Archer’s Midnight Aircraft Close to Completion

Archer Aviation announced that its Midnight aircraft, which was unveiled in November last year, is close to being completed.

The American eVTOL firm, based in San Jose, California, confirmed that all the major aerostructures of the Midnight, including the wing, tail and fuselage, have been constructed and assembled on the aircraft. A majority of the wiring, electronics, actuators and other systems have also been installed.

With the aircraft nearing completion, Archer plans to flight test it in mid-2023, marking the first step in its bid to conduct “for credit” certification testing with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and subsequently obtain Type Certification.

The company has also started the component manufacturing phase for its conforming Midnight, with intentions to build six manned aircraft. The initial one is expected to be completed in Q4 2023, with flight test operations set to take place early next year.

Archer will construct the conforming Midnight aircraft at its manufacturing facility and integrated test lab in San Jose.

Tom Muniz, Chief Operating Officer, Archer, expressed his excitement at the progress being made and said it marks the latest milestone in getting the Midnight ready to take to the skies.

“A lot goes on behind the scenes to advance the development of our aircraft as efficiently as we have. I couldn’t be more excited to share the news of Archer’s progress on Midnight,” said Muniz.

“This latest milestone is further validation of our strategic approach of using known building blocks to enable realistic innovation significantly de-risking our path to certification and mass manufacturing. The team and I are looking forward to moving this aircraft into flight testing soon and continuing on our path to flying our conforming aircraft in early 2024.”

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