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Joby S4 makes historic piloted tilt-rotor eVTOL transition flight


Joby Aviation achieved a major milestone on April 22, 2025 when it became the first company to fly an all-electric tilt-rotor eVTOL with a pilot aboard as it transitioned from horizontal to vertical flight and back again.

Joby Aviation achieved a major milestone on April 22, 2025 when it became the first company to fly an all-electric tilt-rotor eVTOL with a pilot aboard as it transitioned from horizontal to vertical flight and back again. On the one hand, the technology has been maturing, but on the other companies once thought to be front runners are falling by the wayside as backers become impatient after pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into projects with no visible return on their investment. "We have taken a very methodical approach to achieving this long-planned milestone, with an immense amount of testing, both in the air and on the ground, helping form a solid foundation that allowed us to move from one historic flight to routine pilot-on-board transitions almost overnight."

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Photo of Joby S4

Joby S4