Piloted thrustborne flight for Vertical Aerospace
January 8, 2025
Bristol-based eVTOL developer Vertical Aerospace has achieved what it terms “another significant step in its testing programme” by successfully completing its first piloted thrustborne flight manoeuvres, including roll, yaw and spot turn elements.
Vertical’s chief test pilot, Simon Davies – who was also at the controls for the aircraft’s inaugural untethered ascent back in November 2024 – performed the flight at the company’s flight test base at Gloucestershire’s Kemble airport. During this phase of the thrustborne campaign (the second of four piloted stages), the VX4 aircraft will take off and land vertically, conducting low-speed flight manoeuvres with lift generated by the propellers.
The start of this second stage was made possible following recent approval from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to expand Vertical’s Permit to Fly, with Vertical having noted back in November that it will “continue to work closely with the regulators as [it moves] through the flight test programme”.
“Starting the year with this milestone is a fantastic achievement and testament to the dedication of our team and partners,” enthused Vertical Aerospace CEO Stuart Simpson, concluding that “the team is now focused on completing this phase while we prepare for the significant next step of wingborne flight”. This next phase (which includes flying beyond the airfield boundaries) will see the VX4 take off, fly and land like a conventional aircraft, using lift generated by the wing.
Last summer, Vertical’s chief technology officer Michael Cervenka confirmed that the flight test campaign of Vertical’s second full-scale aircraft – “effectively redoing what [Vertical] did on aircraft one with a pilot on board” – would systematically continue to validate Vertical’s engineering, design, test data and aircraft over the coming months before progressing to the “critical manoeuvre” of wingborne flight. Certification of the four-passenger, piloted VX4 is expected in 2028.
Vertical has also appointed a new test pilot, Tim Eldridge, to support the growing needs of its flight test campaign; drawing on his over two decades of flight test experience in the Royal Navy.
