AutoFlight flew five eVTOL aircraft in formation at its Bailian Lake Flight Test Base in Kunshan, Jiangsu, on 31 October and 1 November. The group comprised one five-ton V5000 Matrix and four two-ton aircraft spanning the V5000 Matrix, V2000CG CarryAll cargo and V2000CGF CarryAll firefighting models. The 47-minute flight was autonomous, with the lead aircraft covering more than 133 km; AutoFlight describes the demonstration as a world first.
The mixed fleet brought together aircraft in two weight classes and with different missions. AutoFlight reported that the formation maintained stable flight and safe horizontal and vertical separation in strong winds on 1 November. It did not specify how the four smaller aircraft were divided between the cargo and firefighting variants.
The demonstration followed a three-aircraft formation flight by AutoFlight in May. The company has presented multi-aircraft coordination as a capability for future low-altitude transport networks, but the latest demonstration announcement provided no independent verification or detailed flight-test or certification results. AutoFlight’s claim that the flight was a world first has not been independently established.