Otto Aerospace completes Preliminary Design Review for Phantom 3500 program

Otto Aerospace announced on Wednesday that it has completed the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for its Phantom 3500 clean-sheet business jet program. The PDR provided an assessment of the Phantom 3500's configuration, architecture, performance and overall design maturity across its systems and structures. The company stated it was also able to freeze the aircraft's design and interfaces, allowing its engineering and supplier teams to move on to the next phase of work. The review was completed in the last week of February in Jacksonville, Florida. "This is an important step for our team," said Scott Drennan, Otto President and CEO. "Engineers often feel like PDR is a test, but I look at it as a celebration of their amazing work. And, yes, they passed the test with flying colors. The Phantom 3500 has crossed the threshold from a promising concept to an aircraft we are preparing to build and fly. You can see it in the digital model, in the hardware we have built and in the maturity of the program. The work now is execution. We are focused on building this aircraft on time, while proving that our laminar-flow aircraft can do exactly what we said it would do." Otto will now be working toward its detailed design and engineering release for its Critical Design Review (CDR), which will be followed by fabrication and assembly. The company plans for its Flight Test Vehicle 1 to fly in 2027. The company states that it is focused on turning the Phantom 3500 into a certified production aircraft, including disciplined weight management, supplier execution, certification planning and protection of the aircraft's core performance targets. RELATED STORIES: Otto Aerospace unmanned drone completes flight test with Swift Engineering Otto Aerospace brings last-minute mockup of Phantom 3500 to NBAA-BACE 2025 Flexjet places large order for Otto Aerospace Phantom 3500 business jet "Completing PDR reflects more than a year of disciplined work by the Otto team, our suppliers and our development partners," said OttoCTO Kyle Heironimus. "Aircraft development depends on thousands of decisions made with speed, quality, safety and certification rigor in mind. I'm proud of how this team worked together to reach this milestone and put the Phantom 3500 in position for the next phase of execution."