Brazilian Authorities Ascertaining Just What “Airworthiness” Demands of Electric VTOL Aircraft

Eve Air Mobility announced the release of its proposed airworthiness criteria, proposing the move as a play to cultivate public comment and consideration.

The criteria were published by the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC), noting that the proposed airworthiness criteria are subject to public consultation through February 2024. After the comment period closes, the ANAC will analyze the feedback received and integrate any appropriate changes before publishing the final certification basis. Once finalized, Eve and ANAC will "focus on the means of compliance to be considered for the eVTOL certification," per Eve. Brazil will play host to the company as the "primary certification authority for Eve’s eVTOL project."

"The publication of the proposed airworthiness criteria is an important milestone towards the certification path of Eve´s eVTOL, and the opening for public comments contributes to the alignment of the certification basis within the industry and among different certification authorities. This is in line with Eve´s path of having the vehicle type certificate issued by ANAC, as the primary certification authority, and validated by other authorities around the world, where the eVTOL will be operated,” said Luiz Valentini, chief technology officer at Eve.

The company has been vital to the advancement of EVTOL aircraft in Brazil, having driven the formalization of Type Certification for such aircraft from the start. The process to gain an EVTOL Type Certificate most closely aligns with the procedures to obtain one for a “special class category” aircraft in Brazil. Eve notes that they also began the process to formalize Type Certificates with the FAA, too, but reading between the lines hints that the Brazilians are a tad quicker to deal with given the landscape there. In the future, they will aim for concurrent validation, but so far development down south seems to run along at a much quicker pace.

Eve's airworthiness criteria can be read through at the link below. Comments are accepted until February 16, 2024.

FMI: www.gov.br