2023: The Year Compliance Became Real
By Virginia Stouffer, AURA Network Systems Industry Liaison
Originally published in ‘Vertical Space’, Fall 2023
Given AURA’s role in enabling AAM companies on their certification journeys, it’s interesting to note that many 2023 industry efforts are milestones for those journeys. From what makes a “sports plane” to advanced design approvals, it was a year for showing our work to the regulators.
AURA’s own efforts included making the case that AAM third-party providers, like us, need a separate process that becomes part of a certification. In formal comments to the Department ofTransportation, we noted that:
“Under AAM, third-party service providers are envisioned to also offer flight planning, planned flight route deconfliction, and communications services … AURA therefore recommends that the FAA, in the near term, publish a process by which the FAA will review and approve third-party services and service providers, including references to industry standards to the extent they exist. This process can be variable by the type of Enabling Communications technology or system, or the operations they support, but should be as uniform as possible to drive predictability. To be clear, AURA does not suggest altering the FAA’s existing certification and approval frameworks, but rather adding to them to support the continued development of robust third-party services, including Enabling Communications.”
But there were many other examples of our colleagues following their own roads to hoped-for certifications and approvals For examples:
Joby completed stages 1, 2, and 3 towards certification for commercial flight. It had its Certification Basis (aka G-1) approved by the FAA; identified the means of compliance that would show how Joby meets its proposed certification standards; and submitted its equipment-level qualification test plans delineating the specifications proving compliance. As a result of completing those three stages, Joby received a Special Airworthiness Certificate allowing the operator to begin tests and to project the launch of commercial service in 2025.
Archer Aviation received its Special Airworthiness Certificate for its Midnight aircraft and began testing August 16, 2023, with a projected launch of commercial service in 2025.
Two global cases worth monitoring are how Vertical Aerospace (Bristol, England), and Lilium (Welsling, Germany) are managing the certification process regulated by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
Vertical has completed what would be the G-1 stage in the U.S., plus designation of Organization Designation Authority, which is a step towards commercial operations with clients. In March 2023, EASA and the UK Civil Aviation Authority awarded the company its design organization approval, to work under the EASA Special Condition VTOL certification. The operator now plans to follow up on EASNUK certification, when achieved, with validation in the U.S., by the FAA, with a projected commercial launch in 2024.
In Germany, the Lilium Jet has achieved its G-1 status with both EASA and the FAA in July 20231. The Bavarian electric air taxi start-up expects to start commercial operation in 2025.
Means of compliance were also evident as eVTOL manufacturers filed supplementary special conditions surrounding flight controls, energy storage, distribution, and propulsion, carving out a path to compliance for electric aircraft.
Based on my observations, the FAA's practice is to collect special conditions as one-offs, until there is sufficient basis to develop a rule to capture the novel equipment.
The FAA began a rulemaking toward the novel aircraft configurations with the Powered Lift Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR). The unexpected designation of eVTOLs as falling under Part 21.17b captured headlines last summer (2022). This summer, the FAA released detailed proposed pilot rules (chiefly training and experience requirements) under a Proposal for the Integration of Powered Lift Pilot Certifications and Operations.
Among the provisions the FAA proposed was creation of a powered lift category, which treats powered lift as a wholly new aircraft instead of merely a new aircraft type that can be added to an existing pilot certificate. The proposal posits that pilots be certified on simple powered lift aircraft and then move on to more complex powered lift. No simple or complex powered lift aircraft are presently certified, to provide pilot training, and there is no provision for simulator training. We will doubtless see some amendments to this coming up.
Also released this summer Uuly 24) was the Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC), which redefines the light sport aircraft category, with dramatic changes in what have traditionally been constraints on this category.
A previous limit was aircraft weight of 1320 lbs., now defined in terms of performance-based measures allowing aircraft almost two and a half times bigger, with a doubling of potential airspeed, and removing the single reciprocating engine requirement for any number and type of propulsors; so, both electric and powered lift could be included. A passenger (not for hire) can be carried, and cargo or surveillance work is now allowed. This dramatic opening of light sport aircraft to encompass a vast variety of small aircraft is refreshing.
The clear take-away from 2023 is that the year has been a true curtain-raiser for accelerated AAM efforts, focused not just on actual flight, but on how the FAA and other agencies will eventually clear the industry for routine commercial flights.
In addition to her role as Industry Liaison with AURA Network Systems, Virginia Stouffer previously chaired the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIM) Advanced Air Mobility Task Force and currently serves on the organization's Electric Aircraft Technical Committee.