Unlike most airplanes or helicopters, I saw the all-electric Joby Air Taxi long before I heard it. It was cruising silently around Governor's Island and past the Brooklyn Bridge in New York as it made its approach to the NYC Downtown Skyport in Lower Manhattan. When it touched down moments later, it made history, completing the first point-to-point EV air taxi demonstration in New York City history.
As someone who's been following the growing eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) industry for almost a decade, this was a watershed moment for me, too. Never, in all that time, had I seen one in flight. Yes, I missed the smaller New York City Joby prototype demonstration in 2023. Still, the truth is, these EV vehicles, which can perform vertical takeoffs before converting into basically airplane mode, have yet to receive the necessary Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) clearance. And with how slowly bureaucracy moves, I assumed it might be another decade before I'd see one in flight outside of a highly controlled test, airfield.
