USAF Pilot Conducts First Remotely Piloted Government eVTOL Flight

Monday, January 24, 2022 at 06:30 PM ET

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Parker Downey, with Kitty Hawk, and Air Force Reserve Capt. Terrence McKenna, manually operate the Heaviside as external pilots through all phases of vertical lift and fixed-wing flight at the Kitty Hawk Corporation’s facility in Palo Alto, Calif. The AFWERX Agility Prime program took another step forward in December with the first government remotely piloted flight of an eVTOL aircraft. [Photo: U.S. Air Force]

Key Takeaways:

A U.S. Air Force pilot successfully completed the first government flight of a remotely piloted electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, specifically Kitty Hawk's Heaviside.
This training, part of the AFWERX Agility Prime program, aimed to familiarize pilots with the eVTOL's flight characteristics and build intuition crucial for future operational employment.
While primarily developed for commercial air taxi services, the Heaviside eVTOL shows potential for various government applications, including personnel transport, evacuation, and cargo delivery.

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A U.S. Air Force pilot recently successfully flew an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft during remote pilot in control (rPIC) training, marking the first government flight of a remotely piloted eVTOL, the Air Force said.

“A crucial thing that the RC controller allows you to do that a completely unmanned or a completely ground-controlled station based approach does not [gain] that intuition about the flight characteristics of the aircraft that are so important [for operational employment].”