Having touched down on PLUS, low-cost helicopter designer Pegasus plans to raise up to £2 million to market its home-assembly kits.

Retailing at between £60,000 and £75,000, the Arizona-based company claims these twin-seater helicopters are safer and easier to fly due to their being powered by ‘pressure-jet technology’, which requires fewer components than a conventional chopper. This also means the machines have a peculiar appearance, with a stubby tail and no rear rotor.

However, chief executive Robert Zummo, a 40-year aerospace industry veteran, thinks Pegasus’s new design will open up significant new niche markets in the consumer, commercial and military sectors. ‘We have a proven technology that has the potential to transform the consumer helicopter market,’ he said. ‘For the first time, helicopters have been brought within the price range of the general consumer market.’

Pegasus, which has already received an initial order for 25 helicopters, has a large and experienced board, including firearms designer Todd Bailey as chief operating officer and non-executive director Charles Vehlow, who also sits on the board of the Pentagon’s US Army Science Board.

At the latest price of 11.5p, Pegasus, advised by Atlantic Law, the vehicle for colourful wheeler-dealer Andrew Greystoke, is capitalised at £23 million.