Archer's Midnight eVTOL makes first piloted flight – minus the VTOL

Archer has released video footage of the first flight of its Midnight eVTOL with a pilot at the controls, though the aircraft rolled down a runway to take off rather than using its rotors to lift it vertically.

We've already seen Archer's five-seat Midnight air taxi rise vertically from the tarmac in the latter half of 2023, following years of testing and tweaking of prototypes like the two-seat Maker demonstrator.

Last week, the company entered the latest phase of its test flight program, with chief test pilot Jeff Greenwood in the cockpit taking the aircraft prototype down a runway and up into the air to "demonstrate the robustness of Midnight’s landing gear" during conventional take-off and landing operations.

Archer was founded in 2018 by Adam Goldstein and Brett Adcock, and reportedly began flight testing of its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft systems from 2019 – though was in stealth mode until 2020. Its full-scale two-seat Maker technology demonstrator was unveiled at California's Hawthorne Airport the following year and made its maiden flight towards the end of 2021.

The company's Midnight flagship air taxi broke cover in November 2022, sporting 12 rotors mounted along its wings – six dual-blade types at the rear locked in upward configuration plus six five-blade versions to the front capable of tilting for forward flight. Archer was aiming for top speeds of 150 mph (241 km/h) and a per-charge range of 100 miles (161 km).

By early 2023, a Midnight prototype was built and ready start test flights, which began in October. Its first transition from vertical hover to forward flight followed in July of last year, but until now the pilot seat has been empty.

"Flying Midnight felt just like flying the simulator – everything responded exactly as we trained for, which is exactly what you hope for during a test flight," said Greenwood, who joined Archer in 2021 after working for Bell Textron and serving in the US Marine Corps for 13 years prior to that. "That level of consistency is no surprise. It's a testament to the engineering and operational excellence of our team, whose attention to detail and dedication to safety made this milestone possible."

The pilot managed to get the eVTOL in CTOL testing mode up to 125 mph (over 200 km/h) and reached a maximum altitude of more than 1,500 ft (~460 m) above ground level. "Midnight's VTOL and CTOL capabilities are a strong differentiator for us as they are critical for delivering an aircraft that can integrate into a wide range of operational scenarios while also providing enhanced safety," added Goldstein, Archer's CEO.

This new testing phase will help the company gather important data in support of its certification and commercialization programs in the US and UAE. One of Midnight's early operational outings could be at the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles, after Archer was recently selected as Official Air Taxi provider.

Source: Archer