AIR Takes Off for the First Time with Successful eVTOL Hover Flight

AIR has announced that its inau­gur­al Air One eVTOL has suc­cess­ful­ly com­plet­ed its first hov­er test after receiv­ing its air­wor­thi­ness cer­tifi­cate on June 21st at Megid­do in north­ern Israel.

The full-scale Air One pro­to­type com­plet­ed mul­ti­ple hov­ers through­out the day and the fol­low­ing two weeks, safe­ly lift­ing off, hov­er­ing in place, and return­ing to the ground, while per­form­ing opti­mal­ly in a sta­ble flight enve­lope, putting it on track to deliv­er the first batch of Air One for per­son­al own­er­ship by 2024.

Air One’s ener­gy use dur­ing flight was pre­dict­ed, demon­strat­ing its abil­i­ty to exe­cute expect­ed per­for­mance, and AIR plans to expand to full flight test­ing through­out 2022. Capa­ble of tak­ing off and land­ing on any flat sur­face, the all-elec­tric two-seater air­craft offers a prac­ti­cal range on a sin­gle charge at speeds up to 155 mph (250 km/h).

AIR CEO and co-founder Rani Plaut said: “It was tru­ly awe-inspir­ing to watch Air One lift off the ground for the first time.

“This momen­tous mile­stone secures AIR’s spot as a mar­ket leader in the per­son­al air mobil­i­ty space, mak­ing the thrill of flight achiev­able on a dai­ly basis. We look for­ward to con­tin­ued growth as we launch into the next phase of devel­op­ment.”

AIR is pur­su­ing fur­ther strate­gic part­ner­ships in the US and around the world to assist in the devel­op­ment of infra­struc­ture and pol­i­cy. The com­pa­ny also con­tin­ues to work close­ly with the US FAA to finalise vehi­cle cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, as well as guide­lines for eVTOL pilot licens­ing.

AIR has com­plet­ed suc­cess­ful drop test­ing to ensure Air One’s struc­tur­al integri­ty, con­duct­ed mul­ti­ple propul­sion tests, and per­formed a series of elec­tron­ic and sta­bil­i­ty tests lead­ing up to its first take­off.

AIR also recent­ly announced part­ner­ships with air mobil­i­ty com­pa­nies Fly­OnE, Espère AAM, and AeroAu­to to estab­lish one of the first show­rooms for elec­tric air­craft in the US, and unveiled the full-scale Air One pro­to­type at this year’s Ken­tucky Der­by. AIR will be exhibit­ing at EAA Air­Ven­ture­Oshkosh 2022 from July 25–31 at booth #92.

In Decem­ber 2021, AIR CTO and co-founder Chen Rosen dis­cussed the ways in which the advanced air mobil­i­ty indus­try can still take flight by 2024.