New world record set for longest eVTOL flight

Aviation company AutoFlight has achieved the world’s longest flight by an eVTOL aircraft on a single charge.

The Shanghai-based firm said its Gen4 Prosperity I electric Vertical Take-off and Landing craft recorded a distance of 155.5 miles, beating the previous best of 154.1 miles, which was achieved by California’s Joby Aviation in 2021.

Video footage shows that the eVTOL was in the air for just over one hour and 37 minutes.

The flight took place at an AutoFlight testing facility in late February and consisted of 20 circuits on a predefined flight track, with the eVTOL remotely piloted from the ground. No passengers were on board.

Although the Gen4 Prosperity I is fitted with state-of-the-art avionics, it also ran third-party avionics to record and verify the distance flown on ForeFlight, an independent system that is widely used in the aviation sector.

AutoFlight was formed in 2017 and has used experience gained in the drone industry in artificial intelligence, 5G and manufacturing to push forward its eVTOL development. 

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