Eve Air Mobility said it has completed the hover and low-speed phase of flight testing with its eVTOL engineering prototype as the company prepares for transition flights later this year.
According to Eve, the prototype has accumulated 59 flights and 2 hours, 27 minutes and 33 seconds of flight time since the start of the campaign.
The tests evaluated flight control systems, aerodynamic behavior, propulsion performance and structural loads during hover operations and low-speed maneuvers.
During the campaign, the aircraft operated at speeds below 15 knots before expanding the flight envelope to about 20 knots in horizontal flight. Eve said the prototype also performed simultaneous four-axis control maneuvers as part of aerodynamic and load validation activities.
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The company stated that the aircraft reached 215 ft above ground level and remained airborne for up to 3 minutes and 48 seconds during individual flights.
Among the activities cited by Eve were demonstrations of the autoland capability and a secondary simplified fly-by-wire mode intended for use if the primary control mode becomes unavailable.
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The next stage of the campaign will involve ground testing ahead of transition flights, when the aircraft will begin shifting between vertical lift and wing-borne flight using its lift and pusher propulsion systems.
Unlike some competing eVTOL developers that have already conducted transition or full wing-borne flights, Eve has adopted a more incremental development approach centered on simulation work and gradual expansion of the flight envelope before advancing to higher-speed operations.
Eve’s aircraft uses eight dedicated lift propellers and two aft-mounted pusher propellers. The company plans to certify the production aircraft through Brazil’s ANAC in coordination with the FAA.
The program remains in the engineering prototype phase, while conforming prototypes intended for certification testing are still under development.
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