Archer Aviation’s Midnight aircraft has successfully completed its longest piloted flight to date, flying approximately 55 miles in 31 minutes at speeds exceeding 126 mph. The flight took place at Archer’s flight test facility in Salinas, California, in front of United Airlines’ Chief Financial Officer, Mike Leskinen, who led United Airlines’ early investment in Archer.
The flight was conducted as a conventional takeoff and landing mission. Test flights in the preceding week reached speeds of nearly 150 mph over a variety of patterns. Four of Archer’s test pilots are now regularly conducting test flights in Midnight. The Experimental Test Pilot for this flight said the aircraft performed consistently, with predictable handling throughout the thirty-minute flight.
Archer said that Midnight flight test pilots will continue to expand speed and duration, and test mission profiles that map to early commercial operations.
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