UK regulator expands Vertical Aerospace's role in eVTOL certification

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UK regulator expands Vertical Aerospace's role in eVTOL certification

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Aviation International News | Aviation International News

By Sky Industry News

Jul 10, 2024

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has broadened the range of certification tasks that Vertical Aerospace can perform under its design organization approval (DOA). This expansion allows the UK-based eVTOL aircraft developer to sign off on compliance for various technical areas, including flight controls, avionics, and electrical systems. Vertical Aerospace received its initial DOA in March 2023.

The company also announced an agreement between the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the CAA regarding collaboration on type certification activities for its four-passenger VX4 vehicle, which it aims to market by 2026. The DOA is a critical step toward achieving type certification, authorizing manufacturers to conduct design activities and issue approvals within its scope.

Vertical hopes to further expand these privileges with the CAA, potentially including permits for piloted test flights of the VX4. The CAA had previously agreed to adopt EASA's means of compliance for eVTOL aircraft under special conditions VTOL standards. Officials from both agencies have now established common standards to support concurrent certification and validation of the VX4.

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"This is another positive step forward in recognizing that Vertical has the engineering capability to obtain certification for the VX4 aircraft," said Vertical Aerospace CEO Stuart Simpson. "Our world-class engineering and design teams, combined with our partnership with leading aerospace companies and our state-of-the-art facilities in the UK, set us up well to achieve certification to the highest safety standards in the world."

Vertical Aerospace has opted not to showcase its VX4 at this month's Farnborough International Airshow as initially planned. Instead, it will focus on preparing its second prototype for flight testing at Cotswold Airport. This decision was confirmed on July 5.

The new prototype includes more hardware from partners such as Honeywell, Leonardo, and GKN Aerospace. It features new propellers designed by Vertical following an investigation into a crash on August 9, 2023, which destroyed its first prototype. Additionally, it uses batteries developed by Vertical's Energy Centre at their Bristol headquarters.

"While it was always going to be ambitious for a novel aircraft prototype program like ours, we had been aiming to demonstrate the new VX4 at Farnborough," stated Vertical Aerospace in a written statement. "After careful consideration, we decided to prioritize progressing the flight test program this summer from our Flight Test Centre instead."