Vertical Aerospace has announced that the company’s VX4 development aircraft has achieved piloted thrustborne to wingborne transition flight in a sortie that took place on 2 April at the company’s Kemble test facility, making it the third of the big name eVTOL developers to achieve the milestone. At the same time, it is the first eVTOL to do so under the aegis of the UK CAA and EASA, which have a more stringent certification standard than the FAA.
During the sortie, test pilot Paul Stone carried out a vertical take-off then transitioned to wingborne flight with gift propellers in the stowed position before retuning to carry out a CTOL recovery.
Describing the sortie, Stone said: “This aircraft was made to transition. From the moment the front propellers tilted and the aircraft began to accelerate, the response was exactly as the simulation predicted smooth, stable, and fully under control throughout. What the engineering team has built here is genuinely extraordinary. The aircraft handled the transition with a level of confidence that gives me great optimism for everything that comes next.”
Commenting on the flight, Stuart Simpson, Chief Executive Officer at Vertical Aerospace, said: “This marks a turning point not just for Vertical Aerospace but for the entire advanced air mobility industry. Achieving piloted thrustborne transition under active regulatory oversight, alongside the recently announced financing package, demonstrates that we have solved the hardest engineering challenges, have the regulatory relationships to complete certification, and now have the financial foundation to see this through to commercial service.”
The flight marks the halfway point in the transition flight testing with declaration to thrustborne flight testing remaining. When testing is completed Vertical plans to use the VX4s for a series of demonstration flights while at the same time continuing the development of the production Valo eVTOL.
Image: Vertical Aerospace
