Electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) manufacturer AutoFlight has achieved the world’s longest eVTOL flight in history.
The route was a distance of 250km, flown by AutoFlight’s Generation 4 aircraft on a single charge of the aircraft’s lithium-ion batteries.
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The flight, which took place at AutoFlight’s eVTOL testing facility on 23 February, consisted of 20 circuits on a predefined flight track, with the plane remotely piloted from the ground by AutoFlight’s Flight Test team.
While AutoFlight’s Generation 4 aircraft is fitted with the latest in state-of-the-art avionics, the aircraft also ran third-party avionics to record and verify the distance flown using ForeFlight, an independent system widely used in the aviation sector.
The flight is recognized as the longest fully electric aircraft flight in history, where the aircraft both takes off and lands vertically. The previous longest flight for an eVTOL was 248km, set by Joby Aviation in 2021.
The aircraft used in this record flight is the world’s first look at AutoFlight’s newest Generation 4 model, the Prosperity I.
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By GlobalDataThis long-range test flight is a key milestone in the development of the Prosperity I aircraft, as it undergoes continued testing towards the company’s goal of airworthiness certification in 2025 with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
“This flight is both a great celebratory milestone and a testament to the team’s incredible effort and progress in testing and incrementally pushing the aircraft’s performance envelope,” said AutoFlight’s president Omer Bar-Yohay.
“It’s a remarkable achievement that shows our aircraft’s capability, and we are excited to continue working towards our next goals all the way to EASA certification in 2025.”
AutoFlight’s Prosperity I is a state-of-the-art electric aircraft that uses rotors to lift the aircraft vertically for takeoff, then transitions to horizontal flight on the wing.
The aircraft is capable of speeds in excess of 200km/h over a range of more than 250km.
