The flight is the first time that the aircraft’s pusher propulsion system is activated while in the air and it confirms the key features of Eve’s eVTOL design
Eve Air Mobility announced that its engineering prototype has completed its first partial transition flight, marking an important milestone in the development and testing of the company’s electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
The flight involved the activation of the aircraft’s rear pusher propeller and thus signified the start of the transition phase from vertical to wing-borne flight. During the test, the aircraft attained a stabilized speed of 27 knots and a maximum ground speed of 30 knots whilst the pusher was activated up to 1,200 RPM.
The flight took 3 minutes and 9 seconds, travelled approximately 0.84 nautical miles and attained a maximum height of 90 feet above ground level.
“This first partial transition flight is an important milestone in Eve’s development journey,” said Johann Bordais, chief executive officer of Eve Air Mobility. “Successfully activating the pusher propulsion system in flight validates a key aspect of our aircraft design and brings us one step closer to delivering safe, efficient and scalable air mobility solutions.”
The transition phase is one of the most critical aspects of eVTOL flight, as it involves the aircraft moving from vertical lift to forward flight. The successful completion of this initial partial transition test further advances Eve’s efforts to expand the aircraft’s flight envelope and validate system performance.
“This flight successfully demonstrated pusher activation in flight and validated key performance targets at the start of the transition phase,” said Marcelo Basile, head of engineering at Eve Air Mobility. “The data collected will support continued envelope expansion as we advance toward higher speeds and more complex transition flight testing.”
Eve’s flight test engineering team is continuing ongoing loads and structural analyses to support future envelope expansion. Following the aircraft’s flight-testing program, the company plans to conduct datalink testing to validate radio link performance and support operations at speeds up to 50 knots.
Over the coming weeks, Eve expects to progressively expand the aircraft’s airspeed envelope, including additional flights with pusher activation as part of the broader transition flight-test campaign.