WASHINGTON - The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has released an updated blueprint for airspace and procedure changes to accommodate future air taxis and other Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) operations, Len Varley reports for Aviation Source News. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
9 May 2023 - After meeting with stakeholders, the FAA says urban air mobility (UAM) integration will be a "crawl-walk-run" approach wherein:
Initial UAM operations are conducted using new aircraft types that have been certified to fly within the current regulatory and operational environment.
. A higher frequency (i.e., tempo) of UAM operations in the future is supported through regulatory evolution and UAM Corridors that leverage collaborative technologies and techniques.
New operational rules and infrastructure facilitate highly automated cooperative flow management in defined Cooperative Areas (CAs), enabling remotely piloted and autonomous aircraft to safely operate at increased operational tempos.
In the 42-page concept outline, the FAA notes that "The goal of this ConOps is to provide a common frame of reference to support the FAA, NASA, industry, and other stakeholder discussions and decision-making with a shared understanding of the challenges, technologies, and their potential, as well as examples of areas of applicability to the NAS. No solutions, specific implementation methods, or detailed operational procedures are described in this document except for example purposes (i.e., operational scenarios). This ConOps will be further matured and updated as the concept undergoes validation, stakeholder engagement continues, and additional operational scenarios are developed."
Related: EASA publishes the first regulations on urban air mobility in the world
Related: Ferrovial Vertiports to explore UAM traffic management with Embraer
Related: FAA announces 58 stakeholder members of its UAS mitigation rulemaking committee
Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
