This is The Guardian.

On 16th December 2021, a group of men dressed in the sober, branded casual wear of the Silicon Valley start-up gathered on the asphalt at an airstrip outside silliness, California.

In front of them stood a black shiny capsule on three spindly legs, which resembled the offspring of a suppository and a golf trolley, with a V-tail like a humpback whale.

Its single cross-pan wing had four banks of three rotor blades, six at the front and six at the back, which made the sound of a loud hair dryer.

As the spectators bobbed nervously from foot to foot, the machine rose into the air, tipped about, and hovered for ten seconds or so before coming gently to earth.

Everyone cheered and clapped and exchanged slightly stand-offish hunks.

Back in the headquarters of Archer Aviation and Palo Alto, watching events on a huge screen, the rest of the company's employees were on their feet, whooping and whistling.

It was the first test flight for Maker. Archer Aviation's version of a new kind of aircraft called an electrical vertical take-off and landing vehicle.

This masterpiece of nomenclature should on no account be attempted when drunk. Its acronym, EVTOL, is also hard to get your mouth around, and consensus is lacking over whether the ease should be capitalized.

The bet that significant numbers of investors are making is that EVTOLs, if that is what they continue to be called, will be big.

Three months before the test flight, Archer had merged with a special purpose acquisition company, or ESPAC, also known as a blank check company.

From swapping engines on an old, dornier aircraft, to turning someone's smelly running shoes into fuel, it cannot be argued that sustainable aviation is especially glamorous.

EVTOLs are the exception to that rule. Consider all that bespoke composite bodywork and fly-by-wire technology.

The way Maker's rotors sit flat like adorable baby helicopters for take-off and landing, but tilt for forward flight, the tantalizing promise of full automation.

There is something about pure electric that appeals to the antiseptic unsuity aesthetic of our age.

If you peer into the workings of a Maker, you'll see a neatly stowed battery pack and some cables. The cabin gives off the smell of a sanitized rental car.

Following the first successful test flight, Archer's CEO, Adam Goldstein's next task, is to guide Maker through certification with the Federal Aviation Administration, a process that can take years and costs hundreds of millions of dollars.

It also means preparing for mass production. Archer has entered a partnership with Stellantis, one of the world's biggest car makers.

Identifying routes and take-off sites in cooperation with municipal authorities and preparing ordinary people for what may be a turning point in their flying lives.

The moment when a plane stops trying to be a train, running scheduled services from point to point and packing in large numbers of people, and becomes a taxi on demand.

The World of Urban Air

Hundreds of companies have entered the well-capitalized world of urban air mobility, which will, over the next few years, be shaken down to a few dozen genuine contenders.

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