Clearing the way for a new class of “powered lift” aircraft to get off the ground, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on 22 October released a finalised rule outlining operational and pilot-training requirements for the burgeoning electric air taxi sector.
FAA administrator Michael Whitaker signed the rule during the NBAA BACE show in Las Vegas, with representatives from advanced air mobility companies such as Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, Eve Air Mobility, Supernal, Textron eAviation and Wisk Aero looking on.
The special federal aviation regulation (SFAR) ushers in the first entirely new category of civil aircraft since helicopters were introduced in the 1940s, the FAA says, opening the possibility of “wide-scale” operations of new and novel aircraft that incorporate elements of both rotorcraft and fixed-wing aircraft.
Powered lift vehicles now join fixed-wing aircraft and rotorcraft within the FAA regulatory framework.
”We now have a third category of aircraft for powered lift,” Whitaker told reporters at the show. ”This rule creates the operational system for advanced air mobility; it allows operating rules and training rules to take effect for these new aircraft.
”It is a performance-based rule that deals with issues like a minimum reserve for fuel or for energy, minimum altitudes and pilot training, as well,” Whitaker adds.
Both passenger- and cargo-carrying operations with air taxis and other electric aircraft will be enabled by the SFAR, according to the FAA.
Whitaker says the FAA started the process “a little over a year ago” and finalised the rule at “light speed” for the traditionally slow-moving civil aviation regulator.
The result is an 880-page document that stakeholders will be digesting for several weeks.
The SFAR will be in effect for 10 years, a period during which Whitaker says the FAA will ”collect data and make adjustments as we go along”. And it comes as companies such as Joby and Archer push to certificate with the FAA their electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft as soon as next year.
INDUSTRY REACTS
Whitaker, a former executive with Hyundai Motor Group’s subsidiary Supernal, has made embracing the USA’s wave of air taxi developers a priority since being unanimously confirmed as FAA administrator one year ago.
“The fact that the FAA got the SFAR out on time, as was prescribed in the FAA Reauthorization [Act of 2024], is a testament to the leadership now at the FAA,” says Sam Graves, a US congressman who serves as co-chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
“When you add a new entrant into the airspace, there’s always going to be complications, but we need to do this in a timely manner,” Graves says. ”We need to do it in a safe manner, and that’s what the goal here is.”
Rick Larsen, a congressman from Washington and sitting member of the transportation committee, calls Whitaker’s signing “a key step in allowing the United States and the aviation industry in the US to safely scale and create jobs, to remain a global leader in aviation safety and innovation.”
Electric aircraft developers applauded the rule’s finalisation, including Vermont’s Beta Technologies, which is developing both eVTOL and conventional take-off and landing variants of its Alia aircraft.
”It’s an important and encouraging step for the industry,” says Kristen Costello, Beta’s regulatory affairs lead. “We look forward to reviewing it in depth and working alongside our customers to operationalise it.”
California’s Archer notes that the rule “comes ahead of schedule, incorporates key feedback from across the industry and is yet another foundational element toward our goal of the US leading the way in commercialising” air taxi operations.
”We’ll continue to formulate our operational plans to align to this final rule,” Archer says.
QUESTIONS REMAIN
The SFAR does not specifically address operational challenges for electric air taxis such as flying into known icing conditions, Whitaker says, explaining that those aircraft will be subject to the “same set of rules that apply to all aviation”.
“This is basically taking all the global operating rules and making adjustments where the technology requires,” he says. “Whether it’s IFR, VFR or icing conditions, the basic rule structure stays the same.”
Certification remains a major hurdle for start-ups proposing to commercialise eVTOL operations this decade, and the viability of those business models is another question.
”One of the challenges with advanced air mobility is that we don’t know where that business model is going to go,” Whitaker says. ”Is this going to be three-minute departures to the airport? Is it going to serve rural areas and tie them into urban areas? Is it some other sort of missions we haven’t even thought of yet? We need to have the flexibility to allow these businesses to succeed [and] do so safely.”
