Enabling type certification of electric air taxis is a priority for the FAA, but equally important is ensuring these new types of aircraft can operate at scale in the U.S. national airspace system, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson has told Aviation Week.
Lilium plans to use at least six conforming prototypes for testing in an effort to obtain concurrent European and U.S. type certification of its seven-seat electric air taxi.
The FAA will assemble an aviation rulemaking committee to provide the agency with recommendations for allowing routine flights of drones beyond an operator’s visual line of sight, Administrator Steve Dickson said June 9.
Obtaining certification from civil aviation authorities is the milestone that eVTOL vehicle manufacturers most seek—it allows them to be first-to-market in what is viewed as a keenly competitive industry.
Joby Aviation has laid out its road map to achieve type certification of its electric air taxi and obtain its air operator certificate in order to begin commercial aerial ridesharing services in U.S. cities in 2024.
Europe’s aviation regulator believes commercial use of electric air taxis could begin by 2024-25, but that it will take at least five more years to enable autonomous passenger transport, the holy grail for ubiquitous and affordable urban air mobility.
Harmonization of the differing European and U.S. approaches to regulating electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft is advancing somewhat, but there are concerns over the lack of information on China’s approach to approving the new class of aircraft.
The FAA will establish an executive board to lead the agency’s oversight of the emerging Advanced Air Mobility sector, Administrator Steve Dickson announced on March 3.
The FAA expects to certify the first of a new generation of advanced or urban air mobility (AAM/UAM) aircraft later in 2021 and says regulations will be in place in time for initial piloted electric vertical-take-off-and-landing (eVTOL) operations to begin as early as 2023.
