Vertical’s Farnborough flights demonstrated real engineering progress. Five years after listing, outside capital still funds the path toward certification and an unproven passenger market.
Vertical Aerospace’s July appearance at the Farnborough International Airshow was a real engineering milestone. The company publicly demonstrated piloted transition between vertical and wingborne flight, something a powered-lift aircraft has to do safely and repeatedly before certification can advance. Vertical then flew on successive days in front of a large … [continued]
Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft startup Joby is one of those startups that seems to have been around for ages, but it’s been hard to know if any of these eVTOL aircraft companies are going anywhere. We’re yet to find out if any of these eVTOL companies have … [continued]
The #1 battery maker in the world, CATL, has developed a battery for use in electric aircraft — in particular, for passenger eVTOL aircraft (electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft). The battery has now passed an important safety test. The company intentionally triggered two adjacent cells and that didn’t lead … [continued]
Small electric aviation vehicles have been getting hyped for … several years. I remember a writer on CleanTechnica who was obsessed with electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft nearly a decade ago. Heck, electric aircraft was even supposed to be the subject of Elon Musk’s first meeting with JB … [continued]
The most interesting person in the first commercial eVTOL launch may not be the pilot, the regulator, the mayor at the ribbon cutting, or the executive standing beside the aircraft. It may be the underwriter. The aircraft may have completed its test program. The regulator may have signed off. The … [continued]
Chatgpt generated illustration showing the tension between certification cost curves and urban air mobility scale.
The question around electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aka Jetsons air taxi certification has shifted. It is no longer about whether regulators will create a pathway. Both the FAA and EASA have done that work. The FAA finalized powered lift operational rules in 2024 and published Advisory Circular 21.17-4 … [continued]
Valo makes its U.S. debut as Vertical shares plans for electric air travel routes in and out of Manhattan with Bristow and Skyports Infrastructure The routes would cut multi-hour journeys to minutes by air Valo will be on public display at the Classic Car Club in NYC on 23 January … [continued]
Electric air taxis may be a dead end idea. I think they probably are. Except in some niche, limited markets and applications. To be honest, though, Saudi Arabia may be one of those markets, and authorities there certainly seem to think so. The country’s aviation regulator, General Authority of Civil … [continued]
ChatGPT generated: Grounded eVTOL aircraft at a stalled test site reflecting the sector’s contraction.
The recent collapse in eVTOL stock prices after the irrational blip in early 2025 is not an isolated event. It is the latest step in a long repricing of a sector that promised rapid disruption but has delivered slow progress, heavy burn rates, and no certified passenger aircraft in the … [continued]
ChatGPT generated image of China’s integrated heavy-lift drone and regional air mobility operations.
When Brunei quietly announced that it would recognize the airworthiness rules of China’s Civil Aviation Administration, it seemed like a bureaucratic footnote. But the decision is a bellwether. By accepting CAAC certification as valid within its own jurisdiction, Brunei effectively declared that it trusts Chinese aviation regulators as much as … [continued]
