2023-08-13 09:00:00
The prototype electric aircraft with vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) from Vertical Aerospace appears to have sustained damage following crashing during flight testing at Cotswold Airport (GBA) in the UK.
The prototype, named Vx4, was conducting an unmanned flight test on August 9, 2023, when it is understood that a hard landing damaged the aircraft. According to a source at the airport, who told freelance journalist Charlotte Bailey, the crash happened when the plane was regarding 20 feet in the air and suffered “significant structural damage”. In a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing for Vertical Aerospace, developer eVTOL confirmed that an incident occurred during a “engine failure test scenario”but there were no injuries.
Electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft are a new medium and long-term challenge for airlines, manufacturers… and a solution for innovative mobility. Thus, in 2025, United Airlines announced a service of air taxi between downtown Vertiport Chicago and O’Hare International Airport, using eVTOLs it purchases from Archer Aviation. If Chicago works, United plans to add more airport-to-city “core routes,” with “branch” routes between different communities coming later. The Archer Midnight has a range of 100 miles (160 km) and a top speed of 150 mph (241 km/h). Other American companies are counting on this new aircraft: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines.
In France, at the experimental vertiport of Pontoise, the ADP Group (Aéroports de Paris) is continuing test flights of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. In Asia, for example, Japan Airlines who works on the eVTOL.
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