Boeing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) unit Wisk Aero is ramping up flight testing of its flagship Generation 6 air taxi.
Wisk on Monday revealed that it completed the first flight of a second production prototype aircraft-a "test article" of the autonomous model it aims to certify with the FAA.
An initial Generation 6 test article first flew in December. The aircraft was uncrewed and not under control of a remote pilot, instead following a preprogrammed flight plan.
With two aircraft now in flight testing, Wisk has doubled its test fleet ahead of planned real-world operations in Texas under the FAA and Transportation Department's (DOT) eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP). The manufacturer will take a "crawl-walk-run" approach to eIPP activities, which will include flights into real airports and with real air traffic controllers (ATCs). They are expected to begin in a few months.
"Having multiple aircraft in flight testing allows us to move faster, learn quicker, and stay on the leading edge of autonomous aviation," Sebastien Vigneron, CEO of Wisk, said in a statement . "Every flight provides crucial data that matures our aircraft and autonomous system, bringing us one step closer to delivering a certified, autonomous air taxi service."
The FAA is expected to permit certain eIPP cargo operations for revenue, allowing air taxi companies to test not only their aircraft but the feasibility of their operations.
"I'm also hearing that there may actually be expanded opportunities, potentially even to include people," Dan Dalton, vice president of commercialization and airline development for Wisk, told FLYING after the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), its eIPP partner, was selected for the program in March.
TxDOT is also partnered with Wisk's rivals Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, and Beta Technologies, which have been ramping up testing as well.
Joby's production-ready air taxi last week conducted a series of demonstration flights in New York City, including landings at Manhattan's network of heliports and John F. Kennedy International Airport (KJFK) on Long Island. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which hosted the demonstrations, is planning more flights with Archer's Midnight air taxi this spring.
Wisk previously conducted more than 1,750 flights with earlier generations of the air taxi, including 200 with the previous iteration. Among leading American eVTOL developers, it is the only company planning to conduct autonomous operations at launch. China's EHang and AutoFlight have also gone that route.
Double the Air Taxis
The maiden sortie of Wisk's second Generation 6 test article took place at the firm's Hollister, California, test site.
The air taxi spooled up its 12 propellers for a vertical takeoff and transitioned to a hover. In the air, it performed a series of chirp maneuvers-also known as frequency sweeps-during which the aircraft appears to wiggle from side to side. The maneuvers are intended to gather data on handling and performance.
"In practice, once we're in a steady hover, we'll trigger these chirps to ‘pulse’ the motors or tilt the rotors," Guillaume Beauchamp, Wisk's vice president of aircraft development, told FLYING . "By measuring exactly how the aircraft reacts to those quick changes, we can ‘dial in' our control laws. It's how we prove the aircraft is stable and responsive before we clear it to go faster, higher, or into more complex maneuvers."
The Gen 6 has 12 electric propellers, six fore and six aft, mounted on a fixed wing. The rear-mounted motors provide vertical lift, turning off and stowing during hover, while the front propellers tilt forward to support cruise flight. According to Wisk, it is designed to "meet or exceed current commercial aviation safety standards."
The company will need to prove that through more testing. Next up is envelope expansion, increasing speed to enable the transition from hover to wingborne flight-the defining capability of eVTOL models. Beauchamp in December predicted that would happen by June and said the company aims to fly aircraft multiple times per day, multiple days per week.
Wisk's air taxi has specifications similar to its competitors-four passengers, 120 knots cruise speed, and range of 90 miles. But the company faces a longer testing runway than its rivals due to the Gen 6's autonomy.
A combination of computers, predictive hardware and software, radar, sensors, and ground links allows it to fly predetermined routes. It will be capable of detecting and avoiding other aircraft on its own, but remote supervisors can take control if needed.
"We know that eventually, to scale, this industry needs to have autonomy," Cindy Comer, Wisk's vice president of SMS, certification, and quality, told FLYING in an interview for the magazine's March 2026 issue. "We could build an aircraft and put pilots in it, and then later go autonomous. But we don't want to have to redesign anything."
Wisk plans to spend the early portion of the eIPP refining its autonomy technology. It will begin with flight operations with prototype aircraft in dedicated areas before moving to point-to-point routes and, eventually, flying Gen 6 test articles routinely. It will transition to the flagship model only when it is safe to do so.
"Whatever aircraft makes the most sense for those operational deployments and the data we're trying to collect for the FAA and DOT-we'll use the aircraft that makes the most sense at that time," said Dalton. "So it could be a Gen 6. It could be a helicopter."
Added Comer, "It's an opportunity to see how we integrate with piloted eVTOL, unpiloted traditional aircraft, and piloted traditional aircraft that are out there today.
"We're going to pretend it's real," she continued. "We're working with real ATC. We're working with real ground infrastructure and airports. And we get to do it before we enter service."
Comer hopes that the FAA will credit some of Wisk's eIPP activities toward its type inspection authorization (TIA) campaign-the stage of type certification during which agency pilots gauge the aircraft's performance against its approved test plans. The company will test not only aircraft but also its SkyGrid Strata airspace management system and ability to communicate with ATC.
TxDOT during the eIPP plans to explore regional flights connecting Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and eventually Houston, Wisk's primary launch market.
The company in 2024 partnered with the city of Sugar Land, Texas, to study operations in the Greater Houston area. It plans to build vertiports at Sugar Land Regional Airport (KSGR), as well as at Ellington Airport (KEFD) in partnership with Signature Aviation. In partnership with the Houston Airport System, it is exploring vertiports at George Bush Intercontinental (KIAH) and William P. Hobby (KHOU) airports, both of which have Signature FBOs.
The company is eyeing additional operations in Los Angeles , Miami, and Japan .
