Electra Completes First-of-Its-Kind Flights at Commercial Airport Using Helicopter-Style Instrument Procedures
Why It MattersThe trial advances a shared instrument-procedure and access-point framework that could let fixed-wing Advanced Air Mobility aircraft use vertiports and heliports nationwide alongside conventional traffic.
Electra announced on September 22, 2026 that it completed first-of-its-kind flights from a heliport on a commercial airport ramp at Roanoke–Blacksburg Regional Airport (KROA) in Virginia, flying its hybrid-electric EL2 Ultra Short aircraft under the FAA's Advanced Air Mobility integration pilot program. The flights tested point-in-space procedures and dedicated instrument routings across multiple Virginia airports, including Virginia Tech/Montgomery Regional Airport, KROA, Allan C Perkinson/Blackstone AAF Airport, and two additional sites in Newport News and Richmond, with the aircraft taking off and landing on small heliports, vertiports, taxiways, and other access points historically reserved for helicopters.
The operations were conducted under the Virginia Smart Airspace Program, involving Electra, the FAA, and Virginia Tech's Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, and were designed to develop scalable instrument flight procedures and new access points for Advanced Air Mobility aircraft while collecting operational data comparing aircraft performance against procedure requirements. Electra CEO Marc Allen said the flights showed that fixed-wing Ultra Short aircraft can use vertical flight landing areas and a new generation of instrument procedures to reach locations conventional airplanes were never designed to access.
Electra said the milestone supports future operations of its flagship EL9 Ultra Short aircraft and is intended to help establish a national blueprint for Advanced Air Mobility instrument flight networks. The company states the EL9 is designed to offer 2.5 times the payload and 10 times the range of helicopters and eVTOLs at 70% lower operating costs, and lists contracted customers including the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and NASA, along with more than 2,200 letters of intent from over 60 commercial customers.
