A WILTSHIRE-based tech company’s next-gen aircraft featured in Hollywood blockbuster The Lost City.

The Pegasus Vertical Business Jet is used heavily in the movie by billionaire villain Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), who kidnaps novelist Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) and forces her to help him find legendary treasure hidden deep in the jungle within a lost city. 

Based just outside Salisbury, Callen-Lenz has been helping develop next-gen aircraft which may soon be making its way to the consumer market, with air taxis and personal business jets used for short flights. 

Piers Hankinson, business development director at Callen-Lenz, said: “To see the Pegasus Vertical Business Jet coming to life in a Hollywood film is fantastic; the innovation behind the scenes is even more impressive.

 “Our team is enjoying working on the vertical take-off and landing system and flight controls for the Pegasus, making the flight experience viable, smoother, and safer. “

The jet’s development, labelled Project NOMAD, is being co-funded by the UK Government and hopes to provide a boost to innovative aerospace technology which will eventually come off Hollywood sets and be used by consumers. 

Reflecting on the hard work that has gone into developing the jet and looking forward to the future, Piers added: “I’m certain that the research and development that we [Callen-Lenz], Pegasus Universal Aerospace, and our other partners have done over the past 12 months will lead to further ground-breaking aerospace innovations in the years to come.” 

The project is using two quarter-size Pegasus VBJ aircraft – around 4m wing tip-to-tip and 4m nose-to-tail.

Flight trials of a 1/4-scale jet are due to commence in Wiltshire this year and the outputs will significantly de-risk the critical design elements and advance the full-scale aircraft programme.

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