On Tuesday, electric air taxi developer Joby Aviation announced that it successfully completed its first piloted transition flights—demonstrating its aircraft’s full shift from vertical takeoff to forward cruise flight and back again.
The historic flight took place on April 22 at Joby’s test facility in Marina, California, with Chief Test Pilot James “Buddy” Denham at the controls. Denham, a veteran pilot with experience in more than 60 aircraft types, performed a vertical takeoff in Joby’s latest aircraft before transitioning smoothly into wingborne flight, and landed vertically on the runway. Since then, Joby said it has conducted multiple successful transitions with three different pilots on board.
Denham said, “Designing and flying an aircraft that can seamlessly transition between vertical and cruise flight has long been considered one of the most challenging technological feats in aerospace, but our team has developed and built an aircraft that makes it feel like an everyday task. The aircraft flew exactly as expected, with excellent handling qualities and low pilot workload.”
To prepare for piloted transition flights, Joby conducted thousands of tests in its Integrated Test Lab, simulating real aircraft systems to validate hardware and software performance. The company also ran flight tests at Edwards Air Force Base to verify system redundancy, successfully demonstrating that the aircraft could safely land even with simulated failures.
Joby is still on schedule to deliver an aircraft to Dubai by mid-2025, where it will undergo final flight testing before launching passenger service in the region.
