Archer Aviation has announced that it has completed 402 test flights so far in 2024, surpassing its goal of 400 flights four months ahead of schedule.
In a press release, published on September 3, 2024, the company said the 400-flight milestone was reached within the first eight months of the year after increasing its flight test operations ahead of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) credit flight tests.
“When we first set our goal for 400 flights this year it was viewed as aggressive, but here we are in August already knocking it out,” Adam Goldstein, CEO and founder of Archer, said in a press release.
Each test flight produces data that the company uses to evaluate and refine aircraft loads, vibrations, performance and handling qualities.
Currently the flight test team is focusing on five key areas to develop the Midnight eVTOL:
- Longer distance and higher speed transition flights to gather more flight data
- Increasing daily number of flights each day to simulate frequent operations
- Hover landings in various wind conditions to improve the landing profile
- Evaluating noise in hover mode to share data with the FAA
- Improving endurance through optimized control laws