FREE Report: “FAA Advanced Air Mobility Implementation Plan”
It is a week of FREE Reports and the FAA has published the all-important ‘Advanced Air Mobility Implementation Plan’ subtitled ‘Near-Term (Innovate28) Focus With an Eye on the Future of AAM (Version 1.0/July 2023)’.
Innovate28 is a pointer to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, where the country’s focus is to achieve a fully-encompassing and integrated eVTOL and drone industry, capably used for helping manage a highly successful global sporting occasion. This noble ambition aims for a majority of the leading U.S eVTOL companies including Joby, Archer, Wisk and Beta Technologies to be involved alongside, no doubt, others like Volocopter and, perhaps, even China-based EHang, AutoFlight and Aerofugia, although let us to see how the political landscape looks in five years time.
The FREE Report (a link lies at the bottom of this article) consists of 40 pages and covers all aspects of AAM. It begins from a definition, an integration into the National Airspace system, stakeholders collaboration and an introduction to Innovate28, to AAM aircraft and operations alongside a scenario to work streams including certification, operational suitability, airspace and air traffic management.
This is followed by an infrastructure section that includes vertiport research, standards and oversight, then environment considerations, hazardous materials safety and the all-important community engagement, concluding with an Innovate28 integrated schedule and the AAM evolution framework.
The FAA Report is an important piece of published kit for the future vision of Urban Air Mobility and is a must read for everyone involved in the field.
Given the importance of it, various media outlets have critiqued the release. An article from Philip Butterworth-Hayes, a man with over 35 years experience of the general aviation field, was published on Linkedin yesterday (July 19th), and has received a large number of likes.
He initially writes, “For planners of the first commercial services looking at early-stage developments, the document provides a clear view of operational concepts in areas which are under the agency’s direct remit. But it is also clear that the limits to the FAA’s remit in many areas of the AAM eco-system have not yet been fully established, especially in areas such as vertiport development.”
Butterworth-Hayes continues by focusing on vertiports and their construction. “Many of the first planned eVTOL services in the USA will be developed around networks of new vertiports and it is unclear whether Innovate28 will encourage first adopters to base initial operations on existing heliports and regional airports – where there is clear FAA oversight – or build their own. As the FAA’s role in overseeing new vertiport development is limited, building your own vertiport could involve considerably less, or considerably more, regulatory oversight, depending on the view of the local municipal authority.”
He then points out, “The issue of how flow-control measures will be introduced into the ATM system so eVTOLs will not need to expend precious reserves of energy hovering beside a vertiport waiting for a landing slot is raised, but not addressed, as is the issue of how possible likely congestion in VFR airspace will be managed.” And follows this by, “Assigning responsibility for AAM routes will clearly be a complex process, involving negotiations between local ATC services and aircraft operators on the basis of existing airspace architecture, with the FAA making clear it will not become involved in assigning new AAM routes itself.”
Butterworth-Hayes concludes, “…identifying approach and departure routes into vertiports based on negotiations with local ATC services could be a relatively simple procedure but it could also be extremely complex, especially as many eVTOL operators will want to scale their operations very quickly.
“None of these issues are deal-breakers – but, predictably, the closer we get to real commercial eVTOL operations the more complex the institutional and regulatory issues become, especially if they involve non-aviation stakeholders.”
No-one has ever said it would be an easy path to fully integrate eVTOL and Drone commercial services into a National Airspace, let alone the infrastructure buildings and their construction, alongside full commercial certification of the Aircraft themselves, but this ambitious FAA report helps the process along, offering significant ideas and guidelines. The year 2028 has been chosen for America to coincide with the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
As David Bowie sings, “We’ve got five years, that’s all we’ve got,” so good luck everyone!
Please Read the FAA Report
https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/AAM-I28-Implementation-Plan.pdf
For more information
(Images: FAA)
