Post by Afterburner Wind Tunnel Services, LLC

eVTOL Certification Is Driving Demand for Wind Tunnel Aerodynamic Validation eVTOL developers pushing toward FAA type certification have a problem CFD alone can't solve. Bipartisan legislation introduced in February 2026 in both the U.S. Senate and House aims to expedite FAA eVTOL type certification, signaling that the industry is serious about compressing validation timelines. The FAA still requires credible aerodynamic validation data to support a certification case, and for multi-rotor VTOL configurations with complex interacting airflows, simulation tools haven't earned unconditional trust at this stage. Eve Air Mobility put it directly after completing their wind tunnel campaign: "wind tunnel testing provides a unique view of aerodynamic behavior of complex geometry and provides a higher level of validation of design characteristics" that CFD cannot replace. NASA has reached the same conclusion from the other direction — actively collecting physical wind tunnel data on propeller-wing interactions to calibrate digital twin models for advanced air mobility designs. The test data isn't supplementing the simulation; the simulation is being calibrated against the test data. At Afterburner, aerodynamic wind tunnel testing is the core of what we do — including the complex multi-surface, multi-rotor configurations that define the AAM sector. If you're building toward an FAA certification case and need a wind tunnel partner who understands what the data actually has to prove, let's talk. If you're evaluating wind tunnel options for your eVTOL program, reach out — happy to discuss what a credible aerodynamic validation campaign looks like for your configuration.