WOMEN IN AAM PODCAST: Amber Harrison of Vertical Aviation International Breaks Down FAA’s Part 108 Rule

Our lat­est Women in AAM Pod­cast is live! In this insight­ful episode, chair­per­son Mar­i­lyn Pear­son sits down with Amber Har­ri­son, Direc­tor of Reg­u­la­to­ry Affairs at Ver­ti­cal Avi­a­tion Inter­na­tion­al and a com­mer­cial­ly rat­ed heli­copter pilot.

With her unique blend of legal, oper­a­tional, and avi­a­tion expe­ri­ence, Amber brings clar­i­ty to one of the most con­se­quen­tial reg­u­la­to­ry devel­op­ments affect­ing the future of drones and advanced air mobil­i­ty (AAM): the FAA’s pro­posed Part 108 rule.

Amber breaks down why Part 108 rep­re­sents a major shift for beyond visu­al line-of-sight (BVLOS) oper­a­tions and how it will shape the inte­gra­tion of unmanned sys­tems into low-alti­tude air­space. She explains the pro­posed frame­work for air­craft accep­tance, main­te­nance, con­troller train­ing, and third-par­ty UTM oversight—highlighting how Part 108 moves the indus­try clos­er to scal­able, autonomous oper­a­tions.

One of the most talked-about ele­ments, Amber notes, is the pro­posed right-of-way hier­ar­chy, which for the first time sug­gests unmanned air­craft may have pri­or­i­ty over crewed air­craft under cer­tain con­di­tions. She explores why this cre­ates oper­a­tional com­plex­i­ty for pilots, reg­u­la­tors, and manufacturers—especially when pop­u­la­tion den­si­ty maps, equipage require­ments, and ADS‑B/EC tech­nol­o­gy lim­i­ta­tions are fac­tored in.

The dis­cus­sion also dives into grey areas between drones and autonomous air­craft, rais­ing essen­tial ques­tions about cer­ti­fi­ca­tion weight lim­its, gov­er­nance, and future rule­mak­ing for auton­o­my. Amber shares how VAI is advo­cat­ing for a phased, safe­ty-dri­ven approach that acknowl­edges cur­rent tech­nol­o­gy gaps while sup­port­ing indus­try growth.

Click on the Play but­ton to lis­ten to the episode, which is avail­able on whichev­er pod­cast plat­form you lis­ten to.

And if you’d like to fea­ture on the Women in AAM Pod­cast, please send an email to jason@evtolinsights.com. We’d love to hear from you!