A recent ‘Future of Flight’ summit at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London (20-21 September 2023) highlighted the growing significance of new in-development aircraft powered electrically or by hydrogen, many of which can take off and land vertically (the so-called ‘eVTOLs’). The Future of Flight summit was opened by RAeS president, 2023-24, Kerissa Khan, who has spectacularly broken the mold of typical RAeS presidents who tend to be male (not always) and late in their career.