On Certifying Future "Flying Taxi" Pilots, US Regulator Shifts Gears
NDTV
The low-altitude urban air mobility aircraft has drawn a huge amount of interest around the world as numerous eVTOL companies have gone public.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Tuesday it had shifted course on its approach to approving pilots of future electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) but does not expect it would delay certification or operational approvals.
The eVTOL aircraft have been touted as air taxis that could be the future of urban air mobility. The low-altitude urban air mobility aircraft has drawn a huge amount of interest around the world as numerous eVTOL companies have gone public.
The FAA said in a statement it would pursue "a predictable framework that will better accommodate the need to train and certify the pilots who will operate these novel aircraft. "The flexibility, the FAA added, "will eliminate the need for special conditions and exemptions.
The FAA said it was modifying its regulatory approach because regulations designed for traditional airplanes and helicopters "did not anticipate the need to train pilots to operate powered-lift, which take off in helicopter mode, transition into airplane mode for flying, and then transition back to helicopter mode for landing."
