The FAA has issued a certification of authorisation (CoA) and the aircraft limitations covering the Maker eVTOL aircraft to Archer Aviation. These are key components of the Special Airworthiness Certificate, which will be the FAA basis that permits the aircraft to commence test flights.

Archer has relocated the aircraft to its California flight test facility where it is undergoing final preparations for its first hover flight later this year, as well as ongoing systems testing. Previously, the eVTOL aircraft was housed exclusively at the development lab within Archer's Palo Alto headquarters in California where it was designed and built.

“The relocation of Maker to our dedicated flight test facility marks the next chapter in our journey towards the future of flight,” says co-founder and co-CEO Brett Adcock. “This transition will allow our team to shift gears from our 'ground phase' to the 'flight phase' of our Maker roadmap.”

The integration and test process allows for two-way feedback to the engineering teams to refine functionality and software for both the Maker and Archer's production aircraft, which is currently in its preliminary design stage.

“For the last few weeks, our team has been hard at work preparing Maker for transport to the test facility and, ultimately, for its first hover flight,” adds co-founder and co-CEO Adam Goldstein. “It's been an exciting year for Archer; we recently went public by listing on the NYSE, we unveiled Maker for the first time and now this milestone move puts us one step closer to our next goal: Maker taking flight.”