The Joby prototype electric taxi that crashed in California in February 2022 was “substantially damaged”, investigators have revealed.  

The remotely controlled electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft was carrying out a test flight on February 16, 2022 when it was involved in an accident at 0958 local time.  

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the occurrence and said in a preliminary report on March 8, 2022 that the aircraft experienced a component failure over an uninhabited area.  

“There were no injuries, and the aircraft was substantially damaged,” the brief report states.  

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Joby EVTOL aircraft prototype crashes during testing
Air taxi start-up Joby Aviation reveals that one of its two eVTOL aircraft prototypes had an accident during testing in California.
 

 

The NTSB also specified that the aircraft was operating as a development flight test, using an experimental category special airworthiness certificate.  

There are many companies involved in the race to develop self-flying electric taxis, such as Joby Eve and Vertical Aerospace.  However there remain many questions around the regulations and certifications needed to get such urban mobility schemes up and running. 

Joby’s first prototype flew in 2017 and it is hoping to commence operations by 2024.