The United States (US) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has unveiled a plan for how advanced urban air mobility (AAM) vehicles, such as air taxis and other electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, would could be used on a larger scale in the next five years.
The implementation plan, released by the FAA on July 18, 2023, sets out various milestones for how AAM vehicles will operate from one or more locations through 2028. The FAA added that the plan also addresses how the authority and other agencies could certify aircraft and pilots while ensuring their training.
"This plan shows how all the components will come together, allowing the industry to expand safely,” said Katie Thomson, deputy administrator at the FAA. Thomson was appointed to the role on June 8, 2023, along with Polly Trottenberg, who is now acting administrator of the agency.
According to the FAA, pilots will fly AAM aircraft from multiple locations on well-defined flight schedules, climbing to altitudes no higher than 4.000 feet (1219,2 meters) in urban areas.
Pilots will also have to use existing or modified visual flight rules (VFR) routes within airports that have Class B and C airspace around them.
In the US, operators and manufacturers, as well as state and local governments, will need to build and maintain the heliport/vertiport infrastructure, with initial operations managed from existing heliports and airports. The FAA warned that the infrastructure would need to be upgraded to include charging stations, parking areas and running space for AAM vehicles. Potential upgrades to the electricity grid may be required to support all this process and higher charging power.
The new plan follows the FAA's Airspace Plan released in May 2023, in which the authority outlined how eVTOLs would fly in the early stages of the technology's adoption. Meanwhile, on June 14, 2023, the FAA released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), inviting interested parties to comment on its proposed interim rulemaking for AAM aircraft pilots.