The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) this week expanded the scope of work that eVTOL aircraft developer Vertical Aerospace can do under the design organization approval (DOA) it received in March 2023. The UK-based company also announced on July 10 that an agreement has been reached between EASA and the CAA as to how the two regulators will collaborate over type certification activities for the four-passenger VX4 vehicle that Vertical wants to bring to market in 2026.
The extension of DOA means Vertical’s engineers can sign off compliance for an increasing number of technical areas, including items relating to flight controls, avionics, and electrical systems. The company said this will increase its capacity to complete certification tasks and streamline the process.
Vertical now hopes that further work with CAA officials will result in the expansion of these privileges. These might include approval for permits to fly for piloted test flights with the VX4.
The DOA authorizes aircraft manufacturers to conduct design activities and issue design approvals within the scope of the document. This has now been expanded, with the DOA being a crucial prerequisite to achieving type certification.
Last year, the CAA agreed to adopt EASA’s means of compliance for eVTOL aircraft under its special conditions VTOL standards. Officials from the two agencies have now agreed on how they will apply common standards to support concurrent certification and validation of the VX4 under the technical implementation procedures that took effect when the UK left the European Union. Vertical is also seeking type certification in the U.S., Brazil, and Japan.
“This is another positive step forward in recognizing that Vertical has the engineering capability to obtain certification for the VX4 aircraft. Our world-class engineering and design teams, combined with our partnership with leading aerospace companies and our state-of-the-art facilities in the UK, set us up well to achieve certification to the highest safety standards in the world,” said Vertical Aerospace CEO Stuart Simpson. “At the same time, seeing regulators like the CAA and EASA working closely together paves the way for a more seamless, faster route to certification.”
VX4 eVTOL Pulls Out of Farnborough Airshow
As it prepares its second prototype aircraft to start flight testing, Vertical has decided not to bring the VX4 to the Farnborough International Airshow later this month, as had been planned. The company confirmed the decision on July 5, saying that it had chosen to focus on keeping the flight test program on track at Cotswold Airport in the west of England.
This prototype features more hardware provided by key partners including Honeywell, Leonardo, and GKN Aerospace. It also has new propellers that Vertical has designed to rectify problems identified during the investigation into the Aug. 9, 2023 crash that destroyed its first prototype. It also uses new batteries produced by the company’s in-house Vertical Energy Centre at its Bristol headquarters.
“While it was always going to be ambitious for a novel aircraft prototype program like ours, we had been aiming to demonstrate the new VX4 at Farnborough,” the company said in a written statement. “After careful consideration, we decided to prioritize progressing the flight test program this summer from our Flight Test Centre instead.”