SkyDrive has reached agreement with Japan’s civil aviation authority on the general certification plan for its three-seat eVTOL aircraft, a key milestone on the path to its planned 2028 commercial launch.
The agreement with the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) covers the overall plan of activities required to demonstrate that SkyDrive’s SD-05 eVTOL complies with airworthiness requirements. The agreement describes the processes and steps between the JCAB and SkyDrive to achieve type certification.
SkyDrive said the agreement reduces future certification risk by confirming that the regulator agrees with the manufacturer on how to demonstrate overall safety.
The SD-05 is a lightweight, multi-rotor electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft with a range of 25 miles (40km) and a top speed of 62mph (100km/h). It has a maximum take-off weight of 19,000lb (8,618kg) and entered production in March 2024 at a facility owned by Suzuki Motor Corporation, SkyDrive’s official production partner.
SkyDrive has also submitted all remaining system-specific certification plans covering structure, systems, electric motors and noise to the JCAB, where they are currently under review. Once agreement is reached on those plans, the program will advance to compliance testing, which the company said is expected in the near future.
The general certification plan agreement builds on the JCAB’s issuance of a G-1 certification basis for the aircraft in February 2025, which established the specific airworthiness and performance criteria for type certification. That earlier milestone followed an agreement reached in March 2022 to use the JCAB Airworthiness Inspection Manual Part II as the regulatory framework, equivalent to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 23 regulations.
(Image: SkyDrive)
SkyDrive submitted a type certificate application to the FAA through the JCAB in June 2024, and the company is pursuing certification in both Japan and the USA simultaneously. It established a US subsidiary in 2023 to prepare for market entry.
Arnaud Coville, chief technology officer at SkyDrive, said, “Reaching agreement with JCAB on the General Certification Plan represents a milestone for SkyDrive. The agreement shortens the projected timeline for compliance activities and reduces future risk and shows that we are on the right track for the certification of our Aircraft with the JCAB and FAA.
“Only a very limited number of players worldwide have reached this stage in the type certification process.”
SkyDrive plans to advance type certification with the JCAB first, then work toward FAA certification. The company became the first to fly a crewed eVTOL in Japan in 2019 and performed demonstration flights at the World Expo 2025 in Osaka.
