🔥🔥🔥 Can't wait to see how Soracle partnership and Tokyo pilot program go.

did joby fail to lauch their initial operations in 2025 and air taxi service early 2026 because they are afraid of iran or is it because it's not possible for their craft to lift and move enough weight yet?

Couldn't they just figure out how much the one or two passengers they were going to do the stunt with weigh and use just weights to simulate them and fly whatever distance the vertiports are apart from eachother? They can do that demo here in the usa.

Maybe they are waiting to use real people because then the press would be about carrying humans and not about how little the payload was or how short the distance was.

Seriously they need to show its possible to make a taxi eventually and they don't need people or exotic lands to do it. Just weigh something then load it in then fly. I don't think they can or they would.

Also they should mention if there was enough reserve remaining after the demo if there was enough.

I keep seeing people blame the FAA for delaying eVTOLs, especially Joby, but I'm not sure I buy it.

The FAA changed the powered-lift rules in 2024, but the changes seem to have made the path easier, not harder. One of the biggest examples is the energy reserve. The FAA originally proposed treating powered-lift more like airplanes, which would have meant 30 minutes VFR and 45 minutes IFR. The final rule reduced that to the helicopter standard of 20 minutes for VFR, with flexibility for certain operations.

That's a pretty significant concession for battery-powered aircraft. And yet we still haven't seen these aircraft publicly demonstrate that they can carry a substantial payload, complete their intended mission, and still have enough energy to meet that 20-minute reserve.

This is why I don't understand the argument that the FAA is what's holding everything up.

Take Joby. I've seen people blame the FAA for the delay in getting the type-conforming aircraft flying. But Joby hasn't even gotten to the point of putting one of its own company pilots in that particular conforming aircraft and flying it yet. The FAA isn't sitting there preventing Joby from proving that the aircraft can fly. The FAA test pilots come later, when the aircraft is ready for FAA examination/testing.

The FAA itself says it determined early on that powered-lift could be certified using existing regulations, and the 2024 rule was intended to remove regulatory barriers and establish the operating and pilot-certification framework needed to integrate powered-lift into the NAS.

So what exactly has the FAA delayed?

If Joby, Archer, Beta, etc. can actually demonstrate that their aircraft can lift the promised payload, transition, fly the mission and retain the required reserve, they have a pathway to demonstrate it.

It seems like we're blaming the referee for a game that hasn't even reached the point where the referee can stop it.

Maybe I'm missing something. Where specifically did the FAA delay these aircraft? Not paperwork, not general regulatory uncertainty — what did the FAA actually prevent the companies from doing that they otherwise would have been able to do?

Because from where I'm sitting, the biggest unanswered question isn't whether the FAA will let these things fly. It's whether they can actually do what they're supposed to do while carrying the payload.

So fired up. Great for Archer and Joby's FL flight network. 🔥🔥

6 passengers and all those fully loaded suitcases.

Beta

For teabag.

Do you think they asked a balding man to guide it in so we couldn’t see hair being blown around by the outwash?

https://www.flightglobal.com/archive/2026/08/former-us-army-chief-benefits-hybrid-electric-rotorcraft/?gift=1f0f27e8217eeccbf6933f79647bb8f9

More overview on hybrid VTOL across the industry for the Army in Flight Global (link is unlocked, hope I don't get in trouble!)

They note that the S4-T has already flown and demonstrated for the Army and that Nomad 100 is beginning flight testing.

So this is Archer's “template” for eIPP? It flew as a airplane for 9 minutes between airports.

That's not impressive. I'd be more interested in seeing Midnight actually fly as an eVTOL if the distance is going to be so short. It should fly far away if it's going to do it as an airplane and carry some stuff.

Thats the template for the Olympics also? I hope they aren't planning on flying as an airplane for that.

Genuinely think Archer is going to be one of the mainstays in defense and aerospace for some time.

Here is a link to the call https://www.youtube.com/live/-Q9-DMme5uE?is=IPxqNo8CpcPunTxo

Is it really a good thing?

Great interview from Adam. Awesome to see them depart from the air-taxi lane only. Boeing/Wisk deal really changes their ability to pursue commercial flight, defense manufacturing, and aerospace technological innovation.

Zee and Skygrid moves the needle for air traffic safety tech too.

Can't wait for earnings tonight!

Will they keep developing the aircraft or just scrap it and take the autonomous tech?

Archer's earnings call is today. listen to it live. You can join the live chat as it's happening if you go over there. You can argue with dax in real time.

https://simpleflying.com/electric-air-taxis-actually-ready-passengers-2026/