The Pivotal BlackFly, a single-seat vertical take-off and landing vehicle, has reached a major milestone: 1,000 piloted flights, a record for any powered-lift eVTOL of its kind. This was announced at the UP.Summit in late September 2025, a big deal for a machine that’s been flying for over 10 years now since its 2011 debut.
Pivotal, the American company behind the BlackFly, has been doing this for more than a decade. Their design is not a showy prototype for the future; it’s an operational aircraft classified by the FAA as a Part 103 Ultralight, which means no pilot’s license required to fly. The BlackFly weighs 254 pounds empty, has a carbon-fiber body and a 15 foot wingspan. It’s small enough to seem like a personal gadget and strong enough to carry a 220 pound pilot. Powered by 8 electric motors and an 8 kWh battery, it has a 20 mile range – or 20 minutes of flight – before using up its 20% battery reserve. Charging takes 4.5 hours with a standard charger or 75 minutes with a fast one, making it practical for short, fun hops.
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This 1,000 flight milestone is from a single BlackFly, one of 12 handed to private owners through Pivotal’s Early Access Program in 2023. Over the last three years, these 12 aircraft have flown over 2,000 times in more than 100 different locations across the US. That’s a lot of flying for a vehicle meant for individual explorers not commercial air taxi lines. Because of its amphibious capabilities, it can take off and land on almost any surface, grass, gravel or water, making it seem almost magical.
The BlackFly is designed for safety and it’s easy to see why when you’re flying solo in a machine that’s smaller than a car. Each of its 8 rotors can fail and the aircraft will still fly and each rotor can withstand 20mph gusts. A ballistic parachute is there for worst case scenarios and provides peace of mind for pilots flying up to 5,000 feet. The aircraft’s software does most of the heavy lifting, managing motor speeds and control surfaces, while a cloud connected app provides preflight checklists, navigation tools and flight analytics.
Flying a BlackFly comes with some ground rules. Pilots must be at least 18 years old, weigh no more than 220 pounds and agree to only fly in US airspace, not in congested areas or near airports. With a 63 mph cruise speed and a price tag of just under $200,000 it’s an investment in a new kind of freedom – one that 50 trained pilots have already bought into.
