• Ampaire’s Eco Caravan to Camarillo, doing 117 km in 36 minutes

• Lighter Than Air’s Pathfinder did quite a bit of flying (one, two, three, four)

• Joby’s tech demonstrator stretched its legs more than usual, flying 11 km in 5 minutes

Let’s jump right in!

EVTOL Weekly

As usual, we’ll cover Archer, BETA, Joby and Vertical Aerospace. We’ll start with analysis, then the flight logs, then the low precision report.

Analysis

➡️ Archer

Flat this week - they’re still flying though which is nice considering the big break they took

↗️ Beta

Up, especially in categories that matter!

➡️ Joby

Flat compared to last week, though the ground activity for the confirming aircraft continues

↘️ Vertical Aerospace

After a big week last week they’ve dropped off the “radar” again

Flight Logs

Read more

• Archer flies three times in two days, breaking a 5 month grounding

• Vertical Aerospace increases intensity flying three times in three days

Plus, in non EVTOL news Pathfinder airship is back in the air over San Francisco!

Courtesy Outsider-Dreading310 on Reddit

EVTOL Weekly

As usual, we’ll cover Archer, BETA, Joby and Vertical. First up is analysis, then flight logs, then the low precision report.

Analysis

↗️ Archer

Archer is back! One hover test and two circuits flying the patterns of US101 we know and love from last year.

↗️ BETA TECHNOLOGIES

Beta is up over last week

↗️ Joby

Joby is doing a bit better than last week; more flights, more time, more distance

↗️ Vertical Aerospace

Vertical Aerospace had their biggest week since we’ve been tracking them

Flight Logs

Read more

I also ran in to a data processing issue starting Tuesday late night that meant SkyZero had no updates Wednesday and Thursday. Many apologies for that! Fear not, however, no data was missed - we just weren’t getting it visualized on the site. It was due to a confluence of things; a mistake I made Tuesday night, that was then complicated as our database tables are growing; so I needed to do some query tuning to make sure things were completely back filled.

While the flying in Scotland this week was mostly around Glasgow, there was some cool photography of BETA delivering the mail last week.

Let’s get in to EVTOL Weekly!

As usual, we’ll do analysis, then flight logs, then the low precision data report. And we’ll always go in order, Archer, BETA, Joby then Vertical.

EVTOL Weekly

Analysis

0️⃣ Archer

No flights. Some small ground activities in Salinas of the existing N703AX.

↘️ BETA TECHNOLOGIES

Fewer flights, fewer kilometres. My theory? Last week was a huge push “delivering the mail” in Scotland, while this week was more Logan Air execs and pilots getting flown around Glasgow.

↘️ Joby

Few flights, but there is some super interesting ground activity we’ll go through in the flight logs section.

↗️ Vertical Aerospace

Up! Vertical flew this week again.

Flight Logs

Archer (CTOL)

No flight activity this week.

Read more

Let’s get in to the weekly flight log!

• We’ll start with analysis, then the flight logs, then the low precision report.

• We cover Archer, BETA, Joby, and Vertical Aerospace.

Analysis

0️⃣ Archer

No flights since October 2025

↗️ BETA

Similar activity, but more flights due to the intense mail schedule Login Air is following in Scotland

↘️ Joby

Joby had a big week last week, this week was a little more quiet

➡️ Vertical Aerospace

Zero flights this week, similar as last week

Flight Logs

Archer (VTOL or CTOL)

No flight activity this week.

Read more

• I met up with former podcast guest Jurjen de Jong in the flesh, finally met Merlijn van Vliet of E-Flight Academy,

• flew in one of their Velis Electros and even got a try at their very innovative VR headset based simulator.

• I also gave a short talk about what we’re seeing in the sky and what we’re doing at SkyZero.

They showed me the MegawattCharger demo they sent later that week to Vaeridion! Very very cool. This is somewhat significant, too, as MCS is the megawatt version of CCS, so CCS is definitely shaping up to be the favored charging spec at least outside of AirTaxi (which GEACS has some undeniable strengths).

Also - what a week in the sky! I had to stop and write a newsletter on my mobile phone in between panel appearances at Intertraffic it was so good! Here’s a brief rundown:

• Joby’s first conforming aircraft performed hover testing, and in the same week another Joby aircraft tours the Golden Gate Bridge - effortlessly (?) adding Half Moon Bay and Oakland International to its list of airports before returning home

• Beta flew across Belgium and France then hopped over the English Channel, touring Stanstead and eventually landing at East Midlands

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After spending a week in The Netherlands and speaking on panels about safe autonomous integration of aviation and drones, I’m much closer to better understanding vision for integrating drones in to what we’re doing with SkyZero. More to come!

For now, let’s get in to the weekly flight log.

• We’ll cover Archer, BETA, Joby and Vertical Aerospace

• We will start with analysis, then flight logs, then low precision report

EVTOL Weekly

2026 Week 11 (March 9th- 15th)

Analysis

0️⃣ Archer

Archer did show some ground activity, but no flight since October 2025.

➡️ BETA

More CTOL flights, fewer VTOL, about even

↗️ Joby

Definitely up! And an entirely new location category for them; “on tour”.

➡️ Vertical Aerospace

No new activity that we can see

Flight Logs

Archer (CTOL)

No flight activity this week.

Read more

I know this because I spent the day in Teuge surrounded by members of the Electric Flying Connection (of which SkyZero is a proud member), CAMI, and other groups, and I got to fly in an electric aircraft.

eIPPP update

The US Department of Transportation announced that 8 programs have been selected for the eIPP to move forward (thanks Jolanka Wulff for the timely pointer)

OEM links: Archer BETA Joby

1. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
   Multiple industry partners will collaborate on 12 different operational concepts across New England, including eVTOL passenger operations at the Manhattan heliport.

Partners: Archer, BETA, Electra, Joby

2. Texas Department of Transportation
   Industry partners will support regional flights connecting Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and eventually Houston, with air taxi networks expanding from each city to extend regional reach.

Partners: Archer, BETA, Joby, Wisk

3. Utah Department of Transportation
   Four states spanning the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountains, and the Plains of Oklahoma will test a wide range of next-generation aircraft and operational concepts.

Partners: Ampaire, BETA, Joby, Other

4. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
   The NASAO AAM Multistate Collaborative will work across 13 states to revitalize regional flights across the country, including routes similar to those supported through the Essential Air Service program.

Partners: BETA, Electra, Other

5. Louisiana
   Operations will test cargo and personnel transportation capabilities to enable flights over the high seas into the Gulf of America and to energy industry locations in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi.

Partners: BETA, Elroy Air, Other

6. Florida Department of Transportation
   A statewide effort featuring multiple industry partners will include three phases of operations focused on cargo delivery, passenger transportation, automation, and medical response, supported by significant public and private investment.

Partners: Archer, BETA, Electra, Joby, Other

7. North Carolina Department of Transportation
   Working with industry partners to establish piloted medical and regional operations across the state while also developing an autonomous flight operation extending into Virginia.

Partners: BETA, Joby, Other

8. City of Albuquerque
   A focused project designed to achieve early advances in autonomous operations through an existing partnership with an advanced autonomy developer already operating in the region and coordinating with the FAA.

Partner: Reliable Robotics

On to the weekly report!

As usual, we’ll cover Archer, BETA, Joby and Vertical; first analysis, then flight logs, then the low precision report.

Analysis

An interesting week!

0️⃣ Archer

Nothing since late 2025

↗️ BETA TECHNOLOGIES

Flight hours and kilometres were both up mostly due to touring across Europe. You can almost follow them as easily on Linked-In for all the posts about the visits they’re able to do!

➡️ Joby

Super interesting to see them back in Pendelton with the JAI30 H2 aircraft again this week! Personally, I’ve been looking all week to see N547JX do something that looks like flight, and I haven’t seen it yet. Very much at the edge of my seat. Also, Dubai was very quiet this week, which is very likely due to the ongoing regional conflict. Thinking of everyone in the region right now.

Flight Logs

Archer (CTOL)

No flight activity this week.

Read more

Late February has had a great bit of activity - Vertical Aerospace’s EVTOL, LTA Research Pathinder Airship, Ampaire continuing to stretch its legs over Camarillo, H55’s Bristell Electric, Joby in Dubai, and BETA Alia in Germany. See the planespotting section for more!

EVTOL Weekly

2026 Week 9 (February 23rd- Mar 1st)

As usual, we'll first present analysis, then flight logs for Archer, BETA, Joby, and Vertical Aerospace, followed by the flight logs for the same. Afterwards we’ll share the low precision report.

Analysis

0️⃣ Archer

No new flights since October 2025

↘️ BETA

While VTOL is up, clocking in at 30 minutes this week, CTOL is down across the board, fewer flights, smaller distances, less time in the air. This was possibly bound to happen given their intensity over the last two weeks.

↗️ Joby

Joby is up nearly double the previous week, mostly flying in Dubai. Lots and lots of ground activity form the new N547JX

↗️ Vertical Aerospace

Vertical is up! Twice as many flights as we’ve seen from them in a single week. More from Vertical Aerospace: https://x.com/VerticalAero/status/2028430191861600516

Flight Logs

Archer (CTOL)

No flight activity this week.

Read more

Joby flying again in Dubai

N544JX, last spotted in Dubai in November of 2025, has now made two sets of circuits on the 20th and 21st respectively. While the Friday flight was 60 km in 20 minutes, the N544JX flight on Saturday racked up 100km in half an hour.

N547JX performs altimeter testing

Saturday morning at 3 AM Eastern I woke up, looked at my phone, and bleary eyed I noticed that N547JX was in the air over Marina. I assumed it was some kind of hover test, and posted as such on Reddit. Apparently my filters are not fully charged at 3 AM, as I would regret titling the post “Jobys conforming N547JX hover testing in Marina”. You can’t edit the titles of Reddit posts later, did you know that? Not even when you posted them at 3 AM, it still counts.

How did I even notice? Maybe one of our dogs was moving around and woke me up? Or, perhaps I can somehow feel the disturbance in the force from 2,000 miles away? In either case, I then spent ~ two hours looking at the data, and convinced myself that while the data certainly looked like really clean ADS-B data, it didn’t look like any flight I’ve ever seen.

1. The aircraft doesn’t move enough. Hover tests are rarely straight up - there is almost always lateral movement as it takes off.

2. The activity takes place at a hangar - and I don’t mean “the first few pings are in the hangar then it taxis to a runway”, it stays in the hangar - even as it climbs to 13,000 feet. And I don’t think Joby sent their multi million dollar aircraft straight up through the roof.

3. I remembered that I’d seen something weird very similar to this back in April, when N545JX did the exact same thing - and upon checking my records, it happened in exactly the same place. It also is one of the first few flights we saw from N545JX, continuing the pattern.

I was eventually happy about my embarrassing Reddit post, as a reader took the opportunity to teach me about the wonders of static pitot testing and FAR 91.411 and 91.413. It turns out that aircraft need their altimeters certified a) when the aircraft is built and b) every two years. Which makes sense, it’s important to know how high off the ground you are so that you can prevent colliding with other aircraft.

I immediately wondered how on earth you test that an altimeter works while on the ground without doing some kind of avionics hacking - and, no, it turns out they do not run a backpack full of running avionics up a 13,000 foot pole. It’s much easier than that - aircraft use two “pitot” ports, one that tests pressure of the air ramming in to the aircraft - this helps with measuring airspeed. The other port is designed to just measure the ambient barometric pressure. It’s simple math to figure out your altitude if you know the air pressure outside.

So the tests are done on the ground. A certified test kit made up of a highly calibrated air pump pushes air in to the static pitot port. This is usually done in conjunction with another test that tests the transponder - so, apparently when Joby does these we’ll keep seeing these stunning “flights” where an S4 appears to shoot straight up to 13,000 feet while sitting very still in a hangar. I’ll go teach my algorithm all about static pitot tests so that we can correctly categorize them in future.

Is this big news for N547JX, which is apparently the first “conforming” aircraft? Probably. Some Redditors are convincing themselves that it means the aircraft is nearly complete, and that this may also mean that certification is around the corner. While the first thing seems logical, I won’t get excited about the certification until we see the announcements like everybody else.

Lighter Than Air Research Pathfinder 1 over San Francisco Bay area wildlife refuge

N125LT is a 400 foot long airship capable of moving 5 tons at 65 kts with ranges in the thousands of miles. It’s stunningly cool, and apparently when they flew over the Golden Gate Bridge late last year I did not see it in the ADS-B networks for some reason.

However, they showed up this week, racking up 427 kms in 4 hours 58 minutes - mostly over Don Edwards San Francisco Bay Wildlife Refuge. One of my favourite features of the flight is how it just hung out in the same spot at 1,100 feet for 45 minutes at speeds under 10 kts ground speed - this is just something that airplanes and eVTOL can’t do.

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While this is a fun mention, I won’t make them a permanent feature of EVTOL weekly. They are electric, and VTOL, but the missions they may fly are just different - while I could imagine the Pathfinder 1 carrying 5 tons of cargo 2,000 miles, I wouldn’t want to wait for one to take me to SFO.

Vertical Aerospace first appearance in the log

To continue the trend of learning stuff on Reddit, I noticed that the Vertical Aerospace fans have a neat trick up their sleeve - they track Kemble Cotswold Airports departures and arrivals board online looking for mentions of G-EVTA. I built a “sensor” to record this activity a few months back, but neglected to check it often enough - but it turns out that last week I missed an opportunity to record our first flight.

The arrivals and departures board doesn’t give me altitudes, ground speeds and so on of course, so this is somewhat limited - however, it looks like I can tell when the aircraft took off and landed - and, well, we know the rough location ahead of time.

EVTOL Weekly

2026 Week 8 (February 16th- 22nd)

So, today as we run down the weekly report, we’ll cover analysis for the usual suspects, Archer, BETA, and Joby - and then follow it up with a first; Vertical Aerospace.

Next we’ll do the flight logs, then the low precision report as usual.

Analysis

0️⃣ Archer

Nothing since October 2025

↗️ BETA

While not quite the high counts of last week (58 flights in 7 days is a lot), it was really great to see VTOL flight minutes again

➡️ Joby

Fantastic to see them in Dubai, and the altitude tests in Marina, but otherwise not a ton of activity

↗️ Vertical Aerospace

Making their debut appearance! Though, the “up arrow” really refers to last week, this week they were a 0️⃣.

Flight Logs

Archer (CTOL)

No flight activity this week.

Read more

N545JX took off from Marina / KOAR (like it does), but then refused to do the normal thing. Instead, it hugged the coast (did I mention it flew over the ocean?), past Santa Cruz, and just before Davenport it headed inland to 40CL, otherwise known as Joby Aero, Inc. Heliport.

Unsurprisingly, N545JX turned around and flew home shortly after. While these aren’t the longest distances we’ve seen the aircraft fly, it is the longest distance its traveled “as the crow flies”. 20 minutes for 65 km, not bad!

Share

Bonny Doon looks like a really gorgeous place to visit!

On the website side, I did a bunch of work to make drones work more smoothly. Most of it was spent identifying that something isn’t a drone - as soon as I started looking at ADSB data for aircraft that FAA says are drones, well, I find a bunch of airplanes flying under drone tail registrations. So, I now try to do a good job of spotting this and highlighting it. It isn’t super hard - if it flew at 200 kts and 28,000 feet its probably not a Zipline P2! If you look closely, this one even showed up in the ADS-B chatter as a type P46T. Funny that the FAA shows it as a Zipline P2.

Oh, and did I mention we’re beta testing (hah!) a new tail registration search for members? Members with Flight Planning tier and above can visit https://skyzero.io/tailreg/search to look for their favourite aircraft.

EVTOL Weekly

As usual, we’ll do analysis first, then flight logs (for Archer, then Beta, then Joby), then the low precision report and any other rumors.

Analysis

0️⃣ Archer - still nothing since October 2025

↗️ BETA - way up! Tons of hours, tons of kms, tons of flights, back to touring!

↗️ Joby - also up!

Flight Logs

Archer (CTOL)

No flight activity this week.

Read more

• Last week my analysis noted Joby was “down quite a bit” with only two flights, though I was “investigating some rumours” (more on that in the “low precision” report).

• Then, I got an email from a reader about whether or not I counted hover flights for Joby. I replied “I’d love to, but that I don’t always get good data until an aircraft clears the tower” Which is true for BETA, but it turns out isn’t true for Joby at all*. It turns out we get lots of really detailed data for Joby aircraft even when they’re on the tarmac at KOAR.

• Then, Thursday on Reddit (did you know we have a SkyZero Reddit sub?) I asked if folks had noticed that Joby hadn’t flown once that week. A redditor (thanks MortgageOk718) pointed out that other sites were showing some hover tests this week for N541JX at KOAR.

• When I looked, I did have those activities - but my algorithm was incorrectly identifying hover tests as “ground activity” because we’re filtering out small altitude changes, especially when they’re negative - which these were (thanks to barometric pressure I presume).

So, Sergio, if you were trying to tell me something - thank you, it dawned on me a few days later. And if you weren’t, well, please take this as a more detailed explanation as to why my numbers have been accidentally excluding hover tests.

Here’s an example hover test we had previously called “ground activity - taxi”

I’ve now corrected the algorithm to do a little better about recognizing hover tests as flights. Onwards (and upwards) 4to the weekly flight log!

Also, did I mention I have FAA SWIM connections? I have two other new “firehose” style connections, which is great - I can now start finally tracking drones! Which is why you’ll start to see them creeping in to the https://skyzero.io/oems/ page

EVTOL Weekly

2026 Week 6 (February 2nd- 8th)

Analysis

0️⃣ Archer: nothing since late October 2025

➡️ BETA: cruising along even without Bristow in Norway as New Zealand gets more active (but zero VTOL)

➡️ Joby is hovering around where they were this week 🥁

Flight Logs

Archer (CTOL)

No flight activity since October 2025.

Read more

Source: Avinor LinkedIn

And this week, Daniel Simmons posted on LinkedIn that the testing has completed. As he says, looking forward to what’s next!

So, on to the EVTOL Weekly. First we’ll do analysis, then the flight logs, then the low precision report.

EVTOL Weekly

2026 Week 5 (January 26th- Feb 1st)

Analysis

This week is more the bread and butter work of testing and certifying aircraft, no fancy hydrogen aircraft like last week. ;)

0️⃣ Archer: nothing since late October 2025

↗️ BETA: up over last week in all metrics (but zero VTOL)

↘️ they’re down quite a bit over last week, though we’re investigating some rumours…

Flight Logs

Archer (CTOL)

No flight activity this week.

Read more

This is a first - we’ve seen this aircraft in the low precision report, but never with high precision flight path data.

• First flight path points are at 1,425 feet barometric and 45 kts ground speed

• This airport is at 1,495 - so with barometric correction that could be “ground” still

• We got broadcasts in MODE_S and ADSB - I suspect they weren’t broadcasting ADSB-out, but they were responding to pings from ground equipment

• ADSB indicates the aircraft is category B6, “unmanned aerial vehicle”

• Max speed is 54.5 kts, max altitude of 2800 (which probably means 2,800 ASL, or in this case ~ 1,300 AGL)

On to the logs! As usual, we’ll provide analysis, and then flight logs for Archer, BETA, and Joby, then we’ll provide the low precision data report.

EVTOL Weekly

2026 Week 4 (starting January 19th-25th)

Analysis

0️⃣ Archer

Continuing the trend - nothing since late October 2025.

↗️ BETA

BETA’s absolute numbers aren’t up that much. Kilometers are strong, flight count and hours are OK.

The big news is 15 minutes of VTOL flight of the A250 - we haven’t seen that since September 2025 - its very good to see.

↗️ Joby

As with BETA, numbers look fine - some better than last week, some not.

As we put in the preamble, the big news for Joby was seeing their Hydrogen unmanned JAI30 flying again in Oregon near Pendleton.

Flight Logs

Archer (CTOL or VTOL)

No flight activity since October 30, 2025.

Read more

It also means I should be able to say by end of 2026 that I have comprehensive data not only on the world’s electric aircraft’s flight paths, but also their operating conditions. Definitely open to feedback on how to improve this!

I also integrated the FAA SWIM data service this weekend. Which is intense! But so far it doesn’t have much electric aviation traffic - though I expect that to grow if operators start, well, operating. I would not have known that SWIM existed if not for a passing comment at the Vertical Flight Society Electric Aviation Symposium at Oshkosh last year!

On to the logs! As usual, we’ll start with analysis, then the flight logs; for Archer, then BETA, then Joby. Then we’ll proceed in to the low precision activity report.

EVTOL Weekly

2026 Week 3 (starting January 12)

Analysis

↘️ Archer continues its 0 flights trend

↗️ BETA is up over last week in all dimensions. Air New Zealand still not flying, but still racking up lots of ground activity (example).

↗️ JOBY is back to work - 7 flights - for instance this one where they exceeded 160 kts, flying 70 km in 18 minutes

Flight Logs

Archer (CTOL)

No flight activity this week.

Read more

As usual, we’ll start with analysis, then the flight logs; for Archer, then BETA, then Joby. Then we’ll proceed in to the low precision activity report.

EVTOL Weekly

Week 2026-2 (starting January 5)

Analysis

↘️ Archer continues its 0 flights trend

↗️ BETA is up over last week in all dimensions

↘️ JOBY’s flight test pilots must be itching to get back in the saddle, as this is the first zero week we’ve spotted for them.

Flight Logs

Archer (CTOL)

No flight activity this week.

Read more

I also spent some time reducing costs on our database service, and the good folks at TimeScale (now TigerData) helped me bring my database bill back under control. It turns out the hypertable continuous aggregates are just super cool, and they’re helping me do a ton with very little spend.

Flight Logs

Analysis

➡️ Archer had another slow week, no flying

➡️ While BETA’s week looks just so so, it was all in one day, Friday January 2nd

The algorithm decided that 80% of the Friday flying was one flight, since it was all N916LF - which lets use look at the sorties and the ground activity all in one flight- shows that they basically left the aircraft turned on, and even shows them visiting the charger in between each of the sorties. N336MR was the other 20%, it flew too.

➡️ Joby flew for a few minutes, all in Marina

Archer

No flight activity this week.

Read more

I pushed some much needed changes to the AirCharging mobile app!

I am also working on a project to build an inline, standards compliant charging monitor for Pipistrel SkyCharge chargers, and having fun conversations with a friend about how to bring it to light. More on this soon, hopefully! Certainly reply if you’re interested in something like this.

Next week, I’ll likely mix December 29th, 30th and 31st in with January 1st and so on. Unclear whether I’ll call it week 53. Likely I’ll do something like “2026 Week 1” or something. I’m expecting it to be almost as sleepy as this week.

Flight Logs

Analysis

↘️ Archer had another slow week, no flying

➡️ BETA worked a skeleton crew over the holiday, but their test pilots definitely worked harder than the other two

↘️ Joby is a little down over last week, and still only flying in one location.

Archer (CTOL)

No flights this week, VTOL or CTOL

Week 52 (starting December 22)

• 0 flights (same as last week)

• 0 minutes of flight time (same as last week)

• 0 km (same as last week)

Read more

I also got tracks for the Joby flights in Goheung Korea from the K-UAM Grand Challenge! Super fun. Given that I have 2023 and 2024 data, the astute reader may notice that the OEMS page now lists multiple years for a few OEMs. Its also broken down in to flights vs ground activity thanks to our new flight classifier.

I do have a project to go back and get 2023 and 2024 for Archer, too, though it’ll take a little more TIS-B magic - I hope to be able to get it in the database early in the new year. Enough about years past, let’s look at the past week’s flight logs!

Flight Logs

Analysis

↘️ Archer had another slow week, no flying

➡️ BETA had a big week given how close we’re getting to the holidays. It was nice seeing Air New Zealand touch down in Wellington, and then on to the South Island.

↘️ Joby is a little down over last week, and still only flying in one location.

Archer (CTOL)

No flights this week, VTOL or CTOL

Week 51 (starting December 15)

• 0 flights (same as last week)

• 0 minutes of flight time (same as last week)

• 0 km (same as last week)

Read more

Since we have high precision data, since the altitude is always 0, ground speed is always low, but there is some motion we categorized the flight as a ground activity, sub category of taxi. The old categorizer might have seen an aircraft at 2,000 feet and ground speed of 5 kts and called it a flight, because of its altitude - we now consider airport elevation; so if the airport is at an elevation of 2,000 feet and ground speed is 5 kts we will now call that taxiing instead of flight.

Well, enough boring screenshots of aircraft taxiing from one side of an airport to another, on to the flight logs!

Flight Logs

Analysis

↘️ Archer had another slow week, no flying

➡️ BETA had a big week. Not as big as last week’s over-achievement, but very solid nonetheless. No VTOL, unfortunately.

↗️ Joby is up a little in terms of distance and time

Archer (CTOL)

No flights this week, VTOL or CTOL

Week 50 (starting December 8)

• 0 flights (same as last week)

• 0 minutes of flight time (same as last week)

• 0 km (same as last week)

Read more

While I was at it, I’ve realized that my current methodology for figuring out “duration in the air” vs “duration on the ground” has been mostly too generous (though its stingy in a few circumstances too). I’ll work on a fix, but not apply it until “week 1 2026” so that 2025 numbers here stay “apples to apples”.

It’s also been a fun aviation nerd week; I now have in my possession an Electra EL2 Lego kit and and E-Flight Academy livery Pipistrel Velis Electro model. Maybe I’ll do a YouTube unboxing / build of the Lego? Let me know what you think. Could be a fun backdrop for describing Electra’s super cool electrified STOL aircraft.

Flight Logs

Analysis

↘️ Archer had another slow week, no flying

↗️ BETA had a HUGE week, racking up 5,578 kilometres and 28 hours of flight across 4 aircraft. No VTOL, unfortunately

↗️ Joby is up a little in terms of distance and time

Archer (CTOL)

No flights this week, VTOL or CTOL

Week 49 (starting December 1)

• 0 flights (same as last week)

• 0 minutes of flight time (same as last week)

• 0 km (same as last week)

We’ve reported Archer at 13 hours so far this year, when in actual fact they’re closer to 10, thanks to the issue I described in the opening.

Read more

↘️ Archer had another slow week, no flying.

↗️ BETA had a big distance week, as they brought N916LF home from Kansas. N336MR mostly stuck close to home. Air New Zealand racked up another 4 hours, and Bristow 1:45 in Stavanger.

↘️🏎️ Joby is, well, down in terms of hours and distance. But its up if you’re counting “places in Japan”? They spent some time this week at the Fuji Speedway, which is owned by Toyota. I’ve seen Redditors wonder if they were shooting commercials? Could be… Feels like something promotional where they’d either want to be able to house lots of folks (but we’re not seeing any shots on social media) or take great photography.

Flight Logs

Archer (CTOL)

No flights this week, VTOL or CTOL

Week 48 (starting November 24)

• 0 flights (same as last week)

• 0 minutes of flight time (same as last week)

• 0 km (same as last week)

Read more