by 2010 . 2023-11-20 . Autoblog . en.
  5. News: . January 31, 2007 . Future rescue vehicle: the flying car . CNN.com . Associated Press . 2021-04-12 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070202025919/http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/01/31/israel.flying.car.ap/ . 2007-02-02.