The Federal Aviation Administration has published new rules that it calls “the final piece of the puzzle” toward allowing half-helicopter, half-airplane, electric “air taxis” to start whizzing through the skies.
On Tuesday, the FAA published 880 pages of special regulations that spell out how pilots will learn the new subset of aircraft designs, part of a budding multibillion-dollar industry being flooded with investment money in hopes of a future that closely mirrors flying cars from “The Jetsons.”
“This introduces an entirely new category of aircraft,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said during the announcement at the National Business Aviation Association convention in Las Vegas.
“For the last 80 years, we’ve had two types – rotor and fixed wing,” Whitaker said. “We now have a third type.”
Known as electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs, the FAA now recognizes the designs as falling under its newly created powered lift category. The aircraft can fly like an airplane but takeoff and land like helicopters at traditional airports as well as new, purpose-built vertiports in urban areas.
“This rule will create an operating environment,” Whitaker said.
The FAA chief was flanked by a full-size model of the five-seat, six-rotor design from Joby Aviation of California, which claims its entrant into the category will cruise at 200 miles per hour and put off a noise signature that is as quiet as a normal conversation. Joby hopes to bring its aircraft to market by 2025, but it has yet to be certified by the FAA to carry paying passengers.
“The regulation published today will ensure the U.S. continues to play a global leadership role in the development and adoption of clean flight,” said Joby’s JoeBen Bevirt in a statement. “Delivering the rules ahead of schedule is testament to the dedication, coordination and hard work of the rulemaking team.”