PODCAST: Vertical Aerospace’s Michael Cervenka on the VX4’s Path to Commercial Launch

Our lat­est pod­cast episode is live! This week, we wel­come back Michael Cer­ven­ka, Chief Com­mer­cial & Tech­nol­o­gy Offi­cer at Ver­ti­cal Aero­space.

In this episode, we explore Ver­ti­cal’s progress with its VX4 eVTOL air­craft and ambi­tious roadmap toward cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and com­mer­cial oper­a­tions by 2028.

Michael shares a behind-the-scenes look at how the VX4 pro­to­type has been exceed­ing expec­ta­tions in recent flight tests, show­cas­ing excep­tion­al sta­bil­i­ty, effi­cien­cy, and ultra-low noise per­for­mance. He dives into the tech­ni­cal and strate­gic deci­sions shap­ing the final air­craft design, from bat­tery safe­ty inno­va­tions to part­ner­ing with the UK CAA and EASA for high-stan­dard cer­ti­fi­ca­tion.

Lis­ten­ers will gain insights into the metic­u­lous engi­neer­ing, oper­a­tional learn­ings, and reg­u­la­to­ry engage­ment that are de-risk­ing Vertical’s jour­ney to mar­ket. Michael also reflects on Vertical’s new­ly signed part­ner­ship with Bris­tow, a move that will enable scal­able com­mer­cial oper­a­tions through wet lease models—especially for air­port shut­tle ser­vices.

Click on the Play but­ton below to lis­ten to the episode, which is avail­able on whichev­er pod­cast plat­form you use.