Eve eVTOL Advances Toward Transition After 59 Flights

Eve Air Mobility has closed out a key phase of its eVTOL flight test campaign, accumulating 2 hours, 27 minutes, and 33 seconds of flight time across 59 uncrewed flights at Embraer’s test facility in Gavião Peixoto, Brazil.

The hover and low-speed flights block focused on validating control laws, aerodynamic and load models, and propulsion performance. Testing progressed from below 15 knots to approximately 20 knots groundspeed, with the team adding simultaneous four-axis maneuvers as the envelope expanded.

According to Eve, the aircraft logged more than 100 flight-test points during the phase, reached 215 feet agl, and flew for up to 3 minutes and 48 seconds in a single sortie. Eve said it also demonstrated autoland and a “simplified fly-by-wire mode” for the first time. The company described the simplified mode as a secondary layer of the flight control system that activates when the normal mode is unavailable.

Noise levels came in as expected, while the propulsion and battery systems exceeded expectations, the company said. 

“Across 59 flights, we confirmed stable hover performance and predictable control behavior within the envelope, while expanding our understanding of loads, aerodynamics, propulsion, and energy management,” Eve CEO Johann Bordais said in a company statement.

Ground tests are next, with the transition flights block expected to begin in July or August, when the prototype will attempt its first transitions between hover and wingborne cruise flight. 

“Completing hover and low‑speed testing gives us high‑confidence data to validate and refine our aerodynamic, propulsion, and load models,” said Marcelo Basile, Eve’s head of testing. “With planned ground tests next, we will be ready to begin transition flights, in which we validate the lifter-pusher synchronization before moving on to the cruise phase.”

A crewed type-conforming prototype is expected to follow, with Eve and parent company Embraer engaged with both ANAC and the FAA on the certification path toward commercial operations. Eve has said certification and entry into service are now expected in 2028.