Vayu X5 VTOL
Remove last mile medical delivery drone
Overview
Led the rapid development of the Vayu X5, a tandem-wing electric VTOL UAV built for medical payload delivery in remote areas. In under six months, we took the program from initial concept to a fully operational, field-proven aircraft with 90+ minute endurance and exceptional payload/CG tolerance. My role as technical lead and primary designer encompassed overall aircraft architecture, tandem-wing aerodynamic and structural design, propulsion and lift-fan sizing, and all flight testing operations leading up to a pilot program in Madagascar.
Inherited design suffered from a critical flaw: the vertical-lift system’s center of lift was severely misaligned with the vehicle’s CG envelope, rendering the airframe unflyable. I rapidly diagnosed the issue and redesigned the tandem-wing layout to correctly align lift centers, allowing for stability and payload flexibility. Separately, early prototypes exhibited dangerous yaw instability in hover under windy conditions; iterative flight testing revealed that canting the lift motors inward by a few degrees restored full yaw authority.
Very early X5 prototype used to validate the tandem wing design. The fuselage is a simple structure with a cardboard fairing.
Later stage prototype of the Vayu X5.
Flight testing an X5 prototype.
Flight testing with a water bottle as a dummy payload.
Version of the X5 used for the Madagascar pilot-project.
Getting some lunch during another long day of flight testing.
Accomplishments
- ✓Delivered a 90+ minute endurance, payload-tolerant eVTOL from concept to Madagascar field deployment in <6 months.
- ✓Identified and corrected critical center-of-lift misalignment in third-party tandem-wing design, turning an unflyable platform into a highly stable one.
- ✓Solved severe hover yaw instability via motor-canting discovery; solution adopted company-wide.
- ✓Led all flight-test campaigns and the Madagascar pilot-project while technically directing a non-technical CEO through aggressive milestones.
Lessons Learned
- •Small angular changes in lift-fan geometry can yield massive stability improvements in multi-rotor configurations.
- •Aligning the natural airframe flex with the yaw control is critical to stability.