Vertical Achieves Full Piloted eVTOL Aircraft Transition

Vertical Aerospace this week performed its first full transition flight, with its prototype eVTOL combining vertical take-off and landing elements with forward flight in a single mission. This precedes the next stage of certification testing and an upcoming critical design review.

During the so-called ‘two-way’ transition flight, achieved on April 14, the test aircraft took off vertically before moving to forward wingborne cruise. It then landed vertically. This, believes the Bristol-based developer, makes it the “second company globally to complete a two-way piloted transition flight in a full-scale tiltrotor eVTOL.”  

In April 2025, California-based Joby became the first eVTOL to complete a full transition with a pilot on board. However, Vertical CEO Stuart Simpson believes the UK developer’s test flight – performed under the supervision of the UK Civil Aviation Authority - was achieved “under more rigorous regulatory oversight than anyone else in the category.” Additionally, no other European developer has yet achieved full piloted transition.

The achievement builds on Vertical’s April 6 flight testing milestone, where the UK-based company announced it had taken off vertically and moved into fully wingborne flight. It then landed conventionally on Kemble’s runway. At the time, Vertical Aerospace chief engineer David King described the flight as “a pivotal technical proof point on our path to two-way transition.”

The most recent test marks the culmination of a structured flight campaign that has seen the prototype fleet move progressively through tethered hover, thrustborne flight, wingborne flight and a final full transition. Vertical explained it is now moving onto the next stage of certification testing, with a critical design review to finalise the aircraft’s design before seven pre-production units are assembled in the UK. Certification is expected in 2028.