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The FAA has issued an implementation plan for integrating air taxis and advanced air mobility (AAM) into the National Airspace (NAS) by 2028.
The implementation plan is directed towards the “Innovate28” AAM project, in reference to the agency’s goal of allowing AAM operations at limited locations by 2028. The plan “includes various components and the sequence they are going to occur in for operations to be at scale at a number of sites by 2028,” says the FAA announcement.
“This plan shows how all of the pieces will come together allowing the industry to scale with safety because the north star,” said Deputy FAA Administrator Katie Thomson.
The plan will function a foundation for making entry into service routine and predictable by maximizing using existing procedures and infrastructure. It addresses how the agency and partners will certify aircraft and pilots, manage airspace access, ensure pilot training, develop infrastructure, maintain security, and have interaction communities.
The plan also features a planning guide that could be applied to any site, laying out key integration objectives and sequences.
The Innovate28 (I28) project continues the FAA and Department of Transportation (DOT) concentrate on AAM. The U.S. DOT formed the Advanced Air Mobility Interagency Working Group in 2022. The FAA released the airspace blueprint for air taxis in May of 2023, and proposed a comprehensive rule for training and certifying AAM pilots in June of 2023. Shortly after announcing the publication of the blueprint for AAM on the AUVSI Xponential show in spring of 2023, former FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen announced that he would go away the agency: Nolen now works for AAM manufacturers Archer Aviation.
What’s Innovate28?
The report emphasizes that AAM operations will occur in a “crawl, walk, run” approach: starting with entry into service (EIS) and culminating in AAM operations at scale. Innovate 28 will probably be one step between EIS and operations at scale.
Innovate28 is a project that can bring private and non-private stakeholders together to maneuver beyond EIS and deliver regular AAM operations at specific key locations. The project will lead to significant data to tell future rulemaking and documented, repeatable processes for certification, operations, infrastructure, and more.
What’s Will I28 Operations Look Like?
Initially, the plan for I28 says that pilots will fly crewed AAM along predetermined flight schedules from existing heliports and airports, modified as appropriate (with charging for electric vehicles, for instance.) AAM will probably be supported by Air Traffic Control. AAM may operate as much as 4,000 feet in urban areas “using existing or modified low altitude visual flight rules (VFR) routes where possible inside controlled Class B and C airspace around major airports,” says the FAA. (Way more detail could be found within the report.)
The report also states that stakeholders will need to contemplate many issues related to AAM operations, requiring communication and cooperation between government agencies. Among the many working issues are potential required upgrades to the electrical power grid; border and homeland security; noise considerations; and the environmental impacts of AAM.
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