Archer Aviation demonstrated public eVTOL flights in California and they were so quiet! [Video]

After an announcement last week, eVTOL developer Archer Aviation completed display flights to the public at the 2025 California International Air Show. This public display was Archer’s latest aerial achievement in the public eye as it moves closer to certification and commercial eVTOL operations.

While Archer Aviation ($ACHR) has been a mainstay on Electrek‘s eVTOL news beat for the past few years, the past few months have been fascinating. In May, Archer signed on as the exclusive air taxi provider of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

By June, it became the latest sustainable aviation developer to begin bona fide piloted test flights in its flagship Midnight aircraft (pictured below). Archer’s success continued through the summer, as it reported milestones that marked its longest piloted eVTOL flight (55 miles in 31 minutes), as well as its two highest altitude flights, reaching heights of 7,000 and 10,000 feet.

Last week, Archer announced that it would be demonstrating the capabilities of its Midnight eVTOL to the public with multiple flights over the weekend during the California International Air Show. One day later, we have footage of one of the flights that we want you to see (and try to hear).

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Archer shows of eVTOL tech during display flights in CA

As promised, Archer Aviation completed display flights with its Midnight eVTOL during both days of the 2025 California International Air Show in Salinas, CA, this past weekend. The Salinas Municipal Airport is actually home to Archer’s test flight facility, and the startup was a sponsor of the event.

The annual air show was expected to welcome over 65,000 attendees, not including the 1,000 expected to visit from Archer’s engineering, operations, and flight test departments. According to Archer, its Midnight eVTOL was scheduled for initial test flights, followed by notable flybys from other prominent groups, such as the Blue Angels and the USAF F-16 Viper Demo team.

While those other aerial teams are indeed more death-defying entertainment, their conventional technology is significantly more polluting, from an air and noise perspective. That’s a huge selling point for eVTOL developers like Archer, as they offer more and more public flight demonstrations to inform people of the benefits of this segment.

You have to see Archer’s flight footage of the Midnight to understand what we’re talking about. The aircraft is zooming by over the crowd, and you can not only clearly hear the emcee tallying off the eVTOL’s specs, but you can actually hear murmurs and conversations of people in the crowd—no chance you’re hearing any of that when the Blue Angels soar by.

Obviously, there’s a huge design gap between an all-electric air taxi and an F/A-18 Super Hornet, but the test flights still showcase how much quieter certain aerial travel can be. A better comparison would be a helicopter, which could easily be replaced by eVTOL vessels in the near future.

Until then, you can enjoy the demo eVTOL flight video from Archer below.