Summary Flight testing for Midnight is ahead of schedule & focusing on transition flights, high-rate flights, landing profiles, acoustic testing & optimizing control laws. Archer Aviation aims to start eVTOL services this decade in major cities, charging Uber Black prices or lower, with strategic partnerships in place. Midnight's potential military variant may be cost-effective for moving people short distances, complementing helicopters with lower operational costs.
Recently, Simple Flying interviewed Bryan Bernhard, Archer Aviation’s Chief Growth and Infrastructure Officer. Bernhard explained his role as “all things related to the ground infrastructure for the business, and that also supports the existing manufacturing and workspace needs.” However, this is also a good time to update readers on Archer Aviation's recent progress towards its goals.
Flight testing proceeding well First, flight testing for Archer Aviation’s Midnight is proceeding well, with a September 3 statement that Midnight surpassed 400 test flights in 2024 four months ahead of schedule. Flight tests focus on these five issues: Transition flights: These involve transitioning from vertical to horizontal flight and thereby being able to conduct longer-distance flights at higher speeds. High-rate flights: Increasing per-day flights to ensure Midnight’s ability to handle airline service Landing profiles: Ensuring Midnight can land safely at proper speed and attitude, regardless of wind.
Acoustic testing: Ensuring that audio models of Midnight’s sound output meet reality. Quoting from the September 3 statement, the tests are conducted, “With various microphone arrays to collect supplemental data for the FAA and to further evaluate and tune Midnight’s noise signature.” Optimizing control laws: The goal is to extend Midnight’s endurance and ensure safe flight.
These tests are conducted without a pilot in the cockpit and with FAA authorization. These test flights have gone well, making Archer Aviation's goal of having a human-flown flight in December likely. First destinations in the works, with more to come Bernhard also kindly shared with Simple Flying that Archer Aviation is working with Stellantis from its 400,000 square-foot Covington, Georgia factory to build up to 650 Midnight eVTOLs annually.
However, unlike Boom Supersonic with their Overture , Archer Aviation is not planning a successor to Midnight now to be “myopically focused” on delivering Midnight to initial megalopolises – or a large metropolitan cluster of cities and regional airports. Of course, when Archer Aviation is planning to roll out eVTOL services this decade to places like Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Seoul, South Korea, as well as US megalopolises in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York City, and later in the decade Seattle – the demand for Midnight grows. The goal is to charge for eVTOL services at, “the cost of Uber Black or lower”.
In the case of the San Francisco Bay Area, to connect the network to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) – negotiations are currently under way to have a good eVTOL connection between SFO and the nearby biotech hub called Oyster Point. From there, folks can hop on an eVTOL to go to Oakland, San Jose, Livermore, or Napa for starters. However, with only four seats and a price significantly higher than a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) fare, the eVTOLs and BART arguably complement each other, serving two different markets of luxury versus mass.
For the Los Angeles megalopolis, the intent is to also partner with the American football club Los Angeles Rams as well as fixed base operators. One can review the details . The network includes six airports in the area and will likely expand to a university and sporting facilities.
However, some are concerned that eVTOL operations may put pressure on the infamous Orange County/John Wayne Airport (SNA) annual passenger cap which makes the airport seem like America’s Schiphol. Readers may remember last year that the threat of too many passengers over the SNA cap triggered flight cancellations and capacity reductions . SNA’s spokesperson was unable to provide comment by press time.
But SNA's leaders have optimism for the new investment: Also Bernhard shared trust in Clay Lacy Aviation to handle the situation, which is also providing the first electric air taxi charger at SNA . The charger will be, like all of Midnight’s future bases, based on the universal Combined Charging System or CCS for fast charging – and can charge electric ground vehicles also. eVTOL versus Black Hawk Helicopters Finally, there is the distinct chance that Midnight may have a future military variant and possible uses for first responders.
Recently, the US Air Force took delivery of a Midnight eVTOL : Archer Aviation just delivered an eVTOL to the US Air Force, marking an impor The logic behind potential military and first responder use is as Bernhard explained to Simple Flying, “Our vehicle is optimized for moving people in short distances, versus, let's say, a Blackhawk helicopter, which has, you know, 1000s of dollars an hour for operational costs versus our vehicle can move people to and from missions about 100 nautical miles, and that can be done in the hundreds of dollars. And so you can clearly see how this vehicle can be positioned for very specific use cases. It's definitely complementary to helicopters.
” Bernhard then explained that while the Blackhawk helicopters can haul more people and payload at a higher range but at a higher cost, Midnight can reduce overall operating costs by using all-electric propulsion, additionally, according to Hangar.Flights , a “UH-60 Black Hawk costs $3,116 per hour to operate,” and this figure is supported by generalities from executiveflyers.com and thesoldiersproject.
org. Bottom line: Archer Aviation is focused on Midnight having a clear horizon Archer Aviation is launching the world’s first battery eVTOL in Midnight. Midnight will provide environmentally friendly, fast transport around the world’s megalopolises – using currently existing infrastructure like fixed base operators (FBOs).
There is also the potential due to Midnight’s efficiencies to have roles for the world’s first responders and militaries. As such, one can conclude that Archer Aviation is focused on ensuring that the horizon for Midnight is bright..
