LAS VEGAS—Archer Aircraft is nearing an end to company testing of its Midnight air taxi and expects to start FAA certification flight-testing of the four-passenger battery-electric aircraft next year.
The advanced air mobility startup is flying a piloted, conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) version of the Midnight from Salinas Municipal Airport in California for “company-conforming” testing in anticipation of starting FAA Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) flight testing, the final stage of certification, says Eric Lentell, the company’s chief legal and strategy officer. It is also flight testing an autonomous, uncrewed “MidZero” aircraft in Abu Dhabi, UAE, which plans to introduce Midnight passenger flights.
Archer displayed a mockup of the Midnight with a representative Garmin G3000 flight deck for the first time at the NBAA Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition Oct. 14-16, exhibiting the model in the atrium of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Upon completion of the CTOL test campaign, Archer plans to conduct integration testing of CTOL and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) modes to demonstrate the aircraft’s ability to transition from vertical lift to fixed-wing cruise flight with pilots on board. The company performed the first hover flights with a full-scale Midnight prototype in October 2023 and achieved the transition from hover to cruise flight in June 2024.
“Last year was all about flying through the whole transition VTOL envelope; this year is all about piloted CTOL,” Lentell says. “Then we’ll go back and integrate both (modes) and show the full suite of what its capabilities are from CTOL to VTOL to piloted.”
Archer is already working with the FAA to determine the entrance criteria for TIA as part of an initial means-of-compliance and certification, or “policy” phase, Lentell says.
“We’re in the final phases of hammering out what that looks like,” he says. “It was going real well until the government shutdown happened [on Oct. 1] but we expect it to come back in earnest in the coming weeks.”
Six further Midnight aircraft are being assembled, some of which will support early operations in the UAE, with others used for TIA flight testing. The Midnight fuselage is constructed in Covington, Georgia, and sent to Archer facilities in the San Jose, California, area for final assembly of the aircraft.
Midnight certification flight-test aircraft will be equipped with four-bladed rear lifting propellers in place of the two-bladed configuration displayed in Las Vegas. The aircraft has six tilting propellers on the leading edge of its wing and six fixed lift propellers aft.
Archer expects to participate in the electric VTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) the FAA announced in September to accelerate the deployment of advanced air mobility aircraft. It plans to achieve FAA type certification in 2026-27 and scale up operations of the Midnight in 2028, fulfilling its selection as the official air taxi provider for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“We’re focused on continuing to bring along the UAE and then scale for LA in 2028,” Lentell says. “That is where the core focus of the company is—it’s going to be a two- or three-year sprint.”
