AMSL Aero is an Australian aerospace company, with headquarters in Bankstown, New South Wales and flight test facilities in regional New South Wales.  In November 2024, AMSL Aero, the zero-emission aircraft designer and manufacturer, announced that it had completed the first free flight of ‘Vertiia’, Australia’s first passenger-capable, emission-free, long range electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) aircraft. The landmark flight is the first by an Australian-designed and built eVTOL, the new generation of aircraft that take off and land like a helicopter but fly fast and smoothly like a fixed-wing aeroplane. The historic test flight was performed on battery power by remote control in the Central West region of New South Wales in accordance with Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) regulations. Since the first untethered flight, Vertiia taken off, flown and landed successfully more than 50 times. Vertiia is the most complex civil aircraft ever developed in Australia. It has been designed to fly up to 1,000km on hydrogen at a cruising speed of 300km/hour with zero carbon emissions, carrying up to four passengers and a pilot. 

In May 2025 AMSL announced the successful completion of its first year of hydrogen fuel cell testing at Bankstown Airport, positioning it for future emission-free flight testing of the Vertiia. It is planned to fly 1,000km on Hydrogen with zero tail emissions and is on the path to certification by 2030. In August 2025, AMSL Aero secured $3 million in grant funding from the Federal Government to develop and demonstrate liquid hydrogen-powered aircraft for regional and remote Australia.

On 28 October 2025 in Christchurch, New Zealand, it was announced that New Zealand and Australian companies developing and deploying liquid-hydrogen technologies to enable Australasia’s first hydrogen-electric flights have made a significant step forward in the transition to zero-emission aviation. Dr Adriano Di Pietro, CEO AMSL Aero, said: “Vertiia is the world’s first eVTOL designed from inception to be powered by hydrogen for long-range, cargo and passenger operations. Vertiia must be as light as possible to achieve its 1,000 km range, 500kg payload and 300 km/h cruising speed. Liquid hydrogen is the lightest zero-emission method of storing energy for long-distance flight; no other technology currently comes close. We often get asked, ‘You are flying Vertiia and are developing an end-to-end hydrogen system, but what else needs to happen to make Vertiia fly on liquid hydrogen?’ Today, with Fabrum (who designed and manufactured the advanced composite liquid-hydrogen tanks), we have demonstrated the key steps in that process: from producing liquid hydrogen, to filling our ground transport container, then filling the tanks that we will install to our aircraft before our first liquid hydrogen flights next year. This is a major milestone.”

For the design and development work of the Vertiia zero-emission, long range, hydrogen-electric VTOL aircraft, AMSL Aero is awarded the Grand Master’s Australian Medal.

1981/82  CSIRO Interscan Team - H C Minnett Esq, Dr D N Cooper, Dr J P Wild

1983  not awarded

1983/84  Brian Hamilton Heeps Esq

1985  not awarded

1985/86  Dr Henry Millicer

1986/87  Ingo Renner Esq

1987/88  Wg Cdr Bernard I Fernandes

1989 - 1990  not awarded

1990/91  Don M Kendell Esq

1991/92  Laurence C Gruzman Esq

1993  not awarded

1993/94 Sqn Ldr Kevin W Rushworth

1994/95  Captain Ernest A Girault

1995/96  Gary Lawson-Smith Esq

1996/97  Australian Mission Aviation Fellowship

1997/98  The Historical Aircraft Restoration Society Inc.

1999  not awarded

1999/2000  John G Roncz & Graham Swannell

2000/01  Captain Trevor Jensen

2001/02  Bob Peake

2002/03  Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia

2004 - 2006  not awarded

2006/07  C-17 Transition Team & 36 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force

2007/08  Number 92 Wing, Royal Australian Air Force

2008/09  The School of Air Warfare, Royal Australian Air Force

2009/10  816 Sqn Royal Australian Navy

2010/11  Air Mobility Control Centre RAAF

2012  not awarded

2012/13  Emergency Management Queensland - Helicopter Rescue

2013/14  Royal Australian Air Force Ageing Aircraft Systems Audit Team

2014/15  Flight Training Adelaide

2016  Temora Aviation Museum

2017  Royal Australian Air Force Aerobatic Team - The Roulettes

2018  James Eric Thurstan

2019  RAAF Aircraft Research and Development Unit

2020  Captain Susan Mchaffie

2021  Flt Lt Laura Ashleigh Haws RAAF

2022  Centenary Flypast Team RAAF

2023  Qantas Group Pilot Academy

2024  Luke Gumley

2025  Jackie Dujmovic