Much of the impetus for urban air mobility (UAM), and the technology that will support it, is coming from beyond the mainstream aerospace industries. Investors and innovators are being drawn from sectors such as information technology, and it’s fairly apparent that the corporate culture in Silicon Valley is quite different from that of aviation.
But it’s aviation’s rules that will apply when it comes to getting new aircraft approved to enter service. This is where aviation industry trade groups are starting to play a significant role in smoothing the path for the disruptive technologies and business models that they once might have seen as a threat, but now generally accept to be a force for good.
This trend was apparent at the National Business Aviation Association’s 2019 annual convention held in Las Vegas at the end of October. The trade show’s Innovation Zone was given over entirely to a display of UAM concepts and technology. Conference sessions dealt with key issues, such as how autonomous aircraft will be incorporated into the National Airspace System and the role of artificial intelligence.
NBAA isn’t the only industry group looking to play a role in this fast-growing sector. In the U.S. alone, the Vertical Flight Society (VFS), General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), National Air Transportation Association (NATA), and Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) are all involved as midwives for UAM and other applications for electric and autonomous aircraft. Their strong connections with regulators and other government agencies worldwide mean they have much to offer pioneering companies. They have been supported by counterparts overseas, such as the European Business Aviation Association.
In early November, NBAA, VFS, and GAMA were among the 13 founding members of a new alliance called the Community Air Mobility Initiative (CAMI). The group, which also includes 10 eVTOL aircraft manufacturers and developers, is looking to cooperate in supporting development of urban air mobility.
In seeking to facilitate the certification process for new generation aircraft, the U.S.-based alphabet groups are exercising their strong connections with regulators around the world, and especially the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). What’s more, in the face of mounting political opposition to business and general aviation on environmental grounds, the groups are eager to stress the green credentials of the new electric technology and its potential to reduce aviation’s dependence on fossil fuels.
“We’ve been working on the electric propulsion innovation committee, EPIC, which evolved from other work with EASA and FAA,” said Kyle Martin, GAMA’s director of European regulatory affairs and engineering. GAMA was a key player in the recent rewrite of the Part 23 regulations for light aircraft that regulators on both sides of the Atlantic undertook to refocus rules on performance standards rather than simply a means of compliance. Those changes are helping to pave a pathway to certification for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, which proponents say can be every bit as safe as other aircraft but will achieve that safety through different technologies.
As part of GAMA’s work in the field, which Martin said has been going on in earnest since September 2016, the organization has created various subcommittees, most recently including one focused on infrastructure. As the eVTOL and urban air mobility companies numbering among GAMA’s membership have increased from 15 to 80, Martin said the group looks to get consensus among companies rather than bring individual's concerns to regulators—an increasingly important task since GAMA has “a mix of the biggest manufacturers, Boeings, Airbuses, down to the little startups.
“It’s surprising me how much these companies have in common,” he told FutureFlight.aero. “They all want this system to be enabled somehow.”
With many of the early entrants to the space coming from the tech world rather than traditional aviation, Martin said some companies looked to GAMA for advice while others came in not realizing the value an association can provide in such a heavily regulated industry.
“There was some cross-learning,” he said. “You’d put new guys in the room with experienced players. [They had to learn that] you can’t bring an aircraft to market in months like you can with an electronics product.”
GAMA was one of the earliest associations to realize the importance of the UAM industry—a NASA-commissioned Booz Allen Hamilton study projected a potential unconstrained market of up to $500 billion—but other associations have since joined its cause. They characterize their combined efforts as teamwork rather than competition.
"Associations are working together,” said Mike Nicholas, NBAA’s senior vice president of strategy and innovation. “GAMA has been an incredible leader with the EPIC committee, the Part 23 rewrite, they have technical capabilities. I look at them as having taken a leadership role based on expertise. The Vertical Flight Society is doing a phenomenal job from a technical society perspective…No organization has been fighting to say, 'I own this space.' It’s been a wonderful collaboration.”
According to Ryan Waguespack, NATA’s vice president of aircraft management, air charter services, and MRO [maintenance, repair and overhaul], the key is each organization determining where it can do the most good.
“I think we’ve got to collectively get together and say, 'What’s our lane?'” he said. “There’s no desire to run parallel paths; there really isn’t. You don’t move the pendulum forward there at all. The [Part] 135 space, absolutely; the ground handling space, yes, I think we definitely fill a void there.”
NATA made the decision late last year that it needs to invest in the eVTOL space, Waguespack said. “That’s when we decided, if it’s five years [away], two years or 15 years, let’s be a part of the planning and the building of the infrastructure.”
To NATA, which represents Part 135 aircraft operators—air charter carriers, which will comprise most of the early and perhaps long-term eVTOL operators—that means thinking about ground operations. Who will handle the operations and who will train them? How do you deal with all of the situations that come up “in the real world?” How do you get a disabled person in and out of an eVTOL aircraft, for example?
All of that is an aspect of safety, which anybody who is trying to make UAM a reality will tell you is crucial. Waguespack worries that some innovation-focused minds among the start-up companies racing to be first to market aren’t thinking enough about the operations aspects of running an air-taxi company.
“Innovation is good, but the one thing we cannot forget is how we got to this point in safety,” he said. “They just think ‘Oh, that’s the old establishment,’ and in some cases I do agree. I’m 38 years old, I get it, but there’s an understanding that these things didn’t just happen.
“I think Uber has really exposed some of those—I don’t want to say weaknesses, but—I say all the time: Fifteen years ago, we would never have gotten into a [rideshare] car with a stranger. The app makes us feel comfortable, but we don’t know if that individual is inebriated or has been up all night. In an aircraft, you can’t just say ‘I want to get out.’ The general flying public can’t necessarily recognize if [a pilot] did something wrong. We know if a guy runs a red light. There’s definitely some thought needed on that space.”
That might be one area NBAA can help. Nichols identified operational and policy expertise at the federal, state, and local level as the organization’s strong suit—crucial, “as UAM begins to do more than demo flights and begins carrying passengers,” he said.
“Everybody that I’ve been interacting with has been looking at the FAA as a partner as opposed to an obstacle, and I think that’s an important lens for them to have,” said Nichols. “In the long term, the FAA may need to do some rulemaking, and that’s something we can apply some expertise and help with because you can’t manage a whole new section of aviation through exemptions. That’s a good basis, but things [such as the pilot operating handbook]—well, if it's remotely operated, is that that important? Who is going to be on board to read it?”
From January 21-23, 2020, the VFS will hold Transformative Vertical Flight event in San Jose, California. This will encompass the organization’s seventh annual Electric VTOL Symposium, the International Powered Lift Conference and the Aeromechanics for Advanced Vertical Flight Technical Meeting. It will start with a short course on eVTOL Fundamentals to be held on January 20.
