eVTOL Timeline

2023

May 16-18, 2023

Vertical Flight Society's 79th Annual Annual Forum and Technology Display held May 16-18, 2023 in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA.

 

January 24-26, 2023

Vertical Flight Society's 10th Annual Electric VTOL Symposium held January 24-26, 2023 in Mesa, Arizone, USA.

2022

September 20-22, 2022

Vertical Flight Society's 6th Workshop on Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Infrastructure held Sept. 20-22, 2022 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.

May 10-12, 2022

Vertical Flight Society's 78th Annual Forum and Technology Display held May 10-12, 2022 at Fort Worth, Texas, USA.

January 25-27, 2022

9th Annual Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Symposium and Aeromechanics for Advanced Vertical Flight Technical Meeting held January 25-27, 2022 in San Jose, California.

2021

September 20-21, 2021

5th Workshop on eVTOL Infrastructure for Urban Air Mobility, Virtual

May 10-14, 2021

The Vertical Flight Society's virtual 77th Annual Forum & Technology Display, held online May 10-14, 2021

March 2-4, 2021

4th Workshop on eVTOL Infrastructure for Urban Air Mobility, Virtual.

Jan 26-28, 2021

8th Annual Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Symposium and 9th Biennial Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting 2021, Virtual.

2020

October 5-8, 2020

The Vertical Flight Society's virtual 76th Annual Forum & Technology Display, held online Oct. 5-8, 2020.

September 1-3, 2020

3rd Workshop on eVTOL Infrastructure for Urban Air Mobility, Virtual.

June 3, 2020

Kitty Hawk announces its cancellation of the Flyer and shifts resources to the Heaviside project.

April 15 - May 6, 2020

Second Workshop on eVTOL Infrastructure, April 15, April 22, April 29 and May 6, 2020, Virtual.

January 15, 2020

Official unveiling of the Joby Aviation pre-production prototype (derived from its S4 concept).

January 21-23, 2020

7th Electric VTOL (eVTOL) Symposium took place on Jan. 21-23, 2020 in San Jose, California.

2019

December 21, 2019

First uncrewed untethered flight of the Airbus Helicopters CityAirbus at the Donauwörth manufacturing plant airfield, Donauwörth, Bavaria, Germany.

September 10-12, 2019

First Workshop on eVTOL Defining Challenges for Urban Air Mobility: System Safety, Infrastructure and Airspace Management.

August 22, 2019

First unmanned free flight of the Vertical Aerospace Seraph eVTOL prototype at Llanbedr Airfield, Wales, United Kingdom.

June 11-12, 2019

Uber held its third annual summit on June 11-12, 2019 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC.

May 13-16, 2019

The Vertical Flight Society's 75th Annual Forum & Technology Display - "Future of Vertical Flight" held May 13-16, 2019, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

May 4, 2019

First unmanned flight of the Lilium 5-seater all-electric jet at the Special Airport Oberpfaffenhofen in Munich, Germany.

May 3, 2019

First unmanned tethered flight of Airbus Helicopters' CityAirbus demonstrator at the Airbus Helicopters' flight test facility in Donauwörth, Bavaria, Germany.

May 2, 2019

First unmanned tethered flight of the XTI TriFan (65%-scale model) at the Placerville Airport, Placerville, California, USA.

January 28-February 1st, 2019

8th Biennial Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting & 6th Annual Electric VTOL Symposium, Sheraton Mesa Hotel At Wrigleyville West, Mesa, Arizona, USA.

January 22, 2019

First unmanned flight of the Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing Company, PAV (Passenger Air Vehicle) at the Manassas Regional Airport in Manassas, Virginia, USA.

 

2018

November 11, 2018

First manned flight of the LIFT Hexa at a small airfield northwest of Austin, Texas, USA.

July 7, 2018

First manned flight of the Gravity X Koncepto Millenya full-scale prototype at an undisclosed location in the Philippines.

June 22, 2018

First manned flight of the Beta Technologies Ava XC at Plattsburgh International Airport, Plattsburgh, New York, USA.

June 6, 2018

First unmanned free flight of the Vertical Aerospace full scale prototype at Cotswold Airport in Kemble, Gloucestershire, England.

May 14, 2018

The Vertical Flight Society's Forum 74 which included electric VTOL Special Sessions, was held at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

May 8-9, 2018

Uber's Second Annual Elevate Summit was held in Los Angeles, CA, May 8-9, 2018.

April 30, 2018

First manned free flight of the Workhorse SureFly at Lunken Field, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

March 19, 2018

First manned flight of Opener BlackFly v2 near Palo Alto, California, USA.

February 5, 2018

First day it was revealed to the public that manned flights had been taking place with the EHang 184 in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China.

January 31, 2018

First unmanned flight of the Airbus A³ Vahana at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport, Pendleton, Oregon, USA.

January 16-19, 2018

Aeromechanics Design for Transformative Vertical Flight and The 5th Transformative Vertical Flight Workshop at the Holiday Inn at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, California, USA.

 

2017

November 1, 2017

First unmanned flight of the Kitty Hawk Cora at the Hollister Municipal Airport, Hollister, California, USA.

October 27, 2017

First manned flight of the Gravity X full-scale proof-of-concept vehicle at an undisclosed location in the Philippines

October 20, 2017

First unmanned flight of the Opener BlackFly v3 near Palo Alto, California, USA.

September 16, 2017

First manned flight of the Astro Aerospace Elroy (formerly Passenger Drone and AA360) took place near Sofia, Bulgaria.

August 25, 2017

First unmanned flight of the Vertical Aerospace proof of concept aircraft which flew indoors at Cotswold Airport in Kemble, Gloucestershire, England.

August 1, 2017

First manned flight of the Zee Aero Z-P2 (now Kitty Hawk's Cora) at the Hollister Municipal Airport, Hollister, California, USA.

July 20, 2017

First manned outdoor free flight of the Gravity X Hoverboard proof-of-concept vehicle at the Marikina Sports Center, Marikina, Metro Manila, Philippines.

July 7, 2017

First manned indoor free flight of the Gravity X Hoverboard proof-of-concept vehicle at Club Gymnastics, Rosario, Pasig City, Philippines.

June 5-9, 2017

4th Transformative Vertical Flight Workshop held in Denver, Colorado, USA, as part of AIAA AVIATION 2017's Transformational Electric Flight Workshop.

May 17, 2017

First manned flight of the full scale technology demonstrator of Flyt Aerospace's FlytCycle in the inventor's backyard in Cupertino, California, USA.

May 9, 2017

Forum 73 included the Transformative Urban Air Mobility Special Session in Fort Worth, Texas, USA.

April 25-27, 2017

Uber Technologies hosted its Elevate Summit on April 25-27, 2017 in Dallas, Texas.

April 25, 2017

First unmanned flight of the Astro AA360 near Sofia, Bulgaria.

April 20, 2017

First unmanned flight of the Lilium Eagle all electric jet prototype at the Mindelheim-Mattsies Airfield near Munich, Germany.

 

2016

October 27, 2016

Uber Elevate White Paper, "Fast-Forwarding to a Future of On-Demand Urban Air Transportation," published.

September 29, 2016

NASA Strategic Framework for On-Demand Air Mobility White Paper presented at the Transformative Vertical Flight Concepts workshop at the Connecticut Convention Center, Hartford, Connecticut, USA.

September 29-30, 2016

Joint VFS-AIAA-SAE-NASA meeting, Transformative Vertical Flight Concepts: 3rd Joint Workshop on Enabling New Flight Concepts Through Novel Propulsion and Energy Architectures, held at the Connecticut Convention Center, Hartford, Connecticut, USA.

September 13, 2016

First manned flight of the Tier 1 Robinson R44 electric helicopter at the Los Alamitos Army Airfield, Los Alamitos, California, USA.

May 18, 2016

First unmanned free flight of the Trek Aerospace FlyKart 1 at an undisclosed location.

May 16, 2016

Forum 72 included the Transformative Vertical Flight Special Session in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA.

March 30, 2016

First manned flight of the Volocopter VC200 at the Bruchsal Airfield near Karlsruhe, Germany.

February 17, 2016

First hover flight of the Aquinea Volta in Castelnaudary, France.

February 11, 2016

First unmanned flight of the Opener BlackFly v2 near Palo Alto, California, USA.

 

2015

August 3-4, 2015

Transformative Vertical Flight Concepts: Second Annual Joint Workshop on Enabling New Flight Concepts through Novel Propulsion and Energy Architectures held at the NASA Ames Research Center Conference Center, Moffett Federal Airfield, California, USA.

 

2014

August 26-27, 2014

First Transformative Vertical Flight Concepts Joint Workshop on Enabling New Flight Concepts through Novel Propulsion and Energy Architectures held Aug. 26-27, 2014, at CENTRA Technology, Inc., Arlington, Virginia, USA.

August 13, 2014

First tethered flight of the NASA Greased Lightning hybrid diesel-electric tilt-wing VTOL at NASA Langley Landing Loads Facility, Hampton, Virginia, USA.

August 11, 2014

First unmanned flight of the Opener BlackFly v1 in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada.

 

2013

November 17, 2013

First unmanned flight of Volocopter VC200 in Fair Hall, Rheinstetten, Karlsruhe, Germany.

 

2012

May 19, 2012

First unmanned untethered flight of the AgustaWestland (now Leonardo Helicopters) Project Zero at the AgustaWestland facility in Cascina Costa, Lombardy, Italy (The two flights that day were the final flights.)

 

2011

December 1, 2011

First unmanned hover flight of the Zee Aero Proof of Concept (POC) aircraft in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA (day of month and exact location unknown).

October 21, 2011

First manned flight of the Volocopter VC1 prototype at the Rheinstetten Glider Field, Karlsruhe, Germany.   

October 5, 2011

First manned flight of Opener SkyKar Rebel proof-of-concept vehicle flown by the founder of Opener, in his front yard, in Warkworth, Ontario, Canada.

August 12, 2011

First free flight of the Solution F electric helicopter demonstrator in Venelles, France.

June 1, 2011

First unmanned tethered flight of the AgustaWestland (now Leonardo Helicopters) Project Zero at the AgustaWestland facility in Cascina Costa, Lombardy, Italy.