Pilot Tours Archer Aviation’s ‘Secret’ Flight Test Location

Featured on Archer’s YouTube channel, the video shows bush pilot and aviation enthusiast Trent Palmer exploring the unique 12-tilt-6 configuration aircraft, called Maker. He is shown speaking briefly with the head of the aircraft’s flight-test program and the chief of Archer’s certification process. 

Archer, which is backed by a partnership with United Airlines, said Monday it had successfully completed Maker’s first hover test on December 16, passing a significant milestone for development of the aircraft, just six months after its design was publicly unveiled. 

While releasing self-produced, behind-the-scenes videos of Maker’s development since last summer, the Palo Alto-based company has not disclosed specific information about its flight-test facility. Palmer describes the location as “an airfield here in Central California that is kind of a secret location.”

Matt Deal, Archer’s flight test lead, discusses a few details about Maker’s landing gear design—specifically its torsion tube and oleos positioned inside the fuselage. 

Palmer also asks Eric Wright, Archer’s head of certification, about what’s ahead as the company works to type-certificate a production version of the aircraft by 2022 and to enter service by 2024. 

The video also shows engineer Kalem Dinkel giving viewers a tour of Archer’s mobile control unit, which is used to monitor and control Maker. 

And we get a peek at Maker’s flight simulator. 

The video shows Palmer declaring that the “first flight of the Maker aircraft went off flawlessly.” 
Archer, whose stock has been trending down since it went public in September, has become a major player in the emerging eVTOL industry, which aims to develop environmentally friendly, hovering aircraft for short hops over traffic congested cities.