Archer’s Midnight takes flight in ‘key milestone’ for test programme

Archer’s Midnight aircraft has begun flying in a key milestone for the eVTOL’s test programme.

The flying of Midnight builds on four years of flight testing, including two years with a full-scale Maker prototype, Archer’s previous iteration. Archer’s Midnight is a piloted, four-passenger aircraft designed to back-to-back missions with “minimal” battery charge time between flights.

Archer’s founder and CEO Adam Goldstein, said: “This next phase of Archer’s flight test programme is only possible because of the four years of flight testing we’ve done. Midnight is building on the successes of its predecessor aircraft and represents another significant step forward in Archer’s path to commercialisation. The next year and a half will be focused on continuing to rapidly advance our flight test programme and Archer’s electric air taxi operations as we prepare to bring Midnight to market in 2025.”

As the flight test programme continues to advance, Midnight’s flight envelope is expected to progress rapidly from hover to full wing-borne transition flight in the coming months, said Archer. This will pave the way it to begin ‘for credit’ testing of Midnight with the FAA next year as it works towards entry into service in 2025.

Tom Muniz, Archer COO, added: “Having taken seven full-size eVTOL aircraft from design to flight test during my career in the eVTOL industry, today’s milestone with Midnight marks the most significant flight to date bringing Archer and the eVTOL industry another step closer to bringing a scalable and commercially viable aircraft to market.”

Alongside Midnight’s flight test programme, Archer will continue Maker’s programme as well as flying simulated commercial routes which will help to advance the firm’s operational readiness.