VIDEO: Archer’s demonstrator eVTOL aircraft Maker achieves first transition to full wing-borne flight

Archer’s Mak­er eVTOL demon­stra­tor air­craft has suc­cess­ful­ly com­plet­ed its first tran­si­tion to full wing borne flight.

The full tran­si­tion mile­stone was achieved on Novem­ber 29th, with Maker’s tilt pro­pellers locked in cruise posi­tion for the first time. The air­craft flew at a cal­i­brat­ed air­speed of 91 knots (105 mph).

Archer says this achieve­ment is crit­i­cal to val­i­dat­ing the flight physics of the pro­pri­etary 12-tilt-six pro­peller con­fig­u­ra­tion that it uses on Mak­er, as well as Mid­night, which the com­pa­ny recent­ly unveiled at its Open House on Novem­ber 16th. Mid­night aims to be cer­ti­fied with the FAA in late 2024.

Adam Gold­stein, Archer’s Founder and CEO, said “From day one, Archer’s strat­e­gy has always been about find­ing the most effi­cient path to com­mer­cial­is­ing eVTOL air­craft.

“The data and expe­ri­ence we’ve gath­ered from Maker’s rig­or­ous flight test­ing pro­gram has been invalu­able to the devel­op­ment and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion path of Mid­night, and lends fur­ther con­fi­dence to our belief that Archer will be the first com­pa­ny to cer­ti­fy an eVTOL air­craft in the US with the FAA.”

Mak­er has 12 pro­pellers attached to six booms on a fixed wing. All 12 pro­pellers pro­vide ver­ti­cal lift dur­ing take-off and land­ing. The for­ward 6 pro­pellers tilt for­ward to cruise posi­tion to pro­vide propul­sion dur­ing for­ward flight, with the wing pro­vid­ing aero­dy­nam­ic lift like a con­ven­tion­al air­plane.

The suc­cess of the Mak­er flight test­ing pro­gram also demon­strates a num­ber of the key enabling tech­nolo­gies for Mid­night, such as the aircraft’s flight con­trol sys­tem.

The Mak­er flight test pro­gram has gen­er­at­ed invalu­able data that Archer has lever­aged in the devel­op­ment and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process for Mid­night. Archer has made rapid progress on Maker’s flight test­ing pro­gram, com­plet­ing this tran­si­tion to ful­ly wing-borne flight in less than 12 months after its first hov­er flight.

Dr. Geoff Bow­er, Archer’s Chief Engi­neer and who is respon­si­ble for over­see­ing Maker’s flight test cam­paign, added: “This sig­nif­i­cant achieve­ment is a tes­ta­ment to the count­less hours of design, sim­u­la­tion and wind tun­nel test­ing that our team has con­duct­ed behind-the-scenes.

“Look­ing for­ward to the com­mer­cial­i­sa­tion of Mid­night, we’ll con­tin­ue to draw upon the incred­i­ble find­ings and lessons learned from Maker’s flight test­ing pro­gramme.”

Dr. Bow­er has more than a decade of expe­ri­ence in the eVTOL air­craft indus­try, dur­ing which he has helped design and build four full-scale eVTOL air­craft that have suc­cess­ful­ly com­plet­ed flight test cam­paigns. More tech­ni­cal details from the flight can be found in his recent blog here.