SkyDrive, an eVTOL aircraft manufacturer based in Japan, has reached an agreement with the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) on the general certification plan for its SkyDrive SD-05 eVTOL aircraft. The agreement marks another major step forward in the aircraft's type certification programme.

The general certification plan describes the overall plan of activities required to demonstrate the aircraft's compliance with legal requirements, including the processes and cooperative steps that will be required between JCAB and SkyDrive to achieve type certification. As agreement with the plan shows that the JCAB is aligned with SkyDrive on how to demonstrate the overall safety of the aircraft, the agreement represents a core certification milestone that significantly reduces future type certification risk.

When certifying an aircraft, agreement with the regulatory authority must be reached not only on the general certification plan, but also on the various other certification plans that cover other aspects of the aircraft hardware and performance. Examples include the individual certification plans for structure, systems, electric motors and noise. SkyDrive has already submitted all of these other certification plans to the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB), where they are currently under review.

Once agreement is reached on all further certification plans, the programme will advance to start compliance testing, which is expected in the near future and marks significant progress toward achieving type certification, marking what can be described as the final stage of the development phase.

To recap, the type certification process consists of six overall steps. With today's conclusion of the new agreement on the general certification plan and with significant progress towards agreement over the means of compliance required to align the remaining system-specific certification plans, SkyDrive is moving steadily forwards toward the successful completion of steps 3 and 4 of the six stage process.

Arnaud Coville, chief technology officer, SkyDrive, comments: “Reaching agreement with JCAB on the general certification plan represents an extremely significant milestone for SkyDrive. The agreement, which shortens the projected timeline for compliance activities and reduces future risk, shows that we are on the right track for the certification of our aircraft with the JCAB and FAA. Only a very limited number of players worldwide have reached this stage in the type certification process.

“We will first advance type certification with the JCAB and then, working together with Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), look to make further progress along pathway to FAA certification. Looking ahead to the commercial launch of our eVTOL in 2028, we will continue to move steadily forward with our aircraft development.”