It is a New Year!
The Samson Sky Team hit the ground running as we entered 2025! January has been a very productive month. Here are some of the highlights for you!
Headlight testing of high/low beams
There was noticeable excitement at the Samson R & D Facility recently when the Switchblade headlight assembly was tested in night conditions. Both high beam and low beam settings were tested, and the illumination looked like it was right where it needed to be with minimal cut-off from the housing.
Samson Lead Engineer Tanner Vaughn 3D printed the housing, then mounted the High Intensity Discharge bulbs to check for fit and adjustability before turning out the shop lights and turning on the headlights. You can see Tanner fitting the bulbs in the housing in the image above. The video below shows that the switch from high to low beam and back is accomplished with the cut-off operating just as it should to reduce eyestrain for oncoming vehicles.
This test was to place the housing oriented the way it would be in the vehicle and then show the operation of high-low and verify a horizontal cut-off of the beam. There will be further testing that will position the headlight at the right height and measure both intensity of light, and that the cut-off height can be adjusted properly for road use. There are specifications that our headlights will have to meet for motorcycle regulations, but they aren’t as rigorous as automotive regulations.
The Switchblade, being three wheeled, is classified as a motorcycle federally. That, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) classification in the Experimental Category, allows the Switchblade to succeed while being subject to two masters: The FAA for flying and the rest of the DOT for driving. Being unable to serve two masters (comply with regulations and required features for both flying and driving), has been the downfall of most past flying car companies. From the beginning, Samson Sky chose a route that limits the liability of having two masters and enables us to meet all requirements for flying and for driving.
Samson Sky prowls CES 2025 for supply chain
The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, is the world’s largest consumer electronics show, spanning over 4 mega-buildings in downtown Las Vegas. It is so big that it is almost impossible to fully cover the entire show in the four days that the show operates.
Samson Sky CEO Sam Bousfield and R&D Chief Michael Maxwell attended this year to look for and validate as many suppliers for automotive or other electronic equipment parts as possible and came away with many good prospects. While follow-up and further work is ongoing, we can certainly say that the trip was a success! Not only good communication directly with suppliers, but also some new and innovative solutions that seem worthwhile to incorporate in the coming years, if not with the initial production vehicles.
CES attracts vendors both big and small, with many new technologies being shown for the first time. This includes new models of vehicles from Honda and other major players. The AI driven electric Formula E racers were on display, with the fastest autonomous vehicle in the world front and center. This race series was held at the Las Vegas Speedway, just down the strip from the largest of the CES buildings.
Samson is no stranger to large events, and we have displayed for many years at AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. This is the world’s largest aviation celebration, with over 600,000 people from around the globe attending the week-long event. Thousands of people come to our Samson Pavilion and we’re usually busy from opening to closing time every day. Attendees like to search for their favorite exhibit and we‘re happy to say that for several years now, we have been that favorite display for people. We know this because of the well-trodden grass around our Switchblade prototype, where the heavy foot traffic has killed the green grass. While not an officially recognized title, at the end of the event we have often been told by attendees that we won the ‘Brown Grass Award’.
While the AirVenture event has more people, at CES, the crowd of over 150,000 is concentrated into the indoor space available, and the intensity of the crowd – especially on the first day – can be intimidating. We had scheduled meetings with several large vendors, and roamed around to find those components that we didn’t know about but seemed perfect for the Switchblade.
One such item was capacitance switches. Think of hidden switches that are activated by putting your finger on them without any moving parts to the switch. This can lead to a much longer switch life, and the potential to have much smaller switches that can remain hidden until you need them. You can see in the two images below that what looks like an interior trim piece can actually house up to nine switches so that as you move your hand near them, they start to glow to allow you to choose the correct switch and activate lights, fans, or almost anything a switch could do.
And each switch button has tactile feedback so that as you press it ‘feels’ like the switch moved, and then a short vibration to let you know the command was received. Very cool. It works through almost any material, including actual wood veneer as shown below.
How easy to get in and out now?
Before we signed off on the Switchblade body design for production, we built a plywood mockup of the cockpit and doorway so that we could test getting in and out with different sized people, and different ages of people. We wanted to ensure that a wide range of ages and sizes could enjoy the Switchblade. You can’t enjoy one if you can’t get inside, right?
In the previous body design, the door was much taller, and it was easy to get in and out. In this design, the roof was lowered to reduce drag, and the seat was positioned more tilted back than before as well. Of course you can adjust the seatback to different angles, but in general the new design required a more reclined angle than the original design.
The view forward met our expectations, and the upwards vision was very nice. Getting in and out was accomplished easily by most up to 6′ tall and it seems likely that 6′-2″ people will also fit comfortably. Past that it may come down to how comfortable you feel sitting somewhat reclined while driving. For most people, we feel that the seat position, head room, and ease of getting in and out will be just fine. For people with stiffer bodies, placing a hand grip on the A Pillar (structure between the front windshield and the door window) will provide a sufficient leverage point to make that easy as well. These are often used for low slung sports cars and some pickup trucks to allow people to get in and out with greater ease. See the preparations for more testing happening in the image below. This is best done with plywood to get a very close but fast approximation of curved surfaces and locations of the structure and openings.
Hybrid-electric system getting lots of attention!
While we had unveiled the Samson Skybrid ™ electric system a while ago, the interest in it just keeps growing. Investors, pilots, regional travelers (who plan to use their Switchblade for trips of 250-500 miles), and others are telling us why they think this system contributes to making the Switchblade a huge commercial success.
We recently received our production vehicle advanced electric motors from Beyond Motors in Slovenia. These Axial Flux Motors are state-of-the-art and have excellent power to weight. Beyond also produced our generator motor setup using three generators ganged together to reduce the size of the installation and also add redundancy to the system.
We are developing a system that will allow us to skip having a battery bank, as for our mission, batteries are simply too heavy to be of much use. Modified electronics are allowing us to channel the generator output directly to the motors for the props, or the motors for the wheels. This leads to an increase in efficiency and greater range flying.
We will be happy to shift to all electric vehicles when battery technology allows that to occur. In the meantime, we utilize our hybrid electric drive system so that we are compatible with a fully electric system of the future. In the image below, Chief of R&D, Michael Maxwell (right) and Chief Engineer, David Nobles are reviewing one of the new motors for the ground drive portion of the system.
The Switchblade connects with the State of Utah
Utah is hosting the 2034 Winter Olympics and has its sights on making Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) a significant part of the event. This is in nine years, but that is only a blip in time for the massive projects being planned as a major part of the Olympics. Samson has joined 47G, a group that has been tasked by the Governor of Utah to bring AAM into the Olympics in a big way. While the Switchblade is not an electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) vehicle, we can still bring advanced tech to the Olympics with our hybrid electric drive system and lend a shoulder to the wheel in preparations for the future of transportation in Utah.
Utah is also the latest state to pass legislation proposed by Samson Sky to enable easy registration of any flying car in the state. Utah joins New Hampshire and Minnesota as the leaders in transportation legislation. Congratulations and thank you to Utah’s bill sponsors, Senator Wayne Harper and Representative Kay Christofferson, and to the many legislators who supported the bill. We would like to give a special acknowledgement to Governor Spencer Cox who is a big proponent of advanced aviation technology for Utah.
What Do You Get When You Deposit?
Anyone can Reserve with no money down, but when you become a Depositor, you are moved to an early fixed Delivery Position. This is ahead of the Reservation Holders who haven’t put a Deposit down yet. Reservation Holders who want a firm early position can place their $500 non-refundable deposit using their existing Reservation Number, and they will be assigned the next available Delivery Position. You can read the Terms and Deposit or Reserve HERE
Investment Opportunity Section Closing Soon
Several months ago, Samson began a large funding effort to get the Switchblade into production. This is called a Reg D Series A (first major fundraise), and we have been receiving significant investor attention. So much so that we may be able to close the ‘early’ portion of this funding round in the very near future. This is the $2MM portion with a discount off the Reg D that provides early access to funds by the Company.
The current investment is reserved for Accredited Investors only due to the type of this raise. If you ever wondered whether you qualified as an Accredited Investor, you can check out the requirements here:
Forbes Accredited Investor Definition
To learn more about this opportunity, please use the Investor Inquiry form on the website:
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Sam Bousfield
Captain, Switchblade Team
