A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced legislation aimed at helping developers of electric air taxis and other “advanced air mobility” aircraft to navigate the process of achieving Federal Aviation Administration certification.
The bill would also prompt the FAA to make its certification process for those types of aircraft more efficient, say backers.
The measure, introduced on 12 February, comes as numerous AAM developers navigate the difficult and costly certification process, and while the resource-constrained FAA works to get its arms around evaluating and certificating a wholly new class of aircraft.
The bill, if passed into law, would “enhance transparency, predictability and accountability in the FAA type certification process for AAM aircraft, to help companies succeed and cement the United States’ role as a global leader in aviation,” says Vermont senator Peter Welch, one of the bill’s advocates. Another dozen lawmakers – Democrats and Republicans – support the measure.
So does Vermont-based electric aircraft developer Beta Technologies. “This bipartisan legislation brings consistency and transparency to certification while upholding the FAA’s gold-standard safety oversight. It turns innovation into action,” says Beta chief executive Kyle Clark.
Specifically, the bill would give the FAA 270 days to define “standard expected timelines for the… type certification process for AAM aircraft”. The regulator would also need to publish a timeline for developing “means of compliance for aircraft outside of the existing types of AAM aircraft”.
Additionally, the bill “sets transparent and reliable standard expected ranges of time for the issue paper process, so that type certification applicants know how long reviews will take, reducing uncertainty and delay”, Welch’s office says.
Issue papers are documents describing how manufacturers and the FAA can address “significant technological, regulatory and administrative issues” associated with type certifications.
The bill would also require that the FAA publish a plan describing its process for using “an industry consensus standard… as an acceptable means or method of compliance”, and for using “performance-based standards” to establish type certification requirements.
“While the FAA has made substantial progress on rulemaking and regulatory frameworks for AAM aircraft… important work remains to ensure our country can maintain a competitive advantage in aerospace,” says Welch’s office. “Critical to this is the safe, efficient, and transparent certification of new emerging aviation technologies.”
The FAA has made some progress, having in 2024 finalised a Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) setting air taxi operating and pilot qualification rules.
In June, the FAA and four other country’s aviation regulators issued a joint paper – called the Roadmap AAM Type Certification – broadly describing how they intend to coordinate air taxi certification work.
Then last September the US Department of Transportation launched a programme – the Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing and Advance Air Mobility Aircraft Integration Pilot Programme – intended to promote “pre-certification” air taxi operations.
