Vertical Aerospace announced further progress on its path to certification, including the appointment of the former European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) Certification Director, Trevor Woods, as Director – Regulatory Affairs.
Vertical also announced that EASA has agreed to concurrently validate the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) certification of its VX4 electric VTOL aircraft. In this concurrent validation, the VX4 will be certificated by the UK CAA against their stringent safety standards and in compliance with the similar and equally stringent standards developed by EASA.
The certification and validation processes will run simultaneously in both regulatory jurisdictions, paving the way for the VX4 to operate in both the UK and Europe from 2025. This activity with both the CAA and EASA will also support validation of the VX4 by other international regulators, who respect the stringent safety standards imposed by the UK and European regulators. The certification programme is progressing rapidly as it targets entry into service in 2025.
Trevor Woods, Vertical’s Director – Regulatory Affairs, said “I am delighted to join Vertical, the eVTOL manufacturer that, I believe, has the edge on its competitors.”
Significant momentum
“Its considerable in-house engineering expertise matched with its unrivalled industrial partnerships from proven tier-one aerospace suppliers such as Rolls-Royce, Honeywell, GKN and Leonardo lend significant momentum to its certification efforts.
“I, myself, am looking forward to flying in the VX4 at the earliest opportunity.”
Meaningful milestones
Paul Harper, Head of Certification at Vertical, said “To have someone with Trevor’s experience join the team is a boost for us and our certification efforts.”
“We are pleased with the status of our certification programme and look forward to reaching a number of meaningful milestones in our activity over the coming months, including the launch of our test flight campaign.”
