Dive Brief:
- Archer Aviation began the first test flights of its Midnight air taxi with a pilot on board, the company announced June 2, following over 400 autonomous flights in 2024.
- The electrically powered vertical takeoff and landing aircraft reached an altitude of over 1,500 feet above ground level at a speed of up to 125 mph, the company said in a press release.
- Archer Chief Test Pilot Jeff Greenwood was at the aircraft’s controls during the test flight over Salinas, California. “Everything responded exactly as we trained for, which is exactly what you hope for during a test flight,” Greenwood said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Archer plans to launch a network of air taxis in Southern California as soon as 2026, when the FIFA World Cup comes to Los Angeles. The Santa Clara, California, company also announced plans for air taxi service in the San Francisco Bay Area and the New York City region. To do so, it will need FAA certification for the aircraft, pilots, maintenance personnel, training and other aspects of air taxi operations.
The initial piloted flight used a conventional runway takeoff and landing procedure to test the landing gear and related components, Archer said in a news release. Regulators and customers said that both vertical and conventional takeoffs and landings are necessary for operational flexibility and enhanced safety. “Midnight’s VTOL and CTOL capabilities are a strong differentiator for us,” Archer CEO and founder Adam Goldstein said in a statement.
Greenwood joined Archer in 2021. Previously, he was a pilot in the United States Marine Corps for 13 years and served as a test pilot for Bell Textron, where he worked on rotorcraft. Among his tasks at Archer, he worked on cockpit design.
Archer and its closest competitor, Joby Aviation, are pushing to get their respective aircraft ready for final certification by the Federal Aviation Administration. Joby began piloted test flights in April.
