The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has launched a programme intended to support the advanced air mobility (AAM) segment, saying the effort could see the regulator approve “pre-certification operations” of novel aircraft types like electric air taxis.
The DOT on 15 September released a notice soliciting state and local governments, working with private companies, to submit bids to participate in the effort.
US President Donald Trump, in a June executive order, required the DOT to establish the programme. That order describes the burgeoning AAM industry as a technologically promising sector that could prove an eventual boon to the USA’s manufacturing base.
The newly launched DOT programme is called the “Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing and Advance Air Mobility Aircraft Integration Pilot Programme” (eIPP).
The AAM industry broadly includes novel aircraft types designed for regional and inter-city travel, such as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and fixed-wing aircraft powered by electric or hybrid-electric propulsion systems.
“The eIPP will encourage an ambitious scale of pre-certification operations and will incorporate varied solutions where the most-successful implementations become standards of practice for future scaling of operations,” says the DOT’s solicitation notice.
“The eIPP will remove barriers to the initial implementation of AAM, to accelerate nationwide operations,” it adds.
The notice does not provide more information about envisioned pre-certification operations.
The DOT and Federal Aviation Administration, which sits under the DOT, are leading the programme. Neither regulator responded to questions from FlightGlobal about what the “pre-certification operations” might entail.
The FAA pointed to a 12 September press release in which it says, “These new technologies have the potential to transform aviation, including expanding connectivity to rural American communities, reducing road congestion in urban areas and enhancing emergency services or medical transport”.
The new programme is open to state, local, tribal and territorial governments that partner with private companies involved in developing, manufacturing and operating AAM aircraft, including electric air taxis, “advanced regional” fixed-wing aircraft (such as those with short take-off and landing capabilities) and novel cargo aircraft.
Companies developing automated technologies intended to help such aircraft operate safely in US airspace can also participate.
Submissions must describe how the governments and their industry partners intend to work together to advance the AAM sector and to overcome challenges. The effort will help “develop new frameworks and regulations for enabling safe operations”, the DOT says.
The agency intends to pick at least five governments to participate; it is accepting applications until 15:00 eastern US time on 11 December.
“By safely testing the deployment of these futuristic air taxis and other AAM vehicles, we can fundamentally improve how the traveling public and products move,” DOT secretary Sean Duffy says.
Several electric air taxi manufacturers, including Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation, have already signalled their intention to participate.
