Vertical Aerospace has completed the maiden flight of its third and final full-scale prototype aircraft, marking the start of a test campaign that doubles the company’s flight-testing capacity ahead of Critical Design Review.
The flight took place at Vertical’s Flight Test Centre at Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire, UK, on June 5, 2026, following the issuance of a new Permit to Fly from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Test pilot Paul Stone conducted the flight at 08:49 local time.
The new aircraft shares the same configuration as Vertical’s existing full-scale prototype, which has already completed all four phases of the piloted flight test campaign — thrustborne, wingborne and two-way transition flight — the last of which was completed in April 2026 under the CAA’s Design Organisation Approval regulatory oversight. The new prototype will progress through all the same phases independently, beginning in an all-electric configuration.
Once all flight test phases are complete, Vertical intends to retrofit the third prototype for hybrid-electric flight testing. The hybrid-electric variant is expected to address applications requiring greater range and payload capability across defense, logistics and wider commercial sectors.
Stuart Simpson, CEO of Vertical Aerospace, said, “Getting our latest prototype into flight testing is an important milestone because it allows us to learn faster in real world conditions and keep building momentum towards certification. Expanding the flight test fleet will help us validate the aircraft more quickly, reduce risk, and move more efficiently towards bringing Valo into service.”
The new aircraft is the last prototype to enter the fleet before Vertical completes Critical Design Review (CDR), the program milestone that establishes the certifiable design baseline and locks aircraft configuration ahead of full-scale certification testing. Following CDR, the company will begin preparations for assembly of its first pre-production aircraft. Vertical confirmed in its Q1 2026 update in May that it remains on track to complete CDR.
Vertical’s flight test program uses full-scale, piloted prototype aircraft with architecture, systems and flight characteristics closely aligned to those of the production-standard Valo aircraft, enabling validation of technologies, systems integration and flight models in support of certification. Valo is designed to carry up to six passengers at speeds of 150mph (241km/h) over ranges of up to 100 miles (160km), with type certification from the CAA and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency targeted for 2028.
The expanded fleet will also support additional public demonstrations in 2026, including appearances at the Farnborough International Airshow in July.
