The FAA's long awaited rules governing the operation of eVTOL aircraft will be released in October, a couple of months ahead of the date mandated by Congress according to a senior Department of Transportation official. Various outlets reported that Christopher Coes, acting undersecretary of transportation for policy for the U.S. Department of Transportation, told Honeywell's Advanced Air Mobility Summit on Thursday the Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) for Integration of Powered Lift: Pilot Certification and Operations is being finalized.
I canât think of any certified civilian powered lift airplanes. The Harrier and the V-22 are military only, and the AW609 is still in the future somewhere. Which ones are you thinking of?
Why is the FAA wasting even 5 seconds on the Rube Goldbergs that no one wants? It ought to be working harder to get affordable mogas onto airports, one easy way to reduce the use of boutique aviation fuels few can afford any more.
Multiple helicopters move dozens of tourist ever 30 minutes in flights of 6 or more about 20 miles all day. This is a common practice at many cruise ship stops. Thereâs no SFAR that is necessary to do that. Why do these âair mobility unitsâ need to operate under different rules?
âAir Mobilityâ, âVTOLâ whatever you want to call them they are still just a helicopter. Chinooks have multi-rotors and never needed a SFAR. There has been Helicopter scheduled services for over 50 years. Whatâs the difference now?
I think the difference - which I agree is not really explained in the article - is that the new rules weâre discussing are for what FAA calls âpowered liftâ aircraft - they take off vertically, but fly on wings like an airplane in cruise. The article is about eVTOL-powered-lift, not just VTOL, hence the comparison with a Harrier or a V-22 applies. The pilot training presumably includes hovering and vortex ring (not found in the fixed wing syllabus) but also might include concepts of Vx, Vy, Vmca, glide speed and so on which donât occur in the rotary syllabus in the same way.
So, if itâs not an airplane, and itâs not a helicopter, but you want to certify it, weâre gonna need some new guidelines. I think itâs an interesting challenge.
BTW, despite defending the distinct category of flying machine, I also agree that the fuel source is a minor consideration. Perhaps it runs on dilithium crystals, but Iâd still like to know how to get the rating on my certificate!
Andy, the Auto-gyro has been flying for many decades without SFARs. Iâve witnessed âJump-Gyroâ competition with hover / vertical climb demonstration of plus two minutes.
After following this topic for several years, the pilot part is what the Little âeâ symbol really stands for. Not the âelectricâ part. The objective is âNOâ human Pilot in these things. Iâm sure many people reading this will build on the âFuture of Aviationâ but, the FAA wantâs to certify âAI Flight Systemsâ like this oneâŚ