VTOL aircraft use an enormous amount of energy lifting themselves off the ground, dramatically cutting the range they can squeeze out of a battery system. But an STOL plane like the one Metro Hop is designing can get aloft much more efficiently, without needing a whole lot of runway.

This thing uses an active landing gear system, meaning that it doesn't just rely on its propellers to get it up to takeoff speed. Instead, there's an electric motor on at least one of the wheels to provide snappy and efficient acceleration on the ground. Combining hard acceleration with a large wing means the Metro Hop achieves takeoff speed fast – the company says its full-size prototype will allegedly get airborne in as little as 25 meters (82 ft).

The landing gear is also levered such that it can lift the body of the plane up and down, and tilt it rearward to maximize lift and drag in STOL situations. It folds out of the way once you're airborne to reduce drag, enabling cruise speeds as high as 250 mph (400 km/h) while making efficient use of available energy to deliver a range up to 125 miles (200 km) with current battery technology.

And when it's time to land, the extendable legs can help cushion the kind of brisk landing you can get when you're trying to pull up quick.

The company sees this system as an alternative to the eVTOL air taxi, and feels that STOL runways around 60 m (200 ft) long on top of skyscrapers could enable safe skyport-style passenger operations with a much lower energy cost than eVTOL vertiports.