Midnight aircraft continues to hit key certification milestones

 

Archer Aviation Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif., U.S.) reports that it’s composites-intensive Midnight electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft has continued hitting key certification milestones on schedule. Specifically, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has begun to approve Archer’s certification plans for its Midnight production aircraft and recently issued the aircraft its first special airworthiness certificate, enabling it to begin flight test operations. These milestone achievements pave the way for Archer to start “for credit” testing of piloted Midnight aircraft, which is expected in early 2024. 

Archer’s strategic approach to aircraft development and certification with the FAA has kept the company’s certification program on schedule by leaning on the strong safety, certification and manufacturing track record of its globally recognized suppliers, including the likes of Honeywell, Garmin and Safran, for key aircraft components that are used throughout Midnight. Those relationships, coupled with the strategy of focusing on developing the aircraft’s key enabling technologies in-house, has allowed Archer to invest only where it is needed to help ensure that the company’s Midnight aircraft can achieve its performance goals necessary for supporting a sustainable business model. This means Archer is not developing components like flight control computers, where its strategic supplier partners already have well-developed experience, intellectual property, certification history and scaled manufacturing capabilities in place.

Archer says that its intentional strategy is yielding a significantly simpler and more focused scope of certification work to complete in the “implementation” phase of Midnight’s certification program, than if Archer had chosen to develop all of the core aircraft components and systems in-house. 

“With each passing quarter and each milestone hit on schedule, we continue to prove our steadfast strategy and execute on our goal of achieving the most efficient path to market — optimizing our aircraft for certification, manufacturing and commercial operation,” Archer chief operating officer, Tom Muniz, says. “Needless to say, our strategy is paying off and we thank the FAA for their team’s ongoing collaboration with Archer to provide the right framework to certify our eVTOL aircraft and safely integrate them into the national airspace.”

Archer’s first Midnight aircraft is on track to be delivered to a customer pursuant to Archer’s recently announced landmark AFWERX contracts with a potential value of up to $142 million. The company is on schedule to hand off its aircraft to the U.S. Air Force by the end of this year or early in 2024.

Archer’s goal is to transform urban travel, replacing 60-90 minute commutes by car, with estimated 10-20 minute electric air taxi flights that are safe, sustainable, low noise and cost-competitive with ground transportation. With a range of up to 100 miles, Archer’s Midnight is a piloted, four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time in between flights.

Readers can follow Midnight’s developments, from its unveiling to its most recent certifications, here.