Archer is targeting FAA certification by the end of 2024, and its first air taxi flights in 2025. With its Maker prototype logging successful test flights, the company has now unveiled Midnight, the four-passenger aircraft it’ll push toward production.
It’s a sleek and curious-looking beast, sporting the same propulsion layout as the Maker. That’s 12 rotors, mounted on propulsion pods distributed along its wide wings. The rear six are two-bladers, pointing upwards, and they lock into a minimum-drag configuration in horizontal flight. The front six rock five blades, and are capable of fully tilting forward for cruise flight.
The cabin seats four passengers, plus a pilot. It’s designed to be super-easy to get in and out of, and each seat has semi-dividers separating it from neighboring seats, with little panels displaying your name and destination. Archer has sacrificed some weight for passenger experience; the windows are huge and panoramic, and designed to give you the best possible view at 2,000 ft (610 m) where this machine will cruise.
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