The first flying taxi eVTOL aircraft, by Archer will soon takeoff. Archer has just received a $10M Pre-delivery payment from United Airlines for 100 eVTOL supersonic aircraft
Original post by Dialect.tech. We partnered with Archer because we believe they have the right plan to bring a new form of sustainable transportation to market. In 2021, Archer made tremendous progress, and we are excited to continue to work with them on network design and aircraft operations. - Michael Leskinen, President, United Airline Ventures.
We're unlocking the skies for everyone, with our eVTOL aircraft, an innovative flying taxi module. Archer is pioneering the future of affordable, sustainable, and safe urban air mobility. Welcome to commuting on a new level.
We are bold thinkers, unlocking new solutions, overcoming obstacles, and discovering opportunities through our curiosity and creativity. We set ambitious goals. We make data-driven decisions, hold ourselves and each other accountable, and are committed to relentless execution.
Archer received a $10 Million USD Pre-delivery payment from United Airlines
We partnered with Archer because we believe they have the right plan to bring a new form of sustainable transportation to market. In 2021, Archer made tremendous progress, and we are excited to continue to work with them on network design and aircraft operations.
- Michael Leskinen, President, United Airline Ventures.
OUR MISSION
Archer’s mission is to advance the benefits of sustainable air mobility. Archer’s goal is to move people throughout the world's cities in a quick, safe, sustainable, and cost-effective manner. Archer is designing and developing electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for use in urban air mobility networks. Archer's team is based in Santa Clara, CA.
OUR COMMITMENT TO SAFETY
At Archer we don’t settle for safe enough, our aim is to create an aircraft that’s as safe as it can be. We are combining proven aviation knowledge and experience from the past with new ideas and fresh thinking for the future. More than merely changing the way we move in cities, we are working to make urban travel safer for everyone.
eVTOL AIRCRAFT
We are working to unlock the skies, by developing a piloted four-passenger eVTOL aircraft that's safe, sustainable, and accessible to the masses. And one of the key components to ensuring that safety is the pilot. For a pilot to perform at their best and provide the optimum level of safety, the aircraft controls must be intuitive and consistent. At Archer we have teams of engineers developing our approach to those controls and ensuring the pilot’s environment is the best it can be. Helping to validate that environment is Jeff Greenwood, Chief Test Pilot at Archer.
THE ROADMAP
Jeff’s experience as a test pilot began in 1999 at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. For the next few years he was stationed at U.S. Naval Station Patuxent River as a test pilot, where he flew legacy H-1 aircraft test programs and the Development and Envelope Expansion program for the UH-1Y and AH-1Z helicopters. In 2006 he joined Bell Helicopter as an experimental test pilot. While at Bell, Jeff participated in several commercial test programs to include the 609, 525 and 412EPI. His work there ultimately led to him becoming the Director and Chief Pilot at Bell. In 2021 he sought to help develop an entirely new type of aircraft and joined the team at Archer.
“Personally I became interested in the UAM concept when I attended the Uber Elevate summit in 2018,” Jeff recalls. “Professionally I was impressed with the team Archer was building, the aircraft concept, and Archer's conservative approach to certification. Putting those things together made the decision to join Archer easy.”
Though our mission was clear, and clearly a draw, developing a new way to fly would involve numerous considerations around how to fly. In our planned production eVTOL aircraft, Midnight, the piloting experience, stick and rudder aspects, will be different from both traditional fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft. Through the use of fly-by-wire and advanced controls we will allow the pilot to directly control the flight path of the aircraft, as opposed to controlling pitch, roll and yaw as is done in traditional helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. Not only will controlling an eVTOL aircraft differ from traditional aircraft, testing those controls will also be a new experience.
“For a traditional aircraft you can typically takeoff with enough fuel for multiple hours of flight time. In an eVTOL aircraft your flight times will be shorter, thus the test team will have to closely manage the execution of the flight test card to ensure maximum efficiency during the test.” Jeff describes. “Our plan to meet this challenge is to build the test plans and test cards early, fly them in the simulator, then refine the cards and procedures based on our learning.”
2018 - 20
- Assembled an industry-leading team of engineers
- Designed, built, tested, and flew our subscale prototype
- Confirmed Maker configuration and flight handling capabilities
2020 - 2021
- Entered into strategic relationships with United Airlines (operating & commercial), Stellantis (manufacturing & strategic), United States Air Force (flight testing) and REEF (infrastructure)
- Announced first launch cities in partnership with Los Angeles and Miami
- FAA signed Archer's G-1 Certification Basis
- Became publicly-listed company on the NYSE ($ACHR)
- Completed conceptual design review and began preliminary design stage of our production aircraft
- Design, build, and unveil Maker, our first full scale eVTOL aircraft
- Complete Maker’s first test flight (hover)
2022
- Achieve G-2 Means of Compliance with FAA on our production aircraft
- Maker completes full transition and cruise flights
- Select site and begin construction of our manufacturing facility
2023
- Finish construction of our manufacturing facility
- Full powertrain system validation
- Unveil our production aircraft
- Launch mobile booking application for testing
2024
- Complete final compliance ground/flight testing with the FAA
- Achieve Type Certification on production aircraft from FAA
- Receive Part 135 certificate with FAA, which will allow for the commencement of commercial business operations
June 28, 2022 | Archer Flight Testing Gains Momentum, On Pace to Achieve Transition Flight By Year End
- Based on the success of its recent flight tests of Maker, Archer believes it will continue to accelerate its progress to full transition flights by year-end.
- Archer is conducting multiple tests weekly as it progresses through Maker’s flight test campaign.
SANTA CLARA, CA, June 28, 2022 - Archer Aviation Inc. (NYSE: ACHR) today announced that based on the recent successes seen in its Maker flight testing program it is confident it will achieve its goal of flying full transition flights with Maker by year end. The work the team put in during the first half of this year to upgrade and test the aircraft’s Tilt Propeller System (TPS) is proving successful. Archer believes that its progress from first hover flight through full transition will be the fastest pace any eVTOL company has reached this milestone. Archer’s industry leading talent and its focus on using key enabling technologies that are in the market today have unlocked this historic progress.
In December of 2021 Maker successfully completed its first hover test flight. After completing that initial flight test, the engineering team spent the following months focused on advancing the development and testing of the systems needed to progress to full transition as efficiently as possible. Flight testing during the most recent phase has centered around various hover scenarios to analyze the TPS in the air. As testing progresses, the flight envelope will be expanded with flights at increasing climb and descent rates, and airspeeds. Archer plans to continue to conduct multiple flight tests weekly as the campaign continues into the second half of this year.
“What differentiates Archer from other players in our industry is our approach to commercialization as well as our laser focus on achieving that goal. The advancements we are making in our flight test campaign are nothing short of remarkable. I wake up every day inspired by our team.” said Adam Goldstein, Archer’s Chief Executive Officer and founder.
“Our recent test flights with Maker have shown impressive results,” said Dr. Geoff Bower, Chief Engineer of Archer. Dr. Bower oversees Maker’s flight test campaign and brings over a decade of experience in the eVTOL aircraft industry during which he has helped design and build 5 previous generations of full-scale eVTOL aircraft and completed successful flight test campaigns. “The rigorous testing our team has completed over the past several months has helped not only validate our design, but also furthers our mission to certify our production aircraft.”
