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Chaps who don’t
want to take to the
air with the regulation
100ml of their
favourite cologne/
aftershave/toilet
water but still like to
smell fresh on arrival
have had their
prayers answered.
Solid Cologne (above)
is a handy tablet
of formulated
fragrance that comes
in its own pocket-
sized slide-top tin. Its
makers recommend
“rubbing a small
amount between the
fingers to allow the
fragrance to warm to
natural body
temperature”, before
gliding across
pressure points,
hands, wrists, ears
and neck. The block
contains only natural
ingredients such as
beeswax, shea butter
and jojoba oil and
costs £14.99.
solidcologne.co.uk➼
Winch Design, best known for its work on luxury yachts,
has drawn up a private aircraft interior for a client who was
reluctant to give up her yoga routine when travelling. Inspired by
Asian spas and Zen principles, the “mindfulness space” (below) is
filled with light—a world away from the usual aircraft cabin.
There’s a spacious room for practising yoga, complete with
mirrors and timber flooring, and, at the back, there’s a tapchan
day bed for rest and meditation. The cabin is finished throughout
with natural fabrics, leathers and marble and even features a
glass-walled aromatherapy steam-shower. winchdesign.comome say the world is already a global village,
but with a new generation of supersonic
business jets just around the corner—as
engineers move closer to solving the problem
of dangerous “sonic booms”—it looks set to become a
hamlet. Commissioned by NASA, Lockheed Martin is
well underway with the design and build of its Low-
Boom Flight Demonstrator X- 59 Que S ST (“Quiet
Supersonic Transport”). The delta-winged plane
cruises at Mach 1.4 and is due to make its first flight in- Even more eagerly anticipated is the Aerion AS2
12-passenger jet (above): tipped to be capable of Mach
1.6, it will shrink the journey time from London to New
York to three hours—about half an hour quicker than a
Concorde. Each plane will cost around £95 million and
fractional ownership provider FlexJet has already
ordered 20, with the first due for delivery in 2023.
IT’S A SMALL WORLD
IN THE AIR Electric jets and
airborne yoga—f lying takes to new heightsSOLID GUY
Air FlowNever mind electric cars—how
about an electric jet? According to
the Munich-based team behind
Lilium, the first fully operational
electric air taxi is but six years
away. The Lilium Jet, which made
its first successful test flight in
May, features 36 engines (six on
each front wing, 12 on each rear
wing) and offers vertical take-off
and landing ability that should
enable it to be used in densely
populated areas. With no tail, no
rudder, no conventional
propellers, no oil circuits and but
one moving part in each motor,
the aircraft promises to be
ultra-safe—but is still backed-up
by a “triple redundant” flight
computer. So far, more than £80
million has been invested in
developing the Lilium Jet, which
will be able to travel from New
York City to JFK in six minutes, or
from London to Brighton in 15.
The head of the design team is
Frank Stephenson, formerly of
McLaren Automotive where he
pushed the pen that produced the
P1 hybrid supercar. lilium.comPo wer TRIPEn Route News
By Simon de BurtonVANITY FAIR EN ROUTE SEPTEMBER 2019
S
09-19-News-Air.indd 12 09/07/2019 15:53