Chinese electric aircraft developer AutoFlight has completed a coordinated formation flight involving five electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, including a 5-ton model and four 2-ton aircraft. The demonstration brought together three different aircraft variants in what the company describes as the world’s first five-eVTOL formation flight.
The flights took place on October 31 and November 1 at AutoFlight’s Bailian Lake Flight Test Base in Kunshan, China. The five aircraft remained in coordinated formation for 47 minutes, with the lead V5000 Matrix covering more than 133 kilometers (83 miles). AutoFlight said the entire flight was autonomous and required no manual intervention.
The formation comprised one 5-ton V5000 Matrix and four 2-ton aircraft from the V2000 series. The latter included the V2000CG CarryAll, designed for cargo transportation, and the V2000CGF CarryAll firefighting variant.
Flying multiple aircraft together presents challenges beyond keeping them on a shared route. Each aircraft must maintain its position relative to the others while accounting for changes in speed, altitude, wind conditions, and flight behavior.
Those demands become more complex when the formation includes different aircraft designs and weight classes. The flight-control systems must coordinate navigation, communication, and separation while ensuring that one aircraft’s movements do not compromise the safety of the others.
AutoFlight said the formation maintained stable flight and safe horizontal and vertical separation during the November 1 demonstration, despite strong winds. It described the exercise as a test of route planning, flight control, communication and safety management across different aircraft models.
The achievement builds on an earlier demonstration in May 2026, when AutoFlight flew a three-aircraft formation comprising one V5000 Matrix and two V2000-series aircraft.
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