Airworthiness Criteria for Archer’s Midnight Published in Federal Register

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

Today, Archer Aviation announced that the FAA has published the proposed Airworthiness Criteria for Archer’s Midnight aircraft in the Federal Register, a major step towards its goal of commercializing urban air mobility within the U.S.

Made to be safe, sustainable, and quiet, Midnight features an expected payload of more than 1,000 pounds and is able to carry four passengers in addition to a pilot. The aircraft has a maximum range of 100 miles and is able to reach speeds of up to 150 mph. Midnight is best suited to recurrent short distance trips of roughly 20-miles each, with a 10 minute charging time between trips. Archer is currently pursuing an FAA certification for Midnight by 2024, which it will use as part of its upcoming UAM network, planned to launch in 2025.

“From day one Archer’s strategy has always been about finding the most efficient path to commercializing eVTOL aircraft,” said Archer Founder and CEO Adam Goldstein. “Today’s publication of our Airworthiness Criteria in the Federal Register is further validation of our strategy and our leadership position in the market.”

The Airworthiness Criteria needs to be published in the Federal Register as part of the FAA’s Type Certification process for special class aircraft. After the comment period, the FAA will finalize Midnight’s Airworthiness Criteria.

“Synchronizing the design of our Midnight aircraft with our certification efforts has long been a cornerstone of our commercialization strategy,” said Archer Head of Certification Eric Wright. “This ‘design for certification’ approach has enabled our timeline by allowing us to prioritize decisions that optimize our aircraft for FAA compliance. The FAA has been an invaluable partner in this journey, as evidenced by the recent publication of our airworthiness criteria to the Federal Register. This is yet another important step forward as we continue to build on our growing momentum towards Type Certification and the launch of commercial business operations.”

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Ian attended Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now contributing to DroneLife as a staff writer.