Archer, March 05, 2023 - We are working to certify Midnight, our production aircraft, with the FAA in late 2024 and will then use it as part of our Urban Air Mobility (UAM) network, which we plan to launch in 2025.
A key element of our strategy has been to synchronize the design of our Midnight aircraft with our certification efforts.
This approach has allowed us to optimize our timeline to certification, because we understand the detailed technical certification requirements for our eVTOL aircraft early enough in the program so that Midnight is “designed” to be FAA compliant from the outset.
At a high level, the aircraft Type Certification process has two main phases. The first phase consists of defining certification and testing requirements, and the second phase is the actual testing and demonstration that our Midnight aircraft meets those previously established requirements.
The first phase breaks down into three steps: agreeing with the FAA on our Certification Basis, Means of Compliance, and Subject Specific Certification Plans.
- Our Certification Basis has been completed and the proposed Airworthiness Criteria from that Certification Basis have been published in the Federal Register by the FAA.
- The Means of Compliance, which is the detailed list of design, analysis and testing standards that will be used to demonstrate that the aircraft is safe and complies with the Airworthiness Criteria, was submitted to the FAA in December of 2021. We have made considerable progress discussing the Means of Compliance topics with the technical experts at the FAA over the past year and continue to work through final review and approval with them.
- In parallel with efforts around our Means of Compliance, our team has been hard at work on our Subject Specific Certification Plans (SSCPs). SSCPs provide precise detail on the tests and analysis that will be completed during the implementation phase of the project, which will require that we demonstrate to the FAA that Midnight meets all relevant FAA requirements necessary to receive Type Certification. We expect to have approximately 18 SSCPs. Our goal is for the FAA to accept all of our SSCPs by the time of our next program development milestone for Midnight, the Critical Design Review, which is scheduled to occur during the first half of this year.
Archer Open House Event presentation (PDF)
A key element of our strategy has been to synchronize the design of our Midnight aircraft with our certification efforts.
This approach has allowed us to optimize our timeline to certification, because we understand the detailed technical certification requirements for our eVTOL aircraft early enough in the program so that Midnight is “designed” to be FAA compliant from the outset.
At a high level, the aircraft Type Certification process has two main phases. The first phase consists of defining certification and testing requirements, and the second phase is the actual testing and demonstration that our Midnight aircraft meets those previously established requirements.
The first phase breaks down into three steps: agreeing with the FAA on our Certification Basis, Means of Compliance, and Subject Specific Certification Plans.
- Our Certification Basis has been completed and the proposed Airworthiness Criteria from that Certification Basis have been published in the Federal Register by the FAA.
- The Means of Compliance, which is the detailed list of design, analysis and testing standards that will be used to demonstrate that the aircraft is safe and complies with the Airworthiness Criteria, was submitted to the FAA in December of 2021. We have made considerable progress discussing the Means of Compliance topics with the technical experts at the FAA over the past year and continue to work through final review and approval with them.
- In parallel with efforts around our Means of Compliance, our team has been hard at work on our Subject Specific Certification Plans (SSCPs). SSCPs provide precise detail on the tests and analysis that will be completed during the implementation phase of the project, which will require that we demonstrate to the FAA that Midnight meets all relevant FAA requirements necessary to receive Type Certification. We expect to have approximately 18 SSCPs. Our goal is for the FAA to accept all of our SSCPs by the time of our next program development milestone for Midnight, the Critical Design Review, which is scheduled to occur during the first half of this year.
Archer Open House Event presentation (PDF)
See also |
Archer Aviation State of California Archer Midnight
FAA Federal Aviation Administration 
