This radical aircraft design is already a hit in Silicon Valley

In just 90 days, aircraft designer Cobalt has taken over $50 million in pre orders for its first two models, the Co50 Valkyrie and the Valkyrie-X. In the first 24 hours alone, the company received 29 orders.

Aircraft buyers are notoriously conservative when it comes to new design, preferring tried-and-true models that have remained relatively unchanged for decades. So why is this upstart such a hit?

"Because it's beautiful," David Loury, CEO of Cobalt Aircraft and the Valkyrie's designer told Business Insider.

Loury's hoping the aircraft's unusual design will help it buck the trend among aircraft buyers.

"Life is short," he said. "There is no time for things that do not completely move you."

His design is certainly unorthodox. The large bubble canopy, rearward-facing "pusher" propeller, and heavily swept wing set it apart from just about every currently available certified piston-driven, single engine aircraft.

According to Loury, the Valkyrie will do 260 knots, which would make it the fastest piston single around, trumping the current speed king: the 242 knot Mooney Acclaim S.

For the ground-bound among you, that would be a blistering 300 miles per hour - all thanks to a 350 horsepower, turbocharged Continental engine boasting some advanced, automated engine management technology called Full Authority Digital Engine Control, or FADEC.

The company already has several prototypes in flight testing, but it is keeping early results hush-hush.

The path to achieving type certification from the Federal Aviation Administration is exhaustive and expensive, and while Loury hopes it can be achieved in the next two years, Cobalt is already taking pre-orders for the Co50 model with an experimental certificate.

Some of those orders, the company reported in a press release, "are from top technology companies in Silicon Valley like Google and Apple." Cobalt has also received international orders from Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other nations.

The Valkyrie costs $595,000, and is available for U.S. pre-order with a $15,000 deposit.

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