Early eVTOL Test Pilots

The earliest electric VTOL aircraft were often initially flown by the inventors themselves. Here is a list of the earliest known electric vertical takeoffs and their pilots.

First Flights of eVTOL Aircraft

Red text indicates unknown or unconfirmed data

Additional flights with pilots/passengers (not first flights)

World Records

• Guinness World Record for "First manned electric multicopter" was on Oct. 21, 2011. The flight, lasting one minute and 30 seconds, took place in southwest Germany flown by Thomas Senkel, its designer and constructor. Powered by 16 lithium ion batteries running electric motors, each driving its own propeller to provide lift, the multicopter could fly for 20 minutes. It weighed 80 kg (176 lb). [Source]
• Guinness World Record for "First electric helicopter" (tethered) was made on Aug. 4, 2011, the first authenticated, manned flight of a helicopter powered by an electric motor took place at Venelles, France. The aircraft was flown by Pascal Chretien (France) and hovered in the world's first free flight of an electric helicopter on Aug. 12, 2011. [Source]
• Guinness World Record for "First electric tilt-rotor aircraft" was awarded after the March 5, 2013, unveiling of the AgustaWestland (now Leonardo Helicopters) Project Zero. It is a technology demonstrator and the company said it had made a number of flights at the company’s facility at Cascina Costa, Italy, in June 2011. It was completely electric-powered, and was intended to transition from hovering flight to forward flight by means of two integrated rotors that tilt through 90 degrees, though it never flew out of ground effect. [Source]
• Guinness World Record for "First out of ground electric helicopter flight (prototype)" was achieved by Dr. Martine Rothblatt and Tier 1 Engineering on Sept. 14, 2016. The aircraft was piloted by Captain Ric Webb, flying for 5-minutes at a height of 400 ft (122 m), travelling at 80 kt (148 km/h). [Source]
• Guinness World Record for "Farthest flight by an electric helicopter (prototype) (two person)" was achieved by Dr. Martine Rothblatt & Tier 1 Engineering on March 4, 2017. The aircraft was piloted by Rothblatt at a record speed of 100 kt (185 km/h). This was the world's first two-person electric helicopter flight. The record was later broken (see below). [Source]
• Guinness World Record for "Longest flight by electric helicopter (prototype)" and was achieved by Martine Rothblatt, Lung Biotechnologies, Tier 1 Engineering on Dec. 7, 2018. The aircraft was piloted by Captain Ric Webb. [Source]
• Guinness World Record for "Farthest flight by an electric helicopter (prototype) (two person)," a distance of 35 miles (56 km) was achieved by Dr. Martine Rothblatt & Tier 1 Engineering on Dec. 7, 2018. The aircraft was piloted by Captain Ric Webb. [Source]