The Downtown Manhattan heliport is a pier on the East River built for helicopters. On the morning of Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, an airplane used it. Electra's EL2, a two-seat technology demonstrator with a wing, a tail and no way to rise straight up, landed on the heliport, made more takeoffs and landings, and flew out again.
The flight
Electra's test pilot Cody Allee flew it, FLYING reports. Electra's demonstration page gives the route: from Manassas, Virginia, where the company is based, to Linden Airport in New Jersey, then to the Downtown Skyport (JRB). AIN reports the heliport's landing pad as 62 by 62 feet. Electra says it believes this is the first time a fixed-wing airplane without vertical takeoff capability has landed there.
The company's figure for the design is a takeoff or landing in about 150 feet. It gave no measured roll, airspeed or wind for the Manhattan flights, and none of its pages says what the FAA or the heliport's operator approved for them. Electra calls itself an inaugural participant in the FAA's advanced air mobility pilot program. The FAA's own fact sheet for that program, the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, names eight state and local government partners chosen in March 2026, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey among them, and says it is not a way around certification: an aircraft in it must already be in the FAA's type certification process.
How an airplane does that
Electra calls the idea blown lift. Electric motors along the wing blow air over it and over large flaps, and the sheet of air leaving the trailing edge makes the wing act larger than it is. The company says that lets its design take off and land as slowly as 35 knots. In the climb and cruise, the blowing is cut back and the flaps come up, and in Electra's design a fly-by-wire system coordinates the control surfaces and the motors in slow flight.
The EL2 has eight electric motors. A small turbogenerator and batteries power them, so it isn't tied to a charger on the ground. Electra's announcement of its first hybrid flight gave the date as Nov. 19, 2023, at Manassas Regional Airport, with Allee flying: 23 minutes, up to 3,200 feet, about 30 miles.
Where it has been since
The heliport was the latest in a series Electra calls Life Beyond Runways. In August 2026 its flights linked the Washington area, Atlantic City, Philadelphia and northern New Jersey, using sites such as Bader Field, Philadelphia's Tioga Marine Terminal and Philadelphia International. In September, in Virginia, it used taxiways, ramps, heliports and vertipads, and at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional it flew helicopter-style instrument procedures, Electra says. Its demonstration page has pictures from Manhattan and a link to the company's video channel.
The airplane it is for
The EL2 is a test bed for the EL9, which Electra plans to sell. The company's figures for it are nine passengers, or 3,000 pounds of cargo, a cruise of 175 knots true and a ferry range of 1,100 nautical miles plus a 45-minute reserve, with the same 150-foot ground roll. Electra's 2023 announcement aimed for FAA certification under part 23 and service in 2028; AIN now reports a target of 2030. Electra says it holds contracts with the Air Force, Army, Navy and NASA, and more than 2,200 letters of intent from over 60 commercial customers. A letter of intent isn't an order.
Sources: Electra, "No Runway Required," Oct. 26, 2026; Electra, "Life Beyond Runways: What 150 Feet Changes in Manhattan," Oct. 27, 2026; Electra, Life Beyond Runways demonstrations; Electra, technology; Electra's announcement of the EL2's first hybrid-electric flight, Nov. 2023, as printed by Blue Sky News; FLYING, Jack Daleo, Oct. 26, 2026; AIN, Charles Alcock, Oct. 26, 2026; FAA, "The eIPP: What You Need to Know". All read Nov. 3, 2026.
Photo: Electra, from its announcement of the Manhattan flights, Oct. 26, 2026.