EHang progresses with type certification of autonomous EH216-S eVTOL aircraft

Autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) technology platform company EHang Holdings Ltd. (Guangzhou, China) is stepping up compliance and verification test flights with its EH216-S as part of the type certification (TC) process for the two-seat autonomous electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft agreed with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). On Sept. 30, the company reported that the regulator has approved what it calls the Project Specific Certification Plan, based on the confirmation of multiple aspects of the program, including performance and flight, structural strength, design and configuration, airborne human-computer interaction, the functioning of the ground control station, and continuing airworthiness.

EHang has been actively preparing for the airworthiness certification and was approved by the CAAC as China’s first passenger-grade AAV airworthiness certification pilot enterprise in 2018. In February 2022, the CAAC issued the special condition rules which will provide the compliance basis and safety standards for EH216-S AAVs. In its latest update, EHang says it has now logged more than 30,000 trial flights with prototype aircraft to date, with recent tests having generated positive results covering factors such as aerodynamic algorithms and safety margins. It adds that some test flights have been conducted in extreme environments such as high altitudes, deserts, heavy fog and even typhoon weather conditions. The company plans to conduct further supplementary test activities and test flights for verification from October of this year.

Relevant national institutions, the aviation authority and the aviation industry in China have provided guidance and support to significantly enhance, deepen and accelerate the EH216-S TC process.

“Completing the airworthiness certification process is a necessary and critical step to further validate the product safety. We are fully confident to obtain the EH216-S TC as we have basically done the most arduous work by now,” Huazhi Hu, founder, chairman and CEO of EHang, says. “We will make continued efforts to accelerate all the remaining processes in the upcoming months in order to obtain the EH216-S Type Certificate as soon as possible.”