Rotor X’s Phoenix A600 Turbo Helicopter

… and Dragon eVTOL

Chander, Arizona-based Rotor X Aircraft Manufacturing Company is a maker of uniquely innovative, eminently capable, singularly stylish kit rotorcraft.

The company’s Phoenix A600 Turbo is a two-seat conventional helicopter featuring a two-blade main-rotor and an aft boom-mounted anti-torque-rotor. The aircraft’s ovular fuselage affords pilots excellent forward, lateral, and downward visibility and is supported by a twin-skid undercarriage.

The $118,000 for which the Phoenix A600 Turbo kit retails includes an EFIS suite with GPS, and an all-new 180-horsepower turbocharged engine featuring dual electronic ignition systems and dual engine control units (ECU). The helicopter may be upgraded with Rotor X’s A600 governor system, extended range (31-gallon) fuel tanks, a cargo pod, an LED lighting package, lowered seats, air conditioning, and up-sized (10.4-inch) EFIS displays.

The aforementioned $118,000 price-tag pertains only to aircraft paid for in-full at signing. Financed with a fifty-percent deposit, the Phoenix A600 Turbo kit commands a retail price of $124,000.

The completed Phoenix A600 Turbo helicopter’s advertised 1,630-pound maximum gross weight comprises a 975-pound empty weight and a 655-pound payload. The latter value includes the aircraft’s 17-gallon (102-pound) standard fuel capacity.

By dint of its 180-horsepower turbocharged powerplant, Rotor X’s Phoenix A600 manages a maximum forward speed of one-hundred-knots, a forward cruise speed of 83-knots, and maximum sideways and rearward speeds of 17-knots. The machine’s 11,500-foot service-ceiling and 7,000-foot hover out of ground effect are excellent for a kit-built helicopter.

In 2021, Rotor X announced its entry into the competitive electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) sector by way of a quad-rotor Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) platform dubbed Dragon.

Developed in partnership with Torrance, California’s Advanced Tactics, Inc., Dragon is slated to carry aloft a single pilot weighing up to 250-pounds for as long as twenty-minutes between two-hour charging intervals. The kit-built eVTOL, for which a factory build assist program is available, will retail for $89,500 and feature a Ballistic Parachute Recovery System (BPRS).

Dragon’s architecture entails an aluminum space-frame chassis, three-axis joystick controls, safety landing gear, a sensor-driven auto loading system, redundant flight computers, a low-battery alert system, hands-free hover, and a four-point restraint harness. The aircraft’s propulsion system—which is advertised to motivate Dragon to a 55-knot maximum speed—consists of eight 16-kilowatt electric motors powered by rechargeable lithium batteries.

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