Midnight Aircraft Moves to Next Phase of Testing Regimen

Archer tackled a photo opportunity with their Midnight aircraft, giving it a chance to show off its piloted capability ahead of future flight tests.

The Midnight has been in the works for a while, and until now has most often been used in an uncrewed capacity. Archer has reached the crewed testing phase, great news for fans of the nascent AAM industry. In this phase, Archer test pilots will continue to test the key elements of Midnight just like any other aircraft–how responsive are its flight controls, how stable across every flight regime, how well-sorted are its controls…

It's an exciting phase for Archer, giving them plenty of media to show the public a ‘true’, operational, real-world eVTOL air taxi instead of computer-generated renders.

Archer Chief Test Pilot Jeff Greenwood was happy to see everything go just as planned.

“Flying Midnight felt just like flying the simulator—everything responded exactly as we trained for, which is exactly what you hope for during a test flight. That level of consistency is no surprise. It’s a testament to the engineering and operational excellence of our team, whose attention to detail and dedication to safety made this milestone possible.”

“Put simply, the performance of Midnight continues to demonstrate the strengths of our design decisions for this aircraft platform,” said Adam Goldstein, CEO and founder of Archer. “Midnight’s VTOL and CTOL capabilities are a strong differentiator for us as they are critical for delivering an aircraft that can integrate into a wide range of operational scenarios while also providing enhanced safety.”

FMI: www.archer.com