Air taxi makers: FAA has given us what we need

By Paul Brinkmann|November 1, 2024

Release of regulation culminates long rulemaking period for operations and pilot certification

FAA’s long-awaited regulation that will govern the operation of the emerging class of electric air taxis lowers a power reserve requirement that was seen by some developers as an industry killer.

The 880-page Special Federal Aviation Regulation, “Integration of Powered-lift,” was published Oct. 22. It marks the first “completely new aircraft category introduced to civil operations since helicopters in the 1940s,” FAA said.

The document culminates a 15-month rulemaking process for powered-lift designs, meaning any aircraft that can take off and land vertically on the thrust of propellers rather than helicopter rotors. The majority of the designs being test flown are electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs. The regulation tells developers how they must operate their aircraft once in business and what they must do to certify their pilots. Type certificates are being pursued under a different pathway.

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FAA initially said it would treat powered-lift aircraft for cargo or passengers the same as passenger airplanes, which are required to have 30 minutes of fuel reserve in the daytime and 45 minutes at night. This would provide fuel to find a safe landing site in case of an emergency or diversion for another reason.

But the emerging electric aircraft industry, led by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and the Vertical Flight Society, told FAA during the rulemaking period that this reserve requirement would be excessive, since electric-only air taxi companies are mostly planning relatively short urban trips, and their aircraft would be capable of landing almost immediately on any flat open surface, just as helicopters do.

The final rule lowers the power reserve requirement to 20 minutes of flight time, which is the reserve for helicopters. Former FAA acting administrator Billy Nolen told me this change was “a fantastic result.”

“For the most part, the planned trip length is going to be somewhere between 20 to 40 miles, right?” said Nolen, who left FAA in 2023 and is now chief regulatory officer at Archer Aviation, the Silicon Valley-based air taxi developer. “Now, we have clarity about the way forward.”

The rule also provides a second win for developers, this one related to the controls in the cockpits. FAA initially said powered-lift pilots would be required to train in aircraft that have a dual set of controls. But many companies — including Archer and Santa Cruz-based Joby Aviation — plan to have only one set of controls in their operational and training aircraft and rely heavily on flight simulators to prepare pilots. Both Archer’s Midnight and Joby’s S4 will carry a pilot with four passenger seats. Neither company believed it was necessary or cost-effective to build trainer versions with side-by-side seats and controls for an instructor.

“We still have to demonstrate the competency of the pilots. We will have the fidelity in our simulators, and the public will know the pilot has been certified by the FAA,” Nolen said.

Joby issued a statement saying the pilot control rule is “consistent with Joby’s approach to preparing pilots for commercial service using high-fidelity simulators.” In this context, a pilot in training would perfect skills in a simulator before taking to the skies for further training. An instructor could still ride along for the first flights, but they would not have access to another set of controls.

Vermont air taxi builder BETA Technologies, however, said it will move forward with its dual pilot control configuration in its electric ALIA aircraft. The company believes some customers may prefer to have dual controls.

ALIA has six seats and is being developed in two versions, eVTOL and CTOL, conventional takeoff and landing. In general, BETA said the final SFAR “will allow us to begin meaningful and safe operations on day one and deliver for our customers as intended.”

GAMA issued a statement saying it applauded FAA for meeting its goal of publishing the final rulemaking by the end of October, and that it was still combing through the document before commenting further.

Nolen said he also applauds the Biden administration for pulling information together for the SFAR from other departments, such as the Department of Energy regarding batteries, to move relatively quickly on the rulemaking.

Nolen said the document supports Archer’s “expectation that we will be in commercial service by the end of next year, and I feel good about the progress.”