FutureFlight

Among the biggest challenges that electric aircraft developers are facing today is the limitations of battery technologies. Unless scientists come up with new ways to make smaller and lighter batteries that hold more charge for longer periods of time, electric aircraft will only be able to make short, regional flights before needing to recharge. 

ASTM International has published what appears to be the first specific standards for the design of civil vertiports and vertistops. The new F3423 standard is based on five years of work by the U.S.-based group’s F38 unmanned aircraft systems committee, but it is intended to provide guidance for ground infrastructure to be used with regard to either crewed or uncrewed vehicles, including new eVTOL models.

The UK’s Connected Places Catapult is looking to select up to a dozen small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to participate in its second Future of Air Mobility Accelerator (FoAM) program.

Hydrogen propulsion is emerging as an increasingly favored path to net zero carbon air transport, with several companies working on technology for both new and converted aircraft. But certifying hydrogen-powered aircraft is just one part of the equation, with the industry facing myriad complex considerations about how the operations will be supported, and how environmentally sustainable and commercially viable they might prove to be in practice.

The UK’s Connected Places Catapult consortium has published a white paper summarizing the potential for air services on routes spanning 25 to 100 miles in a larger eVTOL aircraft that would carry 30 to 50 passengers.

The British public has given a conditional thumbs up to the new electric and potentially autonomous aircraft being proposed by the ambitious companies vying for leadership in the advanced air mobility (AAM) sector. A new report commissioned by the government-backed UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) provides firsthand insights into social attitudes toward eVTOL air taxi services, so-called regional air mobility using new low- and zero-carbon aircraft, and commercial drone operations.

The funding flow for what McKinsey calls the future air mobility sector has been drying up so far in 2022, according to a report by the management consulting firm. The report addresses the question of whether this trend represents a short-term disruption or a longer-term inflection point.

Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) this week outlined its plans for regulating new advanced air mobility (AAM) flight operations, including remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS). Companies pioneering the development of these services, including ground infrastructure group Skyportz, welcomed the RPAS and AAM Strategic Regulatory Roadmap.

EASA this week published proposed rules governing the operation of new eVTOL air taxi services in cities. The proposed regulatory framework, which the European aviation safety agency says is the first of its kind in the world, is now open for public consultation through Sept. 30, 2022.

The FAA provoked rapidly rising blood-pressure levels among eVTOL aircraft developers with its awkwardly communicated change in approach to certifying the new vehicles. The apparent policy reversal hinged on a determination that winged eVTOL designs meeting the U.S. air safety regulator’s definition of “powered lift” could not be certified or operate as conventional “airplanes.”