Lilium submits EASA proposals for how its eVTOL aircraft will comply with certification requirements
Lilium has submitted a full set of ‘Means of Compliance’ proposals to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for type certification of its Lilium Jet.
Subject to regulatory agreement, this prepares the way for the next phase of type certification, and the submission represents a milestone on the path to certifying Lilium’s revolutionary eVTOL aircraft.
The Means of Compliance are an essential part of the program by which an aircraft manufacturer demonstrates a new aircraft type conforms with airworthiness requirements prescribed in the certification basis previously identified by EASA.
EASA’s type certification process consists of the following main steps:
1. Technical Familiarisation and Certification Basis
2. Establishment of the Certification Program
3. Compliance demonstration
Lilium completed the first step and received its EASA certification basis (CRI-A01) in 2020.
As part of the second step, EASA and Lilium are required to define and agree on the means to demonstrate compliance of the aircraft type with each requirement of the certification basis.
Submitting Means of Compliance proposals to EASA represents an important milestone towards completion of that second step and moves Lilium closer to type certification.
Before any newly developed aircraft model enters into operation, it must obtain type certification from the responsible airworthiness authority.
Lilium is pursuing type certification with EASA and concurrent type certification validation with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration under the provisions of the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement between the EU and US.
Last Month, NetJets and aviation training firm FlightSafety International signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Lilium for the right to purchase up to 150 eVTOL aircraft.
The arrangement will introduce more options to NetJets owners to complement their existing flight patterns, with the company anticipating to support Lilium with a private sales campaign for individuals to purchase the Lilium Jet.
Lilium will also partner with FlightSafety International to provide products and services, such as courseware, industry leading immersive and mixed reality training devices and crew training to support eVTOL operations.