The White House this week turned its attention to the future of advanced air mobility, gathering government, industry, and other leaders to focus on the challenges and opportunities of integrating eVTOLs and UAS into the national airspace system.
FAA acting Administrator Billy Nolen, in his prepared remarks for the summit, said the agency is “looking at every aspect of this enterprise—the vehicle itself, the framework for operations, access to the airspace, operator training, infrastructure development, and community engagement.”
For the FAA, it’s not just about air taxis, but also about everything supporting air taxi flights, including operational rules and pilot training standards. “We’re modifying our regulatory approach to enable powered lift operations including the certification of powered-lift vehicles and the pilots who operate them,” he said. “Longer term, the agency plans to continue to develop permanent regulations to safely enable powered-lift operations and pilot training and certification.”
He stressed the need for collaboration to move forward on these efforts.
NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen reported optimism from government and industry officials alike at the summit on the potential of AAM. “It’s encouraging to see this level of discourse and collaboration among stakeholders in this exciting, emerging industry, and to have this level of support from the highest levels of our government,” Bolen said.
The daylong event was hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.