FutureFlight

Public acceptance is widely regarded as a key factor­–some might say obstacle­–in plans to launch and expand advanced air mobility (AAM) operations, and especially in more densely populated urban areas. Most eVTOL aircraft pioneers accept that they can’t take it for granted that their new technology and business models will be accepted with open arms.

The numbers are still mouthwatering, and it’s little wonder that so many people want a seat at the table for the anticipated urban air mobility feast. The transport consultant firm of Roland Berger has just provided a fresh taste of what could be served up by the sector in its latest report, predicting that 160,000 of what it calls “commercial passenger drones” will be in the air by 2050. The Europe-based group values the market at $90 billion in a paper entitled "The High-Flying Industry: Urban Air Mobility Takes Off."

Operations by new eVTOL aircraft in and around major metropolitan areas will reach an inflection point amounting to thousands of daily movements between 2026 and 2028. That’s the good news, according to German startup D3 Technologies; the bad news, it claims, is that existing air traffic control service providers will not be able to cope with the volume of activity expected from urban air mobility (UAM) and, what’s more, are fundamentally ill-suited to the task.

Los Angeles, Dallas, or Paris? In which of these gilded cities will the much-vaunted air mobility revolution first take hold? Or will it be Vancouver and the wider Cascadia region of the Pacific Northwest, where the new Canadian Advanced Air Mobility Consortium (CAAM) last week published its manifesto to democratize airlift options for residents, businesses, indigenous peoples, and public service providers.

Safety standards organization ASTM International is hosting a virtual workshop on the means of compliance for eVTOL aircraft. The free-to-attend event on November 2 will focus on the compliance gaps that aircraft developers need to fill to meet ASTM’s AC433 standards.

Since early January, when it announced plans to enter the eVTOL sector, South Korean carmaker Hyundai has kept its cards close to its chest over how the program will take shape. Had Uber not named the company as one of its partner manufacturers for the planned Uber Air rideshare network, it's quite possible that the program would be even more under wraps.

German air rescue service ADAC Luftrettung says that piloted multicopters have the potential to improve the effectiveness of emergency support flights. This is the headline conclusion from the results of a feasibility study that the not-for-profit operator conducted with eVTOL aircraft developer Volocopter.

It seems as if ages have passed since last New Year’s Eve, when the FAA issued its long-anticipated notice of proposed rulemaking document, spelling out how it intended to establish standards for remote identification (Remote ID) of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). This was a whole year after the FAA first issued a request for information in December 2018, calling on the industry to help the agency explore possible technological solutions for Remote ID.

The past week has been revealing for those trying to understand the role major aerospace groups are likely to play in cutting aviation’s dependence on fossil fuels. In the space of only four days, the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers announced strategic decisions that could reshape their role in sustainable aviation for the next two decades.

Australia’s Deakin University this month published a white paper evaluating the opportunities and next steps for what it calls Advanced Aerial Mobility (AAM) and the use of eVTOL aircraft for passenger and freight services. The report argues that the emerging sector offers a significant opportunity for Australia to develop high-tech businesses while highlighting the challenges related to regulation, safety, noise, and community acceptance.