Vertical Aerospace (Vertical) has completed the UK’s first public demonstration flight of a full-scale wing tilt-rotor electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft at Farnborough International Airshow, marking a major milestone for UK aerospace and advanced air mobility.
Flown using propulsion blades designed in conjunction with NCC, the achievement highlights NCC’s role as a key innovation partner, helping one of the UK’s high-growth potential companies develop the technologies, manufacturing capability and supply chain needed to bring next-generation aircraft closer to commercial reality.
NCC worked alongside Vertical’s engineering team to design the Gen 2 composite rotor blades flown on the full-scale prototype, and elements of the fuselage. Applying its expertise in composite design and industrialisation required the teams to solve some of the programme’s toughest engineering challenges.
The prototype blades required a fundamentally new approach.They must lift the aircraft vertically before transitioning seamlessly into wingborne flight, while remaining lightweight, aerodynamically efficient and resilient to certification requirements such as bird strike. Drawing on 15 years of aerospace expertise, NCC engineers developed a novel blade architecture that builds structural performance into the design itself.
The programme demonstrates NCC’s ability to support aerospace innovation across the sector, from global OEMs to ambitious start-ups. Highlighting capability to take a design from concept through to rate-ready manufacture, NCC helped Vertical identify UK manufacturing partners capable of producing components at rate, contributing to a resilient domestic supply chain. Today, around 60% of Vertical’s procurement spend remains in the UK, with around 30% invested in the South West.
www.nccuk.com/VerticalAerospace
