Pilot Training and Operational Standards Set Forth

The Federal Aviation Administration has taken a definitive step toward competently regulating the emergent Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) sector. On 08 June 2023, the agency proposed a comprehensive rule pertaining to the training and certification of pilots of Powered-Lift aircraft—the architecture common to the majority of the electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) platforms currently under development.

FAA Acting Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety David Boulter stated: “These proposed rules of the sky will safely usher in this new era of aviation and provide the certainty the industry needs to develop.”

New rules germane to AAM have been deemed necessary insomuch as the new class of aircraft with which the world’s skies stand to be imminently inundated takeoff and land vertically—like helicopters—but proceed enroute by dint of wing-borne flight—after the fashion of fixed-wing aircraft. The newly-proposed rule establishes training requirements for pilots of powered-lift aircraft and lays groundwork for the operation of such aircraft under Parts 91, 135, and 136.

Under the proposed rule:

• A clear pathway is proposed for pilots to earn powered-lift ratings specific to each type of aircraft they operate.
• Flight-test pilots in the employs of powered-lift aircraft manufacturers would be permitted to serve as the initial cadre of flight instructors tasked with training CFIs at flight-schools, training centers, and air-carriers.
• Alternate eligibility criteria would be established by which to safely accelerate the certification of powered-lift pilots. Such criteria would apply to instrument-rated holders of Commercial Pilot Certificates and enable such to more alacritously meet flight-time experience requirements.  
• Powered-lift aircraft would be bound by the same operating regulations to which traditional aircraft engaged in private and commercial operations are currently beholden.

The proposal would conform to International Civil Aviation Organization requirements, thereby authorizing U.S.-certificated powered-lift pilots to legally operate such aircraft in countries other than the U.S.

Public comments pertaining to the proposed rule will be accepted for sixty-days following its publication in the U.S. Federal Register.

In May 2023, the FAA made public a plan for the integration of AAM aircraft into the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS).

FMI: www.faa.gov