Brandon Robinson, CEO of New Horizon Aircraft Ltd, was recently a guest on Benzinga's All-Access.
New Horizon Aircraft is an advanced aerospace engineering company that reports it is developing one of the world's first hybrid electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft that is to be able to fly most of its mission exactly like a normal aircraft while offering industry-leading speed, range and operational utility. The company's unique designs put the mission first and prioritize safety, performance and utility.
New Horizon Aircraft is an advanced aerospace engineering company that reports it is developing one of the world's first hybrid electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft that is to be able to fly most of its mission exactly like a normal aircraft while offering industry-leading speed, range and operational utility. The company's unique designs put the mission first and prioritize safety, performance and utility.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good morning, Brendan. Welcome back to the show.
00:06Hey, it's great to be back. Thank you.
00:08Absolutely. You know, there's some things to talk about that you guys released some news in September.
00:12So we'll get to that here in just a second.
00:14But for the folks that might not be familiar with your company, what is it that New Horizon does?
00:19So we make a new type of aircraft.
00:21So think of a helicopter type takeoff and landing.
00:26So vertical, but it flies like a normal airplane.
00:28So it's a traditional aircraft that can take off and land vertically just like a normal aircraft,
00:32but travel about twice as fast and is cheaper to own and operate.
00:35So a lot of really cool missions open up when you, again, have a helicopter that is way cheaper and way faster and can move more stuff.
00:42The accessibility aspect of it to me is one of the advantages, right?
00:45Because like you say, you don't necessarily need a runway like you would a traditional aircraft.
00:49You can kind of go vertical up and down.
00:53What are some other advantages that you have over, say, traditional aircrafts that we're so used to at the moment?
00:59Yeah, so you nailed one of them. I mean, the accessibility piece is huge.
01:02So in the U.S. alone, 80% of all traffic flows through about 20% of the airports.
01:07So we have a lot of the small airports now that are not even used whatsoever.
01:11And so now you have somebody that's got to hop in a car and travel two hours to an airport.
01:17They have to wait at least two, two and a half hours to get on the airplane to travel maybe two or three hours away to then reverse that process on the back end.
01:25If we start accessing all of those different airports and potentially opening up a different way to travel,
01:31that's pretty huge for moving people around the planet as well as critical goods and COVID relief and other sort of critical items from point A to point B.
01:40So I think that's a pretty powerful new paradigm that's starting to open up.
01:46Whenever you're entering a new industry, or rather, I should say, whenever you're disrupting an industry that the world may not be used to,
01:54in this case, the government may not be used, so you might have to deal with some regulatory hurdles that will be in the way.
02:00Are there any that you're concerned about that'll make it a little tougher to have this be a reality in the larger scale for you?
02:08So the good thing is, I mean, this movement started a few years ago.
02:11And companies like Joby and Archer and Lilium kind of blazing the trail for everyone else, setting up all the rules that then we get to take advantage of.
02:19So we're a bit smaller of a company, but we're making pretty fast progress because of all the great work that those companies that have preceded us have done.
02:26So they've talked to the regulators.
02:28They have established the rules for regulating this brand new industry that's about to sort of hit a hockey stick in terms of explosive growth.
02:37And we get to, quite frankly, take advantage of that.
02:41So being maybe a second mover in this space, instead of spending billions on setting up the infrastructure from a regulatory perspective,
02:48we get to take advantage of that and have some really positive talks with the regulatory bodies.
02:54Up here in Canada also, by the way, Transport Canada is a very agile, smaller sort of regulatory body
03:01that can potentially move a little bit quicker than the FAA that's doing a fantastic job.
03:06But they're inundated with, you know, five, six hundred different companies down south of the border that are really trying to push their designs through.
03:13So we have a unique opportunity up here in Canada to be a little bit more agile, move a little bit more quickly in a capitalistic manner.
03:19You mentioning the second mover kind of reminds me of when I used to watch NASCAR.
03:23The casters would always mention the draft, right?
03:25And I was like, what is that? What does that matter?
03:27And it's how you're behind a vehicle and you get to enjoy gravity, air, all that stuff, not slowing you down.
03:33You know, you get that push to kind of go ahead and take a lead in the ads.
03:36That's what that reminds me of with you saying, hey, they've kind of set the groundwork.
03:39Now you're behind it and joined the perks and able to make a move as needed.
03:43Yeah, and absolutely. So back up like four years and there was a question,
03:46could these new types of aircraft that are much more efficient and much more economical even be certified?
03:52Right now you fast forward to 2024 and the question is no longer if they will be certified.
03:58You know, 2025, 2026, we'll see some of them achieve entry into service, which is pretty exciting.
04:03So it's no longer a question of if, it's a question of when,
04:06which I think is a pretty cool achievement for the industry in general.
04:11All right. So we answered if, we're hoping to answer when, let's answer the how.
04:15And I'm specifically looking at, you know, I believe you closed a $3 million public offering.
04:20Can you walk me through the details?
04:21I'm more interested in how are you going to use this cash to optimize what you're currently doing?
04:27And, you know, return value back to the shareholders.
04:30Yeah. So we pride ourselves on being very capital efficient.
04:33So we wanted to raise enough money to put at least 12 to 16 months of runway in the bank, so to speak.
04:42While at the same time respecting shareholders and not overly diluting them.
04:46So that was a perfect race for us to achieve the next major milestone, which will bring us through half scale.
04:53So our large scale aircraft is going through flight testing right now.
04:57So that'll bring us through the next stage of flight testing.
05:00And also we're starting to build the full scale aircraft right now.
05:03So in a very capital efficient manner, we're actually starting to build full scale aircraft parts.
05:08So the propulsion units, like an iron bird where all of the systems are kind of integrated and work together.
05:18Patents on the way. And so we're, yeah, that was the right modicum of capital to raise.
05:23Respectful of shareholders and also giving us enough runway to achieve our next major technical milestones.
05:29Yeah, you've got to kind of thread that needle for sure.
05:31And it looks like that's exactly what you guys are trying to do.
05:34Because, yeah, I had a question in the chat, so I had to kind of bring that up.
05:37You mentioned briefly about the development aspect of it.
05:40So how are these test flights and technical developments coming along?
05:44What do you think is remaining before you can go to market?
05:49So it's pretty exciting.
05:51So we have a half scale aircraft now that's a 22 foot wingspan, 500 plus pounds.
05:57That's going through a very complex flight test program.
06:01And it's doing really, really well.
06:03So in the next few months, we should achieve what's called transition flight.
06:06So basically, it's the point at which the aircraft goes from hover.
06:10And then accelerates to its full on route speed and transforms into kind of a normal aircraft configuration.
06:17So that transition flight is something that not very many companies in this space,
06:20maybe a handful, have actually achieved on a large scale prototype.
06:23And that should happen in the next couple of months.
06:25So that will be a huge milestone for us.
06:28We'll hopefully report on that in the next couple of months.
06:31And that really sets the stage.
06:33At that point, we've learned enough from the large scale prototype
06:36that we've significantly de-risked the full scale aircraft that we're starting to build as well.
06:42And so moving beyond that half scale prototype testing is building out that full scale aircraft
06:49and having a legit 6,000 pound beast of a machine ready for flight test in the next 24 to 30 months.
06:57So, you know, one kind of recap before I ask this next question,
07:01you're already kind of disrupting the space in terms of how aircrafts are built,
07:05how they're designed, how they're taking off, and how they'll be flown.
07:09But also the automotive space that's kind of being disruptive in terms of driverless vehicles.
07:16So let's take that and combine the two.
07:19What are your thoughts, any plans on fully pilotless aircrafts in the future for your company?
07:27So we're pretty excited about the future.
07:29I mean, not only for the fact that, you know, we're building a much faster,
07:32much cheaper sort of form of a helicopter that can serve hundreds of millions of people around the world.
07:37Yeah, the future of autonomy is pretty cool.
07:40We think inside the company that it'll be a while before, you know,
07:43this automated machine will land and people will be comfortable, you know,
07:48loading up without any kind of pilot on board.
07:51So the good thing is our aircraft with the level of autonomy that's on board
07:55will be capable of making that transition.
07:58For the short to medium term, we think there's going to be a pilot on board.
08:02Yeah, helping people, you know, feel comfortable with the whole flight experience
08:07and making those tough decisions airborne.
08:09You know, I was from a pretty operational background.
08:12I flew F-18s in the Air Force for about 20 years.
08:16And there's a lot of things that can happen airborne where you'd want that pilot
08:19in the decision making process, making those tough calls and keeping everyone safe.
08:24Yeah. Any final thoughts from you?
08:26I know we've covered quite a few topics in terms of how you're going to use the cash,
08:30in terms of you guys starting development of your full scale.
08:33Any other topics that I missed that you want to talk about? The floor is all yours.
08:37No, we're just pretty excited.
08:39I mean, we're a smaller player in this space,
08:40but for us, that means explosive growth potential.
08:44So we're building a team, we're building the aircraft.
08:47This is an exploding market with unlimited potential as we see it.
08:51And our unique approach where, you know, our aircraft can go a little faster
08:56and travel a little further and carry a little more than the competition
08:59based on some unique technology.
09:01I think it's a recipe for success and for some significant growth potential moving forward.
09:05And before you go, where does the testing and all that take place of these aircrafts?
09:10In the vicinity of the Toronto area.
09:12So just north of the border, Toronto, Canada.
09:15And what a great spot to locate.
09:17Tons of talent, tons of universities.
09:20I think one of the last engineering positions we opened up had 250 applications
09:24or something like that. So it's just a great spot to live right now.
09:28All right. Well, hey, whenever you're ready for some public individuals
09:31to come out and do the testing, you let me know.
09:33I'll be happy to hop on a flight to Toronto. We'll make some content out of that.
09:36You have one of the first seats reserved, my friend.
09:38I love it. I love it.
09:40All right. Thank you so much for your time, Brent. I really appreciate it.
09:42Thanks, Nate.