Summary
- Testing on Archer Aviation’s eVTOL Midnight is progressing rapidly, with multiple autonomous flights completed to gather critical data.
- Transition flights are a key focus, moving smoothly between vertical takeoff, cruise, and landing to validate performance and reduce risk.
- Certification and commercialization goals for 2025 drive partnerships with Southwest Airlines and efforts to develop electric air taxi networks.
Leading eVTOL developer Archer Aviation has a goal of 400 test flights by 2024’s end, with 233 test flights with their first eVTOL aircraft Midnight for 2024 done, according to July 30 LinkedIn and Twitter/X posts. For Archer Aviation, the autonomous test flights are to increase data about the eVTOL Midnight’s performance.
Chief Commercial Officer: “Rapidly Progressing Through the Flight Envelope”
In a tweet posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, Archer Aviation’s Chief Commercial Officer Nikhil Goel shared,
One should note that the Archer Aviation eVTOL Midnight is being flown autonomously. As one of the 233 test flights carried out so far, Midnight was taken through its first transition flight. A transition flight is where Midnight takes off vertically, the electric engines rotate horizontally for a cruise and then transition back to vertical flight for landing.
Related
Archer Aviation eVTOL Achieves Its First-Ever Transition Flight
The eVTOL transitioned from vertical takeoff to wing-borne flight.
But that is not the only verification in Archer Aviation’s test flight campaign. According to an Archer Aviation spokesperson,
“Test flights let Archer learn in a variety of real-world conditions, helping the company prepare for its first piloted flight and eventual commercialization. These flights produce critical data that Archer’s teams use to evaluate aircraft loads, vibrations, performance, and handling qualities.”
Other items being verified include range, altitude and payload capacity. When the first transition flight was announced in an Archer Aviation June 12 statement, the statement noted the next test flights are about simulating commercial routes, simulating high rate flight operations and preparing for a human pilot to fly Midnight. All of these efforts are to reduce risk.
Reducing risk
Listening to a November 9, 2022 Archer Aviation open house presentation, Tom Muniz, who was Chief Operating Officer and now Chief Technology Officer for Archer Aviation, shared that the plan for certification included reducing risks of adding weight. Muniz also said Archer Aviation wanted a “very efficient, linear path” to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification. As such, Archer Aviation is choosing to innovate only “huge drivers in the performance of the aircraft” such as on the electric powertrain.
Photo: Archer Aviation
However, unlike most potential eVTOL providers, Archer is focused on US certification with the FAA for now. Reasons include home country bias and where most of the “interesting routes are to fly” with eVTOL.
Photo: Archer Aviation
Muniz’ presentation also shared test plans of great detail. But Muniz has a strategy of partnering with the FAA through certification so that Archer Aviation can be the first to commercialize eVTOL.
What’s next?
For Archer Aviation, the next step is to get closer to commercializing eVTOL with a goal to launch in 2025. For instance, Archer Aviation recently announced a partnership with Southwest Airlines and started operations in California.
Related
Southwest Airlines And Archer Aviation Partner On California Air Taxi Network
Both companies signed a memorandum of understanding last week.
Part of this is Southwest Airlines’ understanding that they are competing with ground transportation, as per a famous Herb Kelleher quote from a 1989 CBS 60 Minutes interview. So the two organizations will collaborate to support California communities with integrated electric air taxi networks, and Southwest Airlines is supposedly California’s largest airline. Of course, with Southwest Airlines’ route network prioritizing smaller, regional airports like Oakland International Airport and John Wayne Airport – having an air taxi network to connect to the big cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles for the time-sensitive traveler attempting to avoid airport congestion is mutually beneficial. Also in a June 20 statement, Archer Aviation announced a partnership with Kilroy Realty Corporation to develop vertiports in the San Francisco Bay Area in the South San Francisco, Napa, San Jose, Oakland, and Livermore communities. The South San Francisco hub will be just north of San Francisco International Airport, while Signature Aviation will host Oakland’s, Five Rivers Aviation will host Livermore’s, and Atlantic Aviation will host the other two.
Graphic: Archer Aviation
There are also other efforts to collaborate with Signature Aviation, the world’s largest operator of private aviation terminals, to conduct operations in many major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Oakland, and multiple Texas cities. So Archer Aviation should be able to launch broadly in 2025.
Bottom line
Archer Aviation is conducting a flight test program to reduce risk on the path to certification to produce the safest, most reliable eVTOL possible. To quote from the Archer Aviation website,
“At Archer we don’t settle for safe enough, our aim is to create an aircraft that’s as safe as it can be. We are combining proven aviation knowledge and experience from the past with new ideas and fresh thinking for the future. More than merely changing the way we move around cities, we are working to usher in an era of advanced air mobility. Safety is paramount as we work with the FAA and other global aviation authorities to gain their approval to begin operating our aircraft commercially.”
Hence the 400+ test flights to get to maximum safety.
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