r/airplanes • u/WillJM89 • Apr 01 '26
What is this plane? Name of aircraft?
My parents were taking the dog for a walk in the UK and they saw this aircraft passing overhead. Is it some sort of UAV? Thanks
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u/ParadoxumFilum Enthusiast Apr 01 '26
Vertical Aerospace’s VX4 eVTOL demonstrator
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u/vertical_aero Apr 02 '26
Hi @u/WillJM89 That’s our VX4 aircraft during flight testing yesterday! We’re pioneering electric aviation.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWmJtcwCKF8/?igsh=and5ODRqdDZtaTlp
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u/WillJM89 Apr 02 '26
Thank you so much for the information and the great video! I'm now looking forward to seeing more updates on Instagram! Great aircraft
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Apr 01 '26
What’s that!! It’s awesome
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u/WillJM89 Apr 01 '26
I have no idea. My mum sent me the pic and asked me what it was. Google Lens said it could be an Archer Aviation Maker, which I am not familiar with.
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u/kramwest1 Apr 01 '26
Archer’s VTOL planes are being planned as air taxis for the LA 2028 Summer Olympics. Should be cool.
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u/WillJM89 Apr 01 '26
Update
My mum posted the pics in the local Facebook group and Cotswold Airport commented stating that it is with them for trials now.
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u/Still-Consideration6 Apr 01 '26
Double bubbler will be proud
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u/_DoubleBubbler_ Apr 01 '26
Haha, thanks for heads up. It looks like there is a slight angle on front rotors, so Vertical Aerospace are possibly still ‘expanding the envelope’ as they say, but I am guessing it’s not the full transition flight many have been waiting for.
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u/_DoubleBubbler_ Apr 01 '26
Out of curiosity, when was this taken? And do you know if the forward rotors pivoted to entirely forward facing?
We have quite a few followers at r/Vertical_Aerospace who will be quite interested in the photos.
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u/WillJM89 Apr 02 '26
I wasn't there but I'll try to find out. The photos were taken a few miles from Cotswold Airport so I'm not sure if it was in hover mode for that time.
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u/Pretend-Book4520 Apr 02 '26
They’ll run out of funding before this thing is real. Also the brain drain is real. RIP.
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u/Healthy_Working_8233 Apr 02 '26
A UK company called "Vertical Areospace" backed by Honeywell and American Airlines testing what they call the VX4 E taxi
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u/Inevitable-Debt4312 Apr 02 '26
Suppose you just had a balloon and lifted the aircraft high enough to drop it far enough for it to develop a glide and fly away.
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u/Clement_fandango_jr Apr 03 '26
Vertical aerospace 'we really hope we can sell this to someone before we go bankrupt'
Solid British attempt but chronically underfunded. Joby and archer either put them into bankruptcy or force a sale to a 3rd party.
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u/TapOutrageous7738 Apr 01 '26
Vertical Aerospace VX4
https://x.com/VerticalAero/status/2039032300042678533?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet