In 2017, NASA hired two teams of consultants to study the viability of different urban air mobility (UAM) use cases.
On Nov. 6, 2018, NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) released highlights of the two in-depth UAM reports to the public.
Astro Aerospace holds the distinction of being one of a handful of electric aircraft developers in the world to have successfully flown a piloted electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. (More details on Astro and links to more resources are available at www.eVTOL.news/passenger-drone.)
On Nov. 1-2, more than 400 representatives from government, industry and academia gathered in Seattle, Washington, to attend an industry day marking the launch of NASA’s Urban Air Mobility Grand Challenge plan.
Over the next few years, NASA will host a series of operational demonstration programs that will address known UAM challenges that will allow participants to learn from each other and collectively “raise the water level” together, explained Dr. Jaiwon Shin, NASA Associate Administrator, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD).
Bell announced on Oct. 2 that it had signed teaming agreement with Garmin International, Inc. on the development and integration of the autonomous vehicle management computer (VMC) systems to support the company's eVTOL on-demand mobility aircraft, the Bell Air Taxi. As noted previously, Safran will provide the hybrid-electric propulsion system for Bell’s VTOL aircraft.
On Oct. 15, 2018, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a public notice of its proposal of airworthiness standards to “enable the certification of small vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. This is to develop the first component of the regulatory framework to enable the safe operation of air taxi and electric VTOL (eVTOL) aircraft in Europe.”
Air New Zealand and Zephyr Airworks announced on Oct. 16 that they had signed an agreement to work collaboratively on bringing the world's first autonomous electric air taxi service to market in New Zealand. Zephyr Airworks is the operating company in New Zealand for Kitty Hawk’s Cora eVTOL.
Volocopter announced on Oct. 18, 2018, that it would be testing its eVTOL (whether the VC200 or 2X was not revealed) in Singapore next year. The flight tests are designed to verify the ability of Volocopter’s eVTOL vehicles to operate in Singapore’s urban environment.
A third eVTOL has been acknowledged by the FAA as a Part 103 ultralight, according to a Hoversurf news release on Sept. 28, 2018: "HOVERSURF has met FAA part 103 guidelines for a personal Vertical Take - Off and Landing aircraft." (Originally this was posted as "Hoversurf just became an approved personal Vertical Take -Off and Landing aircraft" but the FAA does not approve aircraft for Part 103.)
The opening of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Center for Mobility with Vertical Lift (MOVE) was held on Oct. 2-3, 2018, at the university, located in Troy, New York: http://move.rpi.edu
Fueled by explosive growth in the emergent field of electric VTOL aircraft, as well as the U.S. DoD’s interest in high-speed VTOL aircraft, vertical lift technology is undergoing a major renaissance and is at one of the most exciting points in its development history.
The US House of Representatives’ Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing of the Subcommittee on Aviation on “Airspace Integration of New Aircraft” on Sept. 6, 2018.
Hearing Background Memo
