Joby Completes “Landmark Series of Successful Aerostructure Trials for Certification Credit with FAA”
Joby Aviation announced this week, it has completed “a landmark series of major and successful aerostructure tests on its eVTOl aircraft for certification credit with the FAA,” reports Business Wire.
This represents static load testing of the tail structure, marking the first time an electric air taxi company has trialled a major aerostructure of its aircraft for-credit with FAA representatives present.
The tests took place in Santa Cruz, California, as part of a rigorous trial campaign covering all of the structures, components and systems on the aircraft, producing data that is required for FAA Type Certification.
Didier Papadopoulos, President of Aircraft OEM at Joby, commented, “Completing for-credit static load testing on a major aircraft structure marks an important step towards certification of the Joby aircraft and we’re very pleased with the results. Reaching this milestone is the culmination of years of hard work across the engineering, testing, certification, and manufacturing teams at Joby.”
He continued, “Our vertically-integrated approach to aircraft development gives us the capability to design, build, and test entire aerostructures in-house, providing Joby with a strong foundation to rapidly and efficiently continue to bring innovative technologies to market.”
During the trials, company engineers “applied loads to the aircraft’s tail structure that far exceed the maximum forces the structure is expected to experience during flight,” states Business Wire. “The FAA-conforming tail structure used in the test, along with the test procedure, instrumentation, and applied loads, are outlined in Joby’s certification documents, which have been approved by the FAA as part of the certification process.”
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(Top image: A Joby electric air taxi in flight – Credit: Joby Aviation)
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