Archer conducts 400+ test flights of its electric aircrafts in last 8 months

Archer Aviation, one of the most-promising company in the field of electrification of aviation at present, has claimed to have completed 402 test flights in its battery-electric 'Midnight' aircraft so far this year, surpassing the target of 400 test flight set for this year, about four months ahead of schedule.

Adam Goldstein, CEO and founder of Archer, commented on the achievement, "When we first set our goal for 400 flights this year it was viewed as aggressive, but here we are in August already knocking it out. I'm proud of the Archer flight test team and the supporting groups that made it happen."

The California-based firm is ramping-up its flight test operations in advance of for-credit flight testing with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Each flight produces critical data that Archer's teams use to evaluate and refine aircraft loads, vibrations, performance and handling qualities.

More specifically, the Archer flight test team have focused on five key areas of testing as following: 

• Longer-distance and higher-speed transition flights conducted towards gathering data for ensuring endurance and maximum safety.
• Series of optimizations made to the control laws of the aircraft. 
• Series of hover landings in diverse wind conditions with different rates of descent and flare heights to expand Midnight's wind envelope and further optimize the aircraft's landing profile.
• Enhancing acoustic measurement through a series of hover operations with various microphone arrays to improve the aircraft's noise signature. 
• Increasing per-day flights to simulate the high cadence of Archer's anticipated commercial operations with higher aircraft durability and reliability.