The pressure on the nascent advanced air mobility industry to move forward on certification is growing, including the industry’s focus on attracting regulatory experts as new hires.
Industry is left with more questions than answers after the FAA suddenly changed direction on certifying electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft.
Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation have both played down the potential effect of the FAA’s change in direction on eVTOL certification as they reported their first-quarter 2022 financial results.
Advanced air mobility aircraft manufacturers are calling for clearer guidance from the FAA over certification requirements after the regulator signaled a change in rules governing approval for winged electric vertical-take-off-and-landing vehicles.
The FAA has approved airworthiness criteria for the Wingcopter 198 delivery drone, a key step toward certification of the aircraft, Germany’s Wingcopter said May 11.
SkyDrive and the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau have agreed to the type certification basis for the Tokyo-based startup’s SD-05 electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxi.
UK startup Vertical Aerospace has pushed back certification and first deliveries of its VX4 air taxi to 2025, from 2024, as it prepares to begin flight tests of its full-scale demonstrator this summer.
With testing of a subscale uncrewed demonstrator underway in waters off Tampa, Florida, Regent has solidified its maritime certification path with confirmations from U.S. and European aviation regulators that its planned wing-in-ground-effect (WIG) regional transports are not considered aircraft.
Germany’s Lilium has taken another step in the type certification process for its electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxi, submitting its means of compliance to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
Long-time agency official Lirio Liu will take over as executive director of FAA’s Aircraft Certification Service, replacing Earl Lawrence, who moves to the NextGen Office to become deputy assistant administrator.
EHang is targeting mid-2022 for Chinese certification of its EH216-S autonomous two-seat air vehicle and preparing to announce the first group of Chinese cities where it plans to launch commercial urban air mobility services in the second half of the year following airworthiness approval.
Archer Aviation has conducted wind tunnel tests of the propulsion units for its electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxi as it progresses toward the preliminary design review for its production aircraft.
An FAA advisory group has recommended regulatory requirements for flying small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) beyond the vision of an operator, a capability considered key to the commercial exploitation of drones
Residents' concerns about the impact of nearby flight operations on their land value are especially relevant to urban air mobility as eVTOLs and cargo drones hope to operate in the heart of urban areas.
Until there is more available data on what a stabilized approach is for an eVTOL aircraft, the FAA will maintain a conservative approach as to how vertiports should be safely built.
The U.S. Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General is to audit the FAA’s certification of urban air mobility aircraft at the request of Congress.
Volocopter has received a first tranche of $170 million in Series E financing, with additional investment in the pipeline as the German electric vertical takeoff and landing startup works toward launching urban air taxi service in 2024.
Airworthiness regulations with which EHang must comply to type certify its EH216 autonomous air taxi have been published by the Civil Aviation Authority of China, taking the startup a step closer to launching urban air mobility services with its self-flying vehicle.
In a letter to FAA employees released by the agency, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said that he has “made the very difficult decision to step down” less than three years into his five-year appointment.
The FAA is studying the concept of a new set of operational rules and regulations dubbed automated flight rules, which will be designed to handle the huge increase in mainly low altitude air traffic anticipated with the emergence of new generation advanced air mobility vehicles.
Elbit Systems’ StarLiner medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system has received type certification from the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel, approving the aircraft to fly in civil airspace.
