The experimental prototype of Vertical Aerospace crashed during a test flight on August 9 at Cotswold Airport, to Vertical’s flight test center. “The aircraft was remotely piloted and there were no injuries during the accident,” Vertical said in a statement
“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 manoeuvrability during a motor failure test scenario, which is a key requirement to progress to crewed operations,” the company stated in its SEC filing.
In a recent letter to the shareholders, Vertical claimed that the company had made great strides in its flight test program including VX4’s first untethered flights.
“The aircraft lifted, hovered, flew, and landed all by the thrust of its electric propulsion system and powered only by Vertical’s proprietary battery packs,” the shareholder letter stated.
Vertical further claimed that the aircraft had carried out 18 take offs and landings, and reached its target thrustborne speed of 40 knots (70 kilometers per hour).
Vertical is planning to build a second full-scale VX4 prototype at the GKN Global Technology Centre. The second demonstrator is expected to have greater capabilities than our first prototype, including improved range and higher performance, particularly in hover.