Opener Aero, the company behind the BlackFly personal eVTOL aircraft, is rebranding and introducing its first production aircraft. Now under the name Pivotal, the California-based company is getting ready to begin accepting orders for its first scalable production vehicle, called Helix, in early 2024.

The U.S. Air Force has paid Archer Aviation nearly $1 million for the delivery of a mobile flight simulator for eVTOL aircraft. This is the first payment that Archer will receive from the USAF over the next five years under its recently announced defense contracts, which the company says are worth up to $142 million. 

The World Economic Forum's Medicine from the Sky drone initiatives in two Indian states seem to be paving the way to wider acceptance of the social and economic benefits of new air services. Uncrewed aircraft systems are being used to bring medications and life-saving equipment to underserved communities.

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Vertical said that the propeller failure on its first full-scale VX4 eVTOL prototype aircraft has added to the lessons learned from the first phase of flight testing. The company said that the second and third prototypes now being built will feature a much higher proportion of components specifically designed for the aircraft, getting it closer to the production standard for which it seeks type certification in 2024.

Wright says it is focusing on battery chemistries that have been overlooked as a pathway to developing megawatt-hour-size batteries that can deliver 1,000-watt-hours-per-kilogram performance for electric aircraft. The company is working with partners including NASA and EasyJet on plans for electric-powered narrowbody airliners carrying more than 100 passengers.

Australian advanced air mobility group Skyportz has released a concept for a waterfront vertiport and “e-mobility hub” that it hopes to build in Melbourne. Skyportz CEO Clem Newton-Brown presented the concept last week at the Airtaxi World Congress in San Francisco. 

EHang's suspension of Nasdaq share trading fuels speculation over eVTOL aircraft type certification; plus Regent raises $60 million for seaglider; Volutus teams with TruWeather on vertiport plans; Beta eVTOL to use Garmin flight deck; Wisk's autonomous eVTOL flies in L.A.; KLM joins advisory board for Heart's ES-30 hybrid-electric airliner; and Eviation Alice test pilot gets award.

EHang has done little to discourage speculation that the Civil Aviation Administration of China may be close to issuing type certification for its EH-216S eVTOL aircraft. In fact, on October 2 it suspended trading in its shares on New York's Nasdaq market (see Weekly News Roundup, above). Earlier this week, the Chinese company also stepped up the release of a series of videos highlighting aspects of tests associated with the certification process, including this one focusing on a recent maximum-load flight test.