Category Filtering: 'regulations'
On March 9, the Biden Administration unveiled its budget request for fiscal year 2024 (FY24). The Department of Defense (DoD) requested $842B for FY24, an increase of $26B over FY23. In terms of vertical lift aircraft, this year’s proposed budget is largely consistent with the request for FY23.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is aiming to release a plan for regulating eVTOL aircraft operations in May. In a Nov. 17 speech at the Aero Club of Washington, Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen said that the agency will release an “implementation plan” that will enable the FAA to match the level of activity occurring in industry.
On March 12, the West Virginia Legislature passed two pieces of legislation aimed at encouraging future AAM operations. House Bill 4667 prohibits county and local jurisdictions from creating restrictions on AAM operations or aircraft, while House Bill 4827 promotes the development of public-use vertiports, among other conditions.
On Monday, May 9 (the eve of the VFS Forum 78), The Air Current (TAC) broke the story that the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had decided that winged electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft that met the FAA’s definition of “powered-lift”— a term used nearly exclusively for pilot qualification rules — could not be certified or operate as “airplanes”
On Feb. 28, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released their draft engineering brief for vertiports and electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft operations to industry for comment.
Since our beginnings in 1943 as the American Helicopter Society, the Vertical Flight Society (VFS) has had an expansive view of how to advance vertical flight. We didn’t just focus on the unique aspects of helicopters (e.g., rotors) but all of the technologies, methodologies and disciplines that supported the development of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. Important systems like engines, lightweight structures and controls are applicable to all aircraft, but most critical to powered lift.
Amid a maturing market for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, aerospace industry professionals and regulators have increasingly turned their attention to considering the types of infrastructure required to support these operations.
EHang, the Guangzhou-based developer of eVTOL aircraft, announced that China’s aviation authority is close to certifying the EHang EH216.
In an announcement at HeliTech Expo in London on Oct. 5, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) unveiled the creation of a new international consortium of eVTOL industry leaders and aviation experts.
On Sept. 27, in a breakthrough for electric-powered aviation, the FAA issued special conditions for airworthiness standards for electric engines produced by MagniX, an Everett, Washington-based manufacturer of electric motors.
