The US Says Electric Air Taxis Can Finally Take Flight Under New FAA Rules

Electric air taxis have seen rapid technological advances in recent years, but the industry has had a regulatory question mark hanging over its head. Now, the US Federal Aviation Authority has published rules governing the operation of this new class of aircraft.

Startups developing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft have attracted billions of dollars of investment over the past decade. But an outstanding challenge for these vehicles is they’re hard to classify, often representing a strange hybrid between a drone, light aircraft, and helicopter.

For this reason they’ve fallen into a regulatory gray area in most countries. The murkiness has led to considerable uncertainty about where and how they’ll be permitted to operate in the future, which could have serious implications for the business model of many of these firms.

But now, the FAA has provided some much-needed clarity by publishing the rules governing what the agency calls “powered-lift” aircraft. This is the first time regulators have recognized a new category of aircraft since the 1940s when helicopters first entered the market.

“This final rule provides the necessary framework to allow powered-lift aircraft to safely operate in our airspace,” FAA administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement.  “Powered-lift aircraft are the first new category of aircraft in nearly 80 years and this historic rule will pave the way for accommodating wide-scale advanced air mobility operations in the future.”

The principal challenge when it comes to regulating air taxis is the novel way they operate. Most leading designs use propellers that rotate up and down, which allows them to take off vertically like a helicopter before operating more like a conventional airplane during cruise.

The agency dealt with this by varying the operational requirements, such as minimum safe altitude, required visibility, and range, depending on the phase of flight. This means that during take-off the vehicles need to adhere to the less stringent requirements placed on helicopters, but when cruising they must conform to the same rules as airplanes. The rules are also performance-based, so exact requirements will depend on the capabilities of the specific vehicle in question.

The new regulations also provide a framework for certifying the initial batch of instructors and training future pilots. Because eVTOLs are a new class of aircraft, there are currently no pilots certified to fly them and therefore no one to train other pilots.

To get round this chicken-and-egg situation, the FAA says they’ll allow certain pilots employed by eVTOL companies to develop the required experience and training during the test flights required for vehicle certification. These pilots would become the first group of instructors who could then train other instructors at pilot schools and training centers.

The regulations also relax an existing requirement for training aircraft to feature two sets of flight controls. Instead, the agency is allowing pilots to learn in aircraft where the trainer can easily access the controls to intervene, if necessary, or letting pilots train in a simulator to gain enough experience to fly the aircraft solo.

When the agency introduced draft rules last year, the industry criticized them as too strict, according to The Verge. But the agency says it has taken the criticism onboard and thinks the new rules strike a good balance between safety and easing the burden on companies.

Industry leader Joby Aviation welcomed the new rules and, in particular, the provision for training pilots in simulators. “The regulation published today will ensure the US continues to play a global leadership role in the development and adoption of clean flight,” JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby, said in a statement. “Delivering ahead of schedule is a testament to the dedication, coordination and hard work of the rulemaking team.”

In its announcement, the FAA highlighted the technology’s potential for everything from air taxi services to short-haul cargo transport and even air ambulances. With these new rules in place, operators can now start proving out some of those business cases.

Image Credit: Joby