The FAA has published a long-awaited document outlining proposed pilot training and operating standards for electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft, a key milestone intended to keep the agency on track to have operating rules in place by the end of 2024.
The Powered-Lift Special Federal Aviation Rule (PL-SFAR) was originally necessitated by the FAA’s pivot in May 2022 to certifying eVTOLs as a special class of powered-lift aircraft, which required the agency to establish new operating and pilot licensing rules.
According to the FAA's own timeline, publication of the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in June 2023 provides roughly 16 months to finalize the rule by Fall 2024, mapping out a fairly tight window to certify the first air taxis from Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation in time for planned commercial launches in 2025.
“These proposed rules of the sky will safely usher in this new era of aviation and provide the certainty the industry needs to develop,” says David Boulter, the FAA’s acting associate administrator for aviation safety, in a statement.
Under the rules set forth in the PL-SFAR, the FAA proposes that pilots must obtain ratings specific to each type of powered-lift aircraft they operate. The agency reasons that large differences in aircraft configurations, flight controls and operating characteristics make it impractical to establish separate aircraft classes within the powered-lift category, as it has for airplanes and rotorcraft. The proposed type-rating requirement would conform to the standard established by the International Civil Aviation Organization, allowing U.S. pilots to operate abroad.
The FAA has also proposed to tap manufacturers to provide the initial cadre of eVTOL flight instructors. Those OEM-employed instructors will then go on to train the second generation of powered-lift instructors at Part 141 pilot schools, Part 142 training centers and Part 135 operators, helping the industry begin commercial operations despite an “insufficient number” of trained eVTOL pilots at entry-into-service, the FAA says.
To safely speed up pilot certification, the FAA also proposes alternate eligibility criteria that would allow pilots who already hold commercial licenses and instrument ratings to meet certain flight-time and experience requirements faster. Additionally, the agency says it anticipates near-term qualification of powered-lift flight training simulator devices, and has proposed allowing for “increased flight-training opportunities” through the use of simulators.
In terms of operations, powered-lift aircraft will follow the same operating rules as traditional ones use in private and commercial flights, which the FAA concludes will “maintain an equivalent level of safety for operations in powered-lift to those conducted in airplanes, rotorcraft or helicopters.”
Publication of the NPRM for pilot training and operational rules is the latest milestone for the FAA in its efforts to integrate eVTOL aircraft, following the publication in early May of a comprehensive document outlining airspace and procedural changes needed to accommodate air taxis in the early stages of adoption.
Another key rulemaking, which updates air carrier definitions to add powered-lift aircraft operations to the FAA’s regulations, was published as an NPRM in November 2022 and is on track to be finalized during the first half of 2024.
Despite this positive momentum, the FAA’s timeline slightly lags the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which published its proposed rules for eVTOL operations and pilot licensing in June 2022 and plans to finalize them by early 2024, in time for Volocopter’s planned launch at the Paris Olympic Games in July 2024. EASA intends to type-certify eVTOL aircraft under the Special Condition for VTOL regulations published in July 2019.
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