RAeS Handley Page Named Lecture 2026

The RAeS Handley Page Named Lecture 2026 explores electric vertical flight and British innovation in eVTOL aircraft development. Electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft represent a new generation of full-scale aircraft capable of sustained flight, integrating advances in batteries, electric propulsion, lightweight structures and highly integrated flight-control systems.

Speaker Simon Davies, Chief Test Pilot at Vertical Aerospace, will draw on Britain's long tradition of challenging established ideas about aircraft design and operation. The lecture examines how electric propulsion fundamentally changes aircraft architecture and behaviour, and why the close integration of propulsion, aerodynamics and flight controls is central to eVTOL development.

Key topics include what electric propulsion makes possible, the distinctive challenges of flight testing novel configurations, and how simulation, ground testing and incremental flight testing build confidence in aircraft. Davies will explore how the flight envelope of such configurations can be safely expanded, drawing on Vertical Aerospace's experience of designing, building and flying electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft.

The lecture represents an exciting new chapter in Britain's aviation innovation history. The enabling technologies are no longer theoretical—they are operational and flying today. Simon Davies brings over 3,500 hours of experience across more than 85 aircraft types, having completed over 16 flights in the VX4 prototype, including the first full transition flight from hover to cruise and back in April 2026.