Vertical Aerospace has completed the maiden piloted flight of its latest full-scale Valo eVTOL prototype, expanding the company's flight test programme as it progresses towards certification and commercial service.

The flight took place at Vertical's UK flight test centre on 5 June after the UK Civil Aviation Authority issued a new Permit to Fly following extensive ground testing and validation work. Test pilot Paul Stone conducted the flight at 8:49 BST.

The aircraft becomes the final prototype to join Vertical's flight test fleet before completion of Critical Design Review, a major programme milestone that establishes the design baseline required for certification activities. Once CDR is complete, the company will begin preparations to assemble its first pre-production aircraft.

“Getting our latest prototype into flight testing is an important milestone because it allows us to learn faster in real world conditions and keep building momentum towards certification,” says Stuart Simpson, CEO of Vertical Aerospace.

“Expanding the flight test fleet will help us validate the aircraft more quickly, reduce risk and move more efficiently towards bringing Valo into service,” he adds.

The new aircraft doubles Vertical's flight testing capacity and is expected to support additional public demonstrations during 2026. Meanwhile, the company's existing prototype continues transition flight testing and has already completed multiple piloted transition flights.

Following completion of thrustborne, wingborne and transition flight testing in its all-electric configuration, the aircraft is expected to be modified for hybrid-electric flight testing. Vertical believes the hybrid-electric variant could support defence, logistics and commercial missions requiring greater range and payload capability.

The latest prototype shares the same configuration as the company's current full-scale aircraft, which has already completed all phases of flight testing. Vertical says its use of full-scale piloted aircraft enables validation of technologies, systems integration and flight models closely aligned with the production-standard Valo aircraft.