Test flight marks start of ‘2026 Electric Skies Tour’ for green aircraft maker

Joby Aviation has completed a series of demonstration flights across the San Francisco Bay Area, showcasing its electric air taxi in one of the nation’s most congested cities. 

The company announced in a news release Friday that its aircraft (N545JX) departed from Oakland International Airport, flew across the Bay toward the Golden Gate Bridge, and turned above the Marin Headlands.

The piloted flight marks the beginning of Joby’s “2026 Electric Skies Tour,” a national showcase celebrating the United States’ 250th anniversary. Joby Aviation aims to highlight a solution to urban traffic congestion; San Francisco drivers lost an average of 112 hours to traffic in 2025. 

“Our technology provides an opportunity to build on the immense potential of this region while protecting it for the next generation,” said Joby CEO JoeBen Bevirt, in the release.

Electric progress

This event builds on previous operational milestones. In August 2025, Joby completed the first piloted electric air taxi flight between two public airports: Marina Municipal and Monterey Regional. The test was aimed to demonstrate its ability to integrate into FAA-managed airspace and sequence with conventional aircraft. 

To prepare for commercial service, Joby has taken delivery of its first next-generation CAE flight simulator at its pilot training and manufacturing facility in Marina, California. A second, full-motion simulator is expected later this year, and together the devices are expected to support training for up to 250 pilots annually.

In addition to its commercial passenger efforts, Joby has worked with the U.S. Air Force. Partnering with AFWERX in September 2025, the company demonstrated its fully autonomous flight capabilities with a modified Cessna 208B Grand Caravan in Hawaii. 

The partnership served as a test case for the Department of the Air Force’s Agile Combat Employment concept for distributed logistics.

The student pilot reported that he departed Twin Airpark (8NC2) in Caroleen, North Carolina, aboard an X-Air H, with the intention of flying to Rutherford County Airport (KFQD) for refueling. After taking on approximately 18 gallons of fuel at KFQD, he returned to 8NC2 and successfully completed one landing. He then chose to depart again from Runway 14 to the north to continue touch-and-go landing practice.

While flying the downwind leg of the traffic pattern for Runway 14, the pilot reduced engine power, at which point the engine experienced a complete loss of power. He attempted to restart the engine by activating the electric fuel pump and applying choke, but the engine did not respond.

Consequently, the pilot executed a forced landing in a field. During the landing, the nose landing gear collapsed, and the aircraft sustained significant structural damage to the fuselage, particularly at the left and right main landing gear attachment points.

A post-accident examination of the engine indicated that the spark plugs exhibited coloration consistent with normal operation. Compression and valvetrain movement were confirmed across all cylinders, and continuity between the crankshaft and camshaft was verified. The oil filter was removed and inspected, with no abnormalities identified.

However, with the aircraft battery and ignition switch turned on, manual rotation of the engine revealed that the ignition coil failed to produce a spark, indicating a malfunction within the ignition system.

Probable Cause: Total loss of engine power resulting from an inoperative ignition system.

NTSB Identification: 193980

To access the full report, click here to download the PDF to your device.

This accident report, published in March 2024 by the National Transportation Safety Board, is provided for educational purposes to assist pilots in learning from real-world incidents and improving flight safety.

The company said it is targeting certification under transport-category standards for its hydrogen jet program.

Beyond Aero said on Tuesday that preliminary design review for its hydrogen-electric business aircraft concept has concluded, allowing the program to progress to detailed engineering and validation planning.

The company said the milestone confirms the integration of major systems, including hydrogen storage, electric propulsion and thermal management, into an architecture intended to meet certification requirements under EASA CS-25 and FAA Part 25 standards. According to Beyond Aero, the aircraft is being developed from the outset under transport-category certification criteria typically applied to commercial airliners.

The concept features a twin-propfan configuration powered by fuel-cell electric propulsion, using gaseous hydrogen stored in externally mounted tanks. Beyond Aero said utilizing 700-bar gaseous hydrogen avoids the additional complexity associated with cryogenic storage while maintaining compatibility with existing and planned refueling infrastructure.

The company reported that wind tunnel testing and computational modeling conducted during the preliminary design phase showed agreement between predicted and measured aerodynamic performance. The aircraft is designed to carry six passengers up to approximately 800 nautical miles, with performance and system architecture detailed in a recently released technical paper.

Luiz Oliveira, chief engineer at Beyond Aero, said the review signals the project’s viability.

“The Preliminary Design Review confirms that the aircraft configuration and its major systems — propulsion, hydrogen storage, aerodynamics and avionics — have reached the level of maturity required to support a certifiable architecture,” Oliveira said.

The company added that hardware validation has included subscale and full-scale propulsion testing campaigns, along with ground-based system testing.

Beyond Aero also said it is working with regulators through a pre-application process with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency to define certification requirements for hydrogen propulsion.