Joby expects to have four flying aircraft during next quarter
Joby Aviation is hoping to have four production prototype aircraft participating in flight testing during Q3 2024, with its third eVTOL having recently rolled off the pilot production line in California.
Joby’s recently-completed third production prototype will play an instrumental role in the company’s pursuit of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) type certification, regarding which it expects “progress in the fourth stage [of the process] to accelerate in the remainder of 2024”. As of 5 August 2024, Joby had conducted over a third of Stage 4 (testing and analysis), with only Stage 5 (show and verify) largely unfulfilled.
Subsequent testing (to date conducted with the first electric and hydrogen-electric demonstrator aircraft) will be bolstered by the addition of the second and third prototypes to the programme, with a fourth production prototype currently in final assembly. The fuselage and tail for the fifth have also been joined and will now undergo load testing.
During the second quarter of 2024, a number of Joby’s forthcoming test plans were accepted by the US regulator, including the Integrated Flight and Propulsion Control System Operational Test Plan, a “key system-level test,” and “numerous test plans related to onboard equipment and structural materials and processes”.
Other key milestones reached within the quarter included application for certification in Australia, a direct sales agreement to introduce the aircraft to Saudi Arabia, and an initial two-week round of FAA pilot training. Alongside the acquisition of the autonomy division of Xwing, Joby also completed a groundbreaking, first-of-its-kind hydrogen-electric 561 mile demonstration flight.
Having introduced elements of automation into its subtractive parts line, Joby remains “on track” to build the equivalent of one aircraft per month by the end of the year.
