Joby Achieves Its First Piloted Flight Between Two Public Airports As Joby Aviation continues on its path to maturity of the commercial operations of its business and then Joby eVTOL, the company completed a major step in that direction. Recently, Joby conducted and achieved its first piloted eVTOL flight between two public airports. You might remember not too long ago, BETA Technologies had its ALIA CX300 fly to the JFK Airport in New York. In the case of Joby Aviation, this flight only lasted 12 minutes as it flew between Marina (OAR) and Monterey (MRY), California.
The distance was about 10 nautical miles and the time included about 5 minutes holding time for traffic at MRY. The piloted flight as you would expect from an eVTOL included vertical takeoff, transition to wingborne flight, integration into the controlled airspace around MRY, and vertical landing. The milestone is significant and marks the first time a piloted electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi has flown from one public airport to another. The flight also successfully demonstrated the team’s ability to conduct mobile flight tests and deliver full ground support operations away from home base in Marina.
“Successfully flying from Marina to Monterey showcased operations of our aircraft integrated in the broader transportation network and further validated its performance to ensure we’re prepared for service on day one,” said Didier Papadopoulos, President of Aircraft OEM at Joby. “For years, our flight testing has validated our aircraft’s capabilities, and we’ve done this across a wide range of environmental conditions. As part of the natural progression of our flight test program, it was time to venture further, and there was no better place to visit first than our neighbors in Monterey.”
Certification will never come by test flights and demonstration flights alone. They have to prove to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that the eVTOL can be safely integrated and operated in specific as well as national airspace regimes. Joby is currently working on the aircraft that will be utilized in the Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) testing by the FAA. Flight testing with this article is expected early in 2026. Once Type certification is approved, commercial service will commence in California and in New York. For more information: Joby Aviation 333 Encinal Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, U.S.A. www.jobyaviation.com ***
