This might seem counterintuitive, but as we'll explore, it's the secret to our agility, quality control, and unprecedented ability to scale.

For too long, the light aircraft industry has relied on a fragmented approach – buying components from various suppliers and essentially operating as large assembly facilities. This traditional model often leads to a critical disconnect: the way a helicopter is prototyped is vastly different from how it's mass-produced.

The result? Once approvals are in, companies face the monumental task of suddenly becoming manufacturers, building out facilities, and grappling with the complexities of assembly, testing, and quality control for a myriad of externally sourced parts.

We've turned this entire paradigm on its head.

From day one, our journey has been about meticulously building our manufacturing capabilities. We've evolved from a small office through multiple development centers to our current state-of-the-art production facility. This deliberate, phased growth means we haven't just learned about manufacturing; we've embedded it into our DNA. We make everything – every part of our helicopter can be built within our four walls.

Unlike traditional methods where prototyping and series production are two different beasts, our approach ensures continuity. Because we manufacture our own parts, the processes we use to build prototypes are the same ones we'll use for full-scale production. We've already learned how to build helicopters; the knowledge and the machinery are already in place.

One of the most significant advantages of our strategy is inherent scalability. For us, scaling up production isn't about reinventing the wheel or facing a daunting new challenge of becoming a manufacturer post-approval. It simply means doing more of what we've already mastered. To produce more parts, we add more machines. While there's a larger logistical effort to coordinate, it's a far cry from the challenge of building a manufacturing operation from scratch at the eleventh hour.

Over the last four years, we've consistently demonstrated our ability to scale. We’ve progressively expanded our facilities and our capacity to produce more and more of the helicopter, all while keeping processes in-house. This track record gives us immense confidence. A bigger factory in the future simply means a larger version of what we’ve already successfully built and operate.

Our immediate focus is clear: getting the helicopter flying. Once that milestone is achieved, the path forward is a familiar one – scaling up our existing, proven manufacturing processes.

The challenge of becoming a manufacturer is behind us. Now, it's about leveraging that foundation to deliver a new generation of helicopters efficiently and reliably. Scale-up, for us, is not a worry; it's a well-rehearsed next step.