Bye Aerospace has flown its two-seat eFlyer 2 electric trainer airplane for the first time, the Colorado-based company announced today. The inaugural flight took place at Denver-area Centennial Airport (KAPA) on September 17, about a week after Bye announced it had received a special airworthiness certificate from the FAA.
Chief test pilot Elliot Seguin took off at about 9:45 a.m. local time and flew for roughly five minutes, according to publicly available flight tracking data. The test airplane, registered N400EF, climbed north of the field and landed after a single left-hand circuit. It reached a peak altitude of 7,251 feet msl (roughly 1,370 feet above the 5,885-foot-msl airport) with a top groundspeed of 135 knots.
This sortie represented the first flight of two full-scale prototypes that Bye Aerospace intends to use for FAA type certification testing. A proof-of-concept demonstrator for the design, called the Sun Flyer, first flew in 2018 and logged more than 100 flights.
“The first flight of eFlyer 2 exceeded all of our expectations in terms of aerodynamics, handling, propulsion, and overall performance, and there were no maintenance discrepancies during the flight,” Bye Aerospace president and CEO Rod Zastrow said in a company statement.
At EAA AirVenture in July 2025, Zastrow said a production-conforming prototype was on track to fly within nine to 12 months, followed by certification under FAA Part 23 about 24 months later. Earlier this year, he said the company had also begun weighing certification under Part 22, the FAA’s light-airplane rules. The company will choose between Part 23 and Part 22 certification based on flight test results, Zastrow told AIN. If Part 22 is the better fit, Bye aims to start production in 2027 and deliver its first airplane in the fourth quarter of 2027 or the first half of 2028.
The eFlyer 2 is powered by a Safran Electrical and Power EngineUs 100B1 motor, which holds EASA certification and is undergoing FAA validation, along with MagniX battery modules, a Sensenich propeller, and Garmin G500 TXi avionics. Composite Approach built the airframe, and Toray Composite Materials America supplied the composite materials.
Bye Aerospace reported an order book of 1,124 eFlyer 2s and four-seat eFlyer 4s in June, when it announced supplier selections for the eFlyer 2, with about 40% backed by nonrefundable deposits and the rest by letters of intent. According to Bye, half of its orders have come from international customers. The company claims the eFlyer series will cut operating costs by up to 80% compared with a Cessna 172.
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