AutoFlight Breaks Joby’s Longest eVTOL Flight Record

AutoFlight’s Gen4 Prosperity recently broke the world record for the longest eVTOL flight by flying 250.3km. The Shanghai-based eVTOL manufacturer broke the previous record that was held by Joby Aviation.

The aircraft, remotely piloted by AutoFlight’s flight test team, flew 20 circuits at the company’s eVTOL testing facility in China’s Shandong Province on February 23. It is the longest electric aircraft flight powered by lithium-ion batteries, breaking the previous 248.8 km record set by Joby in 2021.

AutoFlight said the successful long-distance flight is one milestone on its way to obtaining airworthiness certification in 2025 with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

The record-breaking flight was also the first flight of the AutoFlight Gen4 Prosperity, a five-seat rotorcraft designed by automotive designer Frank Stephenson. With a cruising speed of 200 kmh, the two-ton eVTOL can fly more than 250 km.

“This flight is both a great celebratory milestone and a testament to the team’s incredible effort and progress in testing and incrementally pushing the aircraft’s performance envelope. It’s a remarkable achievement that shows our aircraft’s capability, and we are excited to continue working towards our next goals all the way to EASA certification in 2025,” said Omer Bar-Yohay, President, AutoFlight.

To record and verify the distance flown, the aircraft ran third-party avionics on ForeFlight, an independent system widely used in the aviation sector.

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