Getting AroundTuesday, November 3
An electric air taxi flew from downtown St. Pete to Tampa International on Friday
The 5AM St. Petersburg team
If you looked up Friday morning, that was Joby Aviation's piloted electric air taxi. The S4 flew from Albert Whitted Airport to Tampa International Airport, lifting off at about 10 a.m. and touching down roughly 20 minutes later, with a BETA Technologies Alia CX300 flying alongside.
The S4 air taxi by the numbers
- 200 mph
- projected top speed
- 100 miles
- approximate projected range
- 20 minutes
- roughly, for Friday's flight
- 4
- passengers it's designed to carry, plus a pilot
Sources: WiLD 94.1, St Pete Catalyst
It retraced a famous trip. On Jan. 1, 1914, pilot Tony Jannus flew former St. Petersburg Mayor Abe Pheil across the bay, starting the world's first scheduled commercial airline service.
“It's only taken us 112 years to get back here. So this is amazing history that people are witnessing live here,”
Gov. Ron DeSantis called it "the closest thing that we have right now to flying cars." Florida is one of eight projects picked nationally for the FAA's program. The pitch: skip the bridge traffic.
Joby's Florida flights run from 1914's route to Kennedy Space Center
- Jan. 1914Tony Jannus flies former Mayor Abe Pheil across Tampa Bay.
- Oct. 30Joby's S4 flies from Albert Whitted Airport to Tampa International.
- Nov. 2Joby's S4 was scheduled to land at Orlando International's new vertiport.
- Nov. 7-8Joby is set to fly at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility.
Sources: WiLD 94.1, St Pete Catalyst
- Ticket prices and launch date: Joby hasn't shared either
- Market goal: Joby hopes to launch in the next year or two
- FAA type certification: last stages, no date set for clearance
Sources: St Pete Catalyst, WiLD 94.1, WUSF