Dental Assisting School Near Indiantown, FL

INDIANTOWN, Florida — On a small grassy landing strip in southeast Florida on Monday, a crowd of onlookers watched as a sleek electric rotorcraft took off vertically with no pilot on board.

Eight rotors buzzed loudly to life as the aircraft’s nose reared up like a horse in preparation for takeoff from a field at Indiantown Airport. Once airborne, that noise soon quieted to a buzz, then a hum while the remotely piloted craft flew a circular pattern above the airport.

The aircraft is an AIR ONE, one of the first full-size prototypes built by Israel-based company AIR, headed by Rani Plaut. He watched the demonstration Monday and told attending reporters, investors and potential customers that he hopes AIR can make aviation accessible to more people.

“Right now, aviation is limited because of the skill set required, the training required and the noise that aircraft make, and other complications like downdrafts from helicopters,” Plaut told me in an interview before the event. “But electric aviation has the potential to change this paradigm. The range is still shorter than we would like now, but it will improve.”

He noted the potential pool of customers will still be relatively small: “I don’t have to sell to 20 million people in the U.S. I only have to sell to 2,000 people a year, and I’m confident we can do that.”

The AIR ONE lifts off from a field at Indiantown Airport as ⁦⁦@AirEvtol⁩ for piloted flight test and hoped for FAA certificate next year. #Evtol #aviation pic.twitter.com/t2CQeAq7Nj

— Paul Brinkmann (@PaulBrinkmann) October 20, 2025

Observers of Monday’s flight called out questions afterward. “Will it be air conditioned?” Yes, Plaut said. “How high can it fly, and how fast?”

“It’s designed for 10,000 feet, and maximum speed is going to be around 120 mph, (193 kmh) maybe a little more,” he responded.

Plaut said he believes he can sell the AIR ONE for less than $300,000 and have it classed as a light-sport aircraft with a range of 100-160 kilometers. AIR hopes FAA will also clear the design to be flown by individuals with a sport pilot license, but that is still being worked out.

Under the light-sport category, individuals can obtain a sport pilot license that requires only 20 hours of training, compared to the minimum of 40 hours required for the private pilot license required to fly a broader range of aircraft. Plaut said he sees the sport class as a middle ground between smaller craft that are purely for hobbyists and the larger passenger air taxis in development by companies including Vermont-based BETA Technologies and California-based Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation.

Plaut wants AIR to begin pilot-on-board testing by April under the current experimental permissions and by September receive FAA certification to begin commercial sales.

The AIR ONE has eight fixed propellers that don’t tilt or move at all. Maneuvering is achieved only by adjusting the rotation speed of propellers as they push air against control surfaces — dual propellers in four locations around the aircraft body.

The aircraft relies on “aerodynamic trickery” guided by software, Plaut said: “We have a lot of software, algorithmic patents that are able to extract a high level of efficiency” instead of moving any propellers or control surfaces.

AIR plans to base its manufacturing in the U.S., but a location hasn’t been finalized yet, according to Plaut.

He said the company has 2,700 customers on its waiting list, and he’s “spoken to at least 300 of them” personally. One thing he learned, he noted, is that his customers wanted wider seats than those found in a typical two-seat plane like a Cessna or Pipistrel.

“We have doctors who want to fly to islands in the Seattle area, people in Florida who fly to work each day, and even a guy in Utah who wants to fly to hunt for dinosaur bones,” he said.

An Indiantown woman’s $26,000 jewelry theft was solved thanks to a vigilant coworker who spotted the stolen items and alerted authorities. (MCSO)

INDIANTOWN, Fla. (CBS12) — A suspect is now behind bars for allegedly stealing $26,000 worth of jewelry from an Indiantown woman's home while construction work was being done. The swift action of a coworker proved pivotal in locating the stolen items and leading to an arrest.

The incident occurred on Wednesday when an Indiantown woman called the Martin County Sheriff’s Office to report that a watch, three rings, and three pairs of earrings, totaling $26,000 in value, were missing from her home. Five construction workers were present at the residence at the time of the theft.

According to Major Ruben Romero, the employer immediately suspected one of the workers.

“The boss of the job site, of the work they were doing, found out about the theft. He, in turn, policed his own guys he was working with and said, ‘Hey, let’s check everybody’s pockets, if you didn’t steal anything, then there’s nothing to worry about.’ One of the gentlemen started acting suspicious,” Major Romero explained.

That coworker then followed the suspect, identified as Noe Israel Vail Castro, to the bathroom, where the coworker discovered jewelry matching the description of the stolen items in a trash can. The coworker also found the missing watch hidden under the table where Castro had been sitting.

Following the discovery, the coworker met with deputies at a RaceTrac gas station in Stuart. Upon the arrival of law enforcement, deputies observed Castro's behavior.

Major Romero noted that body language was a telltale sign: “Many times when law enforcement shows up and you’ve done something wrong, there are certain things that you’re not going to be able to hide. One of them is body language.”

Deputies arrested Castro and charged him with second-degree grand theft.

Major Romero praised the quick actions of the victim's employer and the coworkers: “Our citizens, also the employees of this company, did the right thing. They were notified that there was a theft on the job, immediately became alerted, and took it upon themselves to make sure justice was brought forward for our victim.”

The victim commented that she is thankful for the Sheriff’s Office and her coworkers for speaking out.

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The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the crash of an uncrewed AIR ONE electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) prototype in Indiantown, Florida, on October 23, 2025. The aircraft, built by the Israeli advanced-air-mobility company AIR VEV Ltd., was destroyed by fire after going down in a rural field about 40 miles northwest of West Palm Beach, according to investigators. No injuries were reported.

In a brief post on X (formerly Twitter), the NTSB said the “unmanned Air VEV Inc. Zero eVTOL” crashed “for unknown reasons and was consumed by post-crash fire.” The agency said it has opened an investigation to determine the cause.

According to FAA registration data, the aircraft, N514AX, was an experimental technology demonstrator for AIR’s two-seat AIR ONE, which the company hopes will bring personal electric flight to a broad market. The prototype had recently received an FAA experimental airworthiness certificate, allowing flight testing in the United States.

AIR, headquartered in Pardes Hanna-Karkur, Israel, established a US flight-test center near West Palm Beach earlier in 2025. The company has been conducting demonstration flights in Florida since summer 2025 and had showcased the aircraft at Indiantown Airport (X58) earlier in the week for local officials, partners, and potential investors.

The Florida prototype loss marks a setback for AIR’s testing campaign but does not appear to have caused injuries or property damage. The company issued the following statement to AeroTime after the incident:

“AIR is working closely with the NTSB to research the root cause of the event, and once we have the full details, after validation, we will release them. Incidents like this are why we conduct extensive testing beyond standard operating parameters, so we can learn, evolve, and ensure our production aircraft meet the highest safety standards. We anticipate no delays or setbacks regarding AIR’s path to certification. The certification under MOSAIC was planned from the get-go for the production aircraft. Naturally, these unmanned flights of prototypes are a key source of data and evolution for us. Such an event contributes a great deal to the maturation process, and takeaways from this event will be implemented, as much as relevant, in the production aircraft.”

AIR said it will resume flights with the pre-production prototype in early 2026. “The production prototype will have a maiden flight by the end of this year in Israel,” the company added. “A similar, production aircraft will arrive at our Florida facility early 2026 to start flying.”

AIR’s website describes the AIR ONE as a light sport-category eVTOL built for everyday personal flying. The aircraft uses eight fixed rotors and an advanced wing-rotor configuration designed to generate up to 60% of its lift without tilt or pusher motors. This design, combined with AIR’s patented Fly-By-Intent flight-control system, allows the pilot to direct the aircraft simply by pointing a joystick in the intended direction of flight, the company says. The system is designed to automatically stabilize and scan for hazards in real time.

Founded in 2017, AIR VEV has been developing and testing full-scale prototypes for more than eight years. It previously completed forward-flight transition tests in Israel in 2022 and moved into the next phase of the US Air Force’s AFWERX Agility Prime program in 2023. AIR claims to have more than 800 pre-orders for the AIR ONE from customers interested in personal ownership and utility missions.

The company’s broader goal, according to its mission statement, is to make short-range electric flight accessible and environmentally responsible. AIR emphasizes a design philosophy centered on simplicity — only eight critical moving parts — and minimal infrastructure requirements, aiming to enable everyday “commuter-grade” air mobility.

The NTSB’s investigation will focus on flight data, control-system performance, and battery safety. Because the aircraft was operating under an FAA experimental certificate, testing was permitted for research and development rather than commercial purposes.

Editor’s note: This article was updated on October 28, 2025, to include a statement from AIR.