Air Taxis and Other Electric-Powered Aircraft Cleared For Takeoff (theverge.com) 41
The FAA has released final regulations for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, introducing a new category of aircraft for the first time in nearly 80 years. These rules provide a framework for pilot training and operational requirements, addressing industry concerns while aiming to support the future of advanced air mobility. The Verge reports: The FAA says these "powered-lift" vehicles will be the first completely new category of aircraft since helicopters were introduced in 1940. These aircraft will be used for a variety of services, including air taxis, cargo delivery, and rescue and retrieval operations. The final rules published today contain guidelines for pilot training as well as operational requirements regarding minimum safe altitudes and visibility. [...] Powered lift includes aircraft described by industry watchers as electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL. Using tilt rotors, eVTOL aircraft are designed to take off and land vertically like a helicopter and then transition into forward flight on fixed wings like a plane.
[...] A new pilot training and qualifications rule was needed because "existing regulations did not address this new category of aircraft, which can take off and land vertically like a helicopter and fly like an airplane during cruise flight," the FAA said. The rule also provides a "comprehensive framework" for certifying the initial group of powered-lift instructors and pilots. According to the agency, the rule would: "Makes changes to numerous existing regulations and establishes a Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) with new requirements to facilitate instructor and pilot certification and training. Applies helicopter operating requirements to some phases of flight and adopts a performance-based approach to certain operating rules. Allows pilots to train in powered-lift with a single set of flight controls; legacy rules require two flight controls -- one for the student and one for the instructor." "The regulation published today will ensure the U.S. continues to play a global leadership role in the development and adoption of clean flight," said JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby, in a statement. "Delivering the rules ahead of schedule is testament to the dedication, coordination and hard work of the rulemaking team."
[...] A new pilot training and qualifications rule was needed because "existing regulations did not address this new category of aircraft, which can take off and land vertically like a helicopter and fly like an airplane during cruise flight," the FAA said. The rule also provides a "comprehensive framework" for certifying the initial group of powered-lift instructors and pilots. According to the agency, the rule would: "Makes changes to numerous existing regulations and establishes a Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) with new requirements to facilitate instructor and pilot certification and training. Applies helicopter operating requirements to some phases of flight and adopts a performance-based approach to certain operating rules. Allows pilots to train in powered-lift with a single set of flight controls; legacy rules require two flight controls -- one for the student and one for the instructor." "The regulation published today will ensure the U.S. continues to play a global leadership role in the development and adoption of clean flight," said JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby, in a statement. "Delivering the rules ahead of schedule is testament to the dedication, coordination and hard work of the rulemaking team."
Plus and minus (Score:3)
That said, if any of the prop motors has a problem, it's simple as well - you just fall like a rock, and probably die.
My best guess is these will be really hot items until some prominent person gets turned into mush. Then the lawsuits and buh-bye.
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That said, if any of the prop motors has a problem, it's simple as well - you just fall like a rock, and probably die.
Never heard of these before? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
SO all the VTOLs are going to be helicopters that autogyro?
Try to keep up - here's what they are talking about - https://www.theverge.com/2024/... [theverge.com]
If it was a helicopter, it would be regulated.... as a Helicopter. This is a new class - kinda like the article says.
Thanks for participating though.
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> SO all the VTOLs are going to be helicopters that autogyro?
Autorotate [wikipedia.org], possibly? And given the mechanics of autorotation, what makes autorotation even work, I would imagine that yes, quite possibly. You never know*, it might even be a requirement. Like it is with helicopters and, yes, even autogyros [wikipedia.org].
*I mean in your case, since you didn't bother trying any of that "reading stuff" guff before you went opening your big mouth and removing all doubt.
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Emergency conditions may be interesting as well. Are they flyable if the automation fails, or is that non-recoverable. What is the procedure in the event of a battery or electrical failure (minimum safe operating altitude), fi
Re: Plus and minus (Score:2)
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Emergency conditions like, "Holy crap I don't know how to fly this thing!"
Re: Plus and minus (Score:2)
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I believe the human rated ones have enough props and prop motors that they can at least make a controlled emergency landing after losing a few of them
Les
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I believe the human rated ones have enough props and prop motors that they can at least make a controlled emergency landing after losing a few of them
Less quadcopter and more duodecopter
Do you have any demonstrations of landing a quadcopter (or one of these has 6 rotors) making an emergency landing with one or more props out? I am no expert, but my experience with drones is they require all of their rotors to be working and controllable in order to function. https://www.theverge.com/2024/... [theverge.com]
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The pictured vehicle has six rotors. Others have eight. Even a quadcopter can make a controlled descent with one out, but that's cutting it awfully close. The reason it's difficult for a four-rotor vehicle is that usually the rotors work in pairs where two turn in opposite directions to cancel out the momentum. Same reason why most helicopter designs have a rear rotor. If you lose one of four rotors, you can't just keep using the remaining three like nothing happened, because that will put you into a spin.
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Problems (Score:2)
you just fall like a rock, and probably die.
So will the people you land on....and that's going to be a serious problem if there are a lot of these things.
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They will probably be drones, following pre-assigned routes, fully automated. No pilot at all.
Bad news for all sorts of reasons (Score:4, Interesting)
It lets the rich fly over the mess they made leaving us down in the trenches with 90 minute one way commutes.
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Imagine how much better the traffic would be if the people who didn't want to drive weren't forced to. Having options would be a positive to everyone, except maybe Stellantis executives.
If people lived in walkable cities (Score:2)
Cars are tied up with so many positive memories in the minds of Americans it's almost impossible to get away from them even though the cost of them are pretty brutal. Hell you've got a 50/50 shot of dying of a str
clean? perhaps, quiet? not a chance (Score:2)
"The regulation published today will ensure the U.S. continues to play a global leadership role in the development and adoption of clean flight,"
So far the FAA has completely (and willfully) failed at effectively regulating noise from traditional aircraft - wider use of eVTOL aircraft is just going to ratchet up the annoyance from loud whiny devices that will probably remain in earshot for longer than their faster flying brethren.
Re: clean? perhaps, quiet? not a chance (Score:2)
I dunno , they worked with NASA and performed some pretty thorough sound tests
https://newatlas.com/aircraft/... [newatlas.com]
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Flying car is 10 years away (Score:1)
The flying car's been 10 years away [thehill.com] for the last 70 years or so [smithsonianmag.com]... Maybe, just maybe, if we haven't poured so much money into regular wheeled carriages — and the infrastructure they need — the flying vehicles would've been common by now...
Obligatory (Score:2)
https://youtu.be/PRl_D_CunWA?s... [youtu.be]
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The flying car's been 10 years away [thehill.com] for the last 70 years or so [smithsonianmag.com]... Maybe, just maybe, if we haven't poured so much money into regular wheeled carriages — and the infrastructure they need — the flying vehicles would've been common by now...
What we were waiting for was a class of folks to have enough money to make it worthwhile. Now that we've poured 90+% of all wealth into the upper echelons of society, we're finally getting there. If they can sell a few dozen to the Bezos/Musk crowd as their clingers, it'll finally be worthwhile to develop in a commercial capacity. Congrats humanity. We finally did it! We created a class of folks so far above the rest of us that they can make all our sci-fi dreams come true, for themselves.
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Next up will be a city in the clouds for them. What could it take, a few GW of power to keep a small enclave afloat high over the land of mere peons. It occurred to me after the pair of hurricanes, there are a couple people in this country (and a few more outside the US) who could have written a check for the entirety of the hurricane losses with money left over. That is mind boggling. A multi-state catastrophe that one person could pay for.
I'd expect, at some point, these folks will band together and build a big tower, or perhaps a series of towers, and never have to touch the ground and interact with the peasants again, except when they pay us to kill each other for their amusement. Maybe I watch too much sci-fi. Altered Carbon plays with the concept in about the way I expect it to play out, if the uber rich get their way.
Except for Musk. He just wants to leave the planet behind, forming a new class of indentured servants to cater to his eve
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I don't think so. Musk just does not seem to be an adventurer. He has not even flown yet. Branson and Bezos both have dipped their feet out there along with a few others https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]. Certainly Musk could easily be on the list if he was adventurous. Many on the list are not associated with space companies like Branson/Bezos/Musk. I also suspect Musk does not have the physical fitness requirements to travel to space on his vehicle unlike Branson's "spaceplane" which even old people like Shatner have been able to tolerate. And I don't see Musk traveling on a competitors vehicle.
My understanding, for the limited amount I've checked into it, is that Musk wants the testing phase all wrapped up and just wants to jump on a ready to go flight once there's a supportable community out there. That could very well be hearsay. I've also heard from the same folks, folks supposedly close to him, that he wants humanity to be saved, but only if he's the one to save us.
Granted, if I were the richest individual on a planet, I probably wouldn't want to do much to risk it until I was certain it was
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Musk will be dead before it becomes safe to go to Mars.
So will most anyone alive today. But he's a dreamer.
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That's, how all innovations have spread throughout history, including flush toilet, telephone (wired and then cellular), refrigerators, personal transportation, and so on...
Yeah, much more useful was for a bunch of mediocrities in Congress to keep spendi
eVTOLs suck (Score:2)
What do they do that helicopters can't? Quit calling them flying cars. If it can't be driven on a road and fit in a parking spot it's not a car. Nearly all the "eVTOLs" I've seen are not flying cars by any stretch of the imagination.
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Helicopters rarely have fatal crashes when rotor power/engine fails .. because they can do autorotation which can enable a safe landing. Most of the fatal helicopter crashes you hear about are because of poor visibility .. running into hillsides, thing like that. eVTOLs can have the same issue.
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Could be ICE or Electric (Score:2)
Powered lift includes aircraft described by industry watchers as electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL.
It doesn't sound like the new regulations have anything directly to do with electric aircraft. It is the fact that they lift vertically like a helicopter and fly horizontally like a plane.
Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey (Score:2)
A replacement for commuter rail? (Score:1)
Adoption of Clean Flight? (Score:2)
"...global leadership role in the development and adoption of clean flight..."
Air taxis are not a replacement for any existing mode of travel. I suppose they're "clean" by some standard, but they will not contribute to reduction in emissions.