FutureFlight On The Radar
NTSB Investigators Publish Preliminary Report Into Joby eVTOL Flight Test Accident
The report says that the all-electric aircraft experienced an unspecified component failure during a test flight and incurred substantial damage.

On March 8, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board issued a preliminary report on the February 16 accident involving the first of Joby's two full-scale prototype eVTOLs (tail number N542AJ)  near Jolson, California. In a basic summary of confirmed facts, it says that at 9.58 a.m. the aircraft (designated JAS4-2) experienced an unspecified component failure over an uninhabited area during remotely piloted flight testing.

Investigators said there were no injuries, but that the aircraft was substantially damaged with a fire breaking out on the ground. The all-electric aircraft was conducting a developmental flight test under FAA's 14 CFR Part 91 rules, covered by an experimental category special airworthiness certificate under CFR 14 Part 21 regulations.