Vertical Aerospace has revealed that an incident occurred during flight testing of its VX4 electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft prototype on Wednesday. The extent of the damage to the remotely piloted prototype has not been disclosed. The event took place at Vertical's flight test center at Cotswold Airport (GBA) in the U.K., and fortunately, no injuries have been reported.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Vertical stated, "Our flight test programme is designed to establish the limits of the aircraft's performance, and the incident occurred during an uncrewed test of the aircraft's maneuverability during a motor failure test scenario, which is a key requirement to progress to crewed operations. We are working closely with the relevant authorities."
As previously covered by AVweb, the Vertical VX4 completed its maiden flight in September 2022. The eVTOL aircraft is projected to offer a cruise speed of 150 miles per hour, a range of up to 100 miles, and the ability to carry a pilot and four passengers. Vertical's recently released financial report for the first half of 2023 highlighted VX4's flight test achievements so far, including tethered and untethered hovers, as well as expanding the aircraft's low-speed flight capabilities. The company is concurrently developing a second VX4 prototype.
