There is no purpose-built aircraft for what FlyIRL needs. The only one exists was made in China and abandoned. We have the connections to build it here — rugged, reliable, overengineered safe, and under $1M.
The SkyPark needs a very specific aircraft — one that doesn’t exist. Building it is a separate engineering project from the SkyPark business, but without it, neither gets off the ground.
The SkyPark aircraft needs automated takeoff and landing, envelope protection, 1,000s of hours of rugged durability, and a hybrid fixed-wing + quad layout. Nothing certified today checks all those boxes. The EHang VT30 came closest — it’s made in China, and the company isn’t pursuing it.
This is not a commercial airliner. The design profile — short range, low altitude, controlled airspace, repeated short-duration cycles — maps to a sub-$1M unit cost at meaningful production volumes. Designed and built American.
Piper, Cessna, Beechcraft — designing and manufacturing aircraft to make flight accessible to everyday people was born here. The know-how, the supply chain, the regulatory pathways: all of it exists. We just need the capital to start.
These are two different things. The SkyPark is the vision. The aircraft is an engineering deliverable on a defined timeline. The connections exist in aerospace to assemble a team and execute. $500K gets that team rolling.
The target spec is ambitious but not unprecedented. Every element has prior art in existing certified aircraft.
VTOL capability for the SkyPark, fixed-wing efficiency for the flight zone. Fun to fly, ultra-stable, designed for the guest experience first.
The two hardest and most dangerous phases of flight — removed from the equation. The guest just flies. The aircraft handles the margins.
Designed for 1,000s of short-duration cycles. Fast turnaround. Minimal maintenance complexity. Think military trainer durability, not commercial airliner fragility.
Flight envelope protection, collision avoidance, emergency auto-landing. Safety built into the airframe, not bolted on after. Certifiable under Part 23.
Range sacrificed for safety margin, durability, and repeatability. The economic model demands an accessible purchase price for SkyPark operators.
Aerospace engineering leads, A&P mechanics, FAA DERs, composites manufacturers — the network exists. $500K gets a team assembled and Phase 1 design underway.
$500K funds Phase 1: the engineering team, the toolchain, and the regulatory groundwork to get to a certifiable design.
You’re not buying a plane. You’re buying a stake in making one exist — and a front-row seat to the build.
You believe America should build this plane. Your name goes into the design documentation, and you get direct updates from the engineering team.
Follow the design process in real time. Attend monthly engineering reviews and see the decisions as they’re made.
Weigh in on a specific design decision — propulsion layout, control surface geometry, cockpit ergonomics. Your input goes on the record. Plus a signed print of the Phase 1 design drawings.
A meaningful contribution to making this aircraft real. Co-Designers get quarterly calls with the engineering lead, input across multiple design phases, and permanent credit in the aircraft documentation.
A serious financial commitment to getting this built. Angel Sponsors get a formal equity conversion option discussion, direct access to the founder, and the first right to purchase a production aircraft.
One of three founding investment positions. Guaranteed equity conversation, co-designer credit in perpetuity, and a guaranteed slot in the first production run at founders pricing.
This campaign isn’t live yet — but knowing you’d back it is exactly the signal needed to pull the trigger.Already on the list? Drop your email anyway — you won’t be added twice ;)