Archer Rolls Out First Midnight eVTOL Aircraft
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Archer Aviation Inc. has now completed the final assembly of its first Midnight eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft. With final assembly and initial testing complete, the aircraft was shipped from Archer’s Palo Alto facility to its flight test facility in Salinas, California, and reassembled. Archer will now take this aircraft through a series of ground tests leading up to its planned first flight this summer. The Midnight aircraft has recently garnered significant attention from the U.S. Department of Defense given its payload capabilities.
This Midnight aircraft will enable Archer to perform critical “company testing” to accelerate and reduce risk on its certification program with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in advance of “for credit” certification testing that the company plans to begin early next year with piloted Midnight aircraft. Our strategy with this aircraft is to allow Archer to fly many of the same test points that will be needed during piloted “for credit” flight testing in order to further validate the aircraft before the FAA witnesses and participates in the testing.
Component manufacturing is already underway for Archer’s conforming Midnight aircraft. Archer is targeting the completion of final assembly of its initial conforming Midnight aircraft in Q4 2023 and to begin piloted flight test operations in early 2024.
“This aircraft will accelerate and reduce risk on our certification program, paving the way for our team to focus on building and conducting piloted operations with conforming aircraft to support the goal of entering into service in 2025,” said Adam Goldstein, Archer’s Founder and CEO.
Archer’s team, alongside its key strategic partners Stellantis and United Airlines, continues to advance its aircraft development and commercial operations with speed and efficiency. The company’s high-volume manufacturing facility in Covington, Georgia, is currently underway and the company has also announced key strategic electric air taxi routes in New York and Chicago.
