Advisory Circular Aims to Reduce the Amount of Paperwork Needed for eVTOL Certification

The FAA is looking for public commentary on a draft Advisory Circular regarding the type, production, and airworthiness certification of powered-lift.

It's no surprise that the old regs may need some updating, now that the Advanced Air Mobility industry is beginning to nip at the heels of established categories. In the past, it's been sufficient to keep regulatory attention focused on the most common passenger-carrying aircraft, between fixed-wing aircraft and rotary-wing helicopters. But the new breed of VTOL craft split the difference between the two camps, combining the performance of both breeds into something new entirely. And that's just in the most vanilla AAM space - stranger things are on the way, with hydrogen-powered 2-stroke engines and lighter-than-air cargo zeppelins coalescing on the fringes of the industry. Until now, it was sufficient to toss everything into the Special classes of aircraft, like gliders, powered gliders, airships, powered-lift, and the like whenever a standard airworthiness certificate is desired, but for which no standards had been established.

Now, the FAA says recent applications for the type certification of powered-lift have proposed passenger seating configurations of six or fewer, weighing 12,500 pounds or less, and utilizing battery-powered electric propulsion. For such projects, the FAA published the proposed airworthiness criteria for public consideration and comment, and has drawn on that body of work to draft an advisory circular called “Type Certification—Powered-lift.” It establishes a more efficient path in designating the type certification basis for certain powered-lift projects, which will preclude the administration's need to announce Airworthiness criteria for each and every project that comes across its desk. That's a lot of hassle they could sidestep with a simple publication, allowing them to cast their eyes on more unorthodox projects as the industry hammers out a consistent shape for what an "eVTOL" generally is.

The public has been invited to comment on the draft, specifically when they can reference a specific concern, cite the portion, and lay out their rationale for any recommended change. Commenters are invited to share supporting data, too. The FAA will accept comments on the document, Docket FAA-2024-1586, until August 12th, 2024. They will try to be cool and process latecomer comments if they can, should it not incur extra cost and hassle, but don't count on it!

FMI: www.federalregister.gov