Archer has completed 402 test flights of its Midnight eVTOL aircraft this year, four months ahead of schedule.
The flights were conducted over the last eight months as the company ramps up flight testing in advance of for-credit flight testing with the FAA.
Midnight is a piloted, four-passenger eVTOL aircraft that uses a proprietary twelve-tilt-six propeller configuration and is intended for short-distance trips of around 20 miles (32km) with a rapid charging time of approximately 10 minutes. Midnight has a maximum range of 100 miles (160km).
Adam Goldstein, CEO and founder of Archer said, “When we first set our goal for 400 flights this year it was viewed as aggressive, but here we are in August already knocking it out. I’m proud of the Archer flight test team and the supporting groups that made it happen.”
The flight tests produce data that engineers are using to evaluate and refine aircraft loads, vibrations, performance and handling qualities.
Most recently, the Archer flight test team has focused on five key testing areas:
- Transition Flights: Continuing to conduct longer-distance and higher-speed transition flights to gather data, extend endurance and ensure maximum safety.
- High-Rate Operations: Increasing per-day flights to simulate the high cadence of Archer’s anticipated commercial operations and test Midnight’s durability.
- Advancing Landing Profiles: Completing a series of hover landings in various wind conditions with different rates of descent and flare heights to expand Midnight’s wind envelope and further optimize its landing profile.
- Enhancing Acoustic Measurement: Conducting a series of hover operations with various microphone arrays to collect supplemental data for the FAA and to further evaluate and tune Midnight’s noise signature.
- Optimizing Control Laws: Regressing through the envelope with a series of optimizations made to the control laws which will extend Midnight’s endurance.
Archer has received Part 135 and Part 145 certificates from the FAA for Midnight, which are needed to operate passenger services commercially and maintain aircraft. The company plans for the eVTOL to enter into service next year.
Archer is planning to launch an eVTOL network in Los Angeles and has recently announced developments with Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. The company has also recently delivered its first aircraft to the United States Air Force.
