FutureFlight

A relentless flow of research reports keeps predicting vast market opportunities in the nascent advanced air mobility (AAM) sectors. Much of the envisaged demand hinges on what is generally regarded as the inevitable public acceptance of eVTOL air taxi services. But less than three years away from the anticipated launch of early commercial operations, relatively little attention seems to have been given to asking prospective passengers how they feel about this prospect.

The top line of NASA’s first budget request under the Biden Administration signals the organization’s clear intent to embrace the new American president’s commitment to achieving environmental sustainability. Under the heading “addressing the climate crisis at home and abroad,” NASA's financial year 2022 budget request confirms its plan for a Sustainable Flight National Partnership to develop “highly efficient” aircraft and to support new academic-led research into zero-emissions aviation.

In its formal response to Wisk Aero’s allegations of intellectual property theft, Archer Aviation’s legal team this week told the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that there is no case to answer. Archer's 62-page document, filed on June 1, argues that the plaintiff has failed to detail and provide clear evidence that it stole trade secrets for the design of its four-passenger eVTOL aircraft, “despite page after page of reckless innuendo and rank speculation.”

On July 7, William H. Orrick, judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is due to hear a lawsuit in which an eVTOL aircraft developer is accusing a rival of stealing its design. While it might not be the first lawsuit of its kind in the emerging advanced air mobility (AAM) sector, the one brought by Wisk Aero against Archer Aviation stands to be the highest-profile case so far in the gold rush subculture of start-ups racing to be the first to market.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) this week published the findings from a survey of public attitudes toward urban air mobility (UAM). The study polled 4,000 citizens in six European metropolitan areas via a quantitative survey, and also included 40 more in-depth interview qualitative interviews, as well as a simulation of aircraft noise.

Morgan Stanley has slashed its initial projected value for the global total addressable market (TAM) for eVTOL aircraft in urban air mobility (UAM) applications by a third. In a report updating its prognosis from December 2018, the investment bank has lowered its anticipated TAM level for 2040 from $1.5 trillion to $1 trillion. But the figure is now expected to rise to $9 trillion by 2050.

The FAA has granted a request from UPS Flight Forward to allow it to conduct drone delivery flights under an exemption from Part 135 rules. The decision could set a significant precedent for an industry that expects to scale up operations at such a pace that it will struggle to recruit suitably trained personnel. The bottom line from the decision, which was relayed to the company on April 27, is that remote pilots in command (RPIC) who lack commercial pilot certificates can operate UPS's small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

Hydrogen’s stock is rising in terms of its perceived value in longer-term efforts to transform the environmental sustainability of aviation. It also seems to have the potential of unlocking significantly greater payload and range than seems likely to be delivered by electric batteries for the foreseeable future.

EASA recently published the final version of its special condition requirements for the certification of electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems (EHPS). The document, which was subject to extensive consultation during 2020, will be of particular significance to developers of new eVTOL aircraft, but also to a wide array of manned and unmanned aircraft.

There was no shortage of buzz in the early years of the 21^st century as pioneers of the so-called very light jets (VLJs) set about revolutionizing the private aviation industry. If that sounds familiar to eVTOL evangelists, it’s because there were some common threads in that trend. There were also some important lessons to be learned from a market trend that never quite lived up to all the hype.