Electra today announced it successfully completed first-of-its-kind flights from a heliport on a commercial airport ramp at the Roanoke–Blacksburg Regional Airport. The operations showcased the breakthrough capabilities of Electra’s fixed-wing Ultra Short aircraft to use vertical flight landing areas and helicopter-style instrument procedures to support reliable, affordable, and safe regional operations without adding traffic to congested airport runways.
Using Electra’s hybrid-electric EL2 Ultra Short aircraft, the flights tested point-in-space procedures and dedicated instrument routings across numerous Virginia airports, including Virginia Tech/Montgomery Regional Airport (KBCB) in Blacksburg, Roanoke–Blacksburg Regional Airport (KROA), and Allan C Perkinson/Blackstone AAF Airport (KBKT).
The flights at each of these locations, plus two additional sites in Newport News and Richmond, all took off and landed on small heliports, vertiports, taxiways, and other novel Ultra Short access points historically only accessible by helicopters. Electra conducted the work in coordination with the FAA eVTOL and AAM Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), the Virginia Smart Airspace Program, Virginia Tech, the Virginia Department of Aviation, and PennDOT, the lead eIPP participant for Virginia operations.
The operational milestones mark a major step toward integrating fixed-wing Ultra Short aircraft into the National Airspace System using low-cost, scalable procedures designed around the unique performance of next-generation electric and hybrid-electric aircraft and will support future operations of Electra’s flagship EL9…