Air cabs: US authority approves new aircraft category
The US Federal Aviation Administration introduced a new category of aircraft for the first time in 80 years. It sets rules for the commercial use of air cabs.
Air cab from Lilium.
(Image: Sergey Kohl/Shutterstock)
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has published the final regulations for tiltrotors and other vertical take-off and landing aircraft. This also includes electrically powered aircraft. This is the first time since helicopters were certified nearly 80 years ago that a new category of aircraft has been introduced.
The new category refers to aircraft that take off like helicopters and then fly like airplanes, also known as VTOL. The acronym stands for Vertical Take-Off and Landing Aircraft. It is therefore expected that air cabs will be used for both passenger and goods transportation in the future. The regulations for the new category called Powered Lift Aircraft –, also known as convertible aircraft –, are intended to pave the way for the technology to be used on a larger scale, an FAA employee is quoted as saying in the FAA press release.
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The regulations define new rules for pilot training, for example. This was necessary because the existing regulations did not meet the requirements of creating a new category. During training, for example, convertible aircraft may only be used with one control unit, whereas the "old" regulations for pilot training stipulate two, one for the trainee and one for the instructor.
Authority names multiple possible uses
The convertible aircraft are to be used for passenger transportation in cities, for short-haul flights, cargo flights or even patient transport, for example. According to the authority, there are currently no type-certified convertible aircraft in civil aviation. But there are several applicants, including a startup called Joby, which welcomed the new regulations in a statement. According to a study, however, the technology is hardly or not at all suitable for promoting the mobility transition.
There are also companies in Germany that are developing air cabs, such as Volocopter from Bruchsal and Lilium from Gauting near Munich. However, Lilium announced on Thursday that it would have to file for insolvency. In Europe, aviation is regulated by EASA.
(kst)
