() –– The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released new rules it calls “the last piece of the puzzle” to allow electric “air taxis” — half helicopter, half plane — to begin taking to the skies.
On Tuesday, the FAA released 880 pages of special regulations detailing how pilots will learn the new subset of aircraft designs, part of a budding multibillion-dollar industry that is being flooded with investment money in hopes of a future that closely mirrors the flying cars from “The Jetsons.”
“This introduces a whole new category of aircraft,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said during the announcement at the National Business Aviation Association convention in Las Vegas.
“For the last 80 years, we’ve had two types: rotor and fixed wing,” Whitaker said. “Now we have a third type.”
The FAA now recognizes these designs, known as electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOL, as part of its new category of powered takeoff and landing aircraft. The aircraft can fly like a plane, but take off and land like helicopters at traditional airports, as well as at new purpose-built vertiports in urban areas.
“This rule will create an operational environment,” Whitaker said.
The FAA chief was flanked by a life-sized model of the five-seat, six-rotor design from Joby Aviation of California, and claimed his participant will fly at 200 miles per hour and make a sound as quiet as normal conversation. Joby hopes to bring its plane to market in 2025, but it still needs to be certified by the FAA to carry paying passengers.
“The regulations released today will ensure that the United States continues to play a global leadership role in the development and adoption of clean flight,” Joby’s JoeBen Bevirt said in a statement. “Submitting the standards ahead of schedule is a testament to the dedication, coordination and hard work of the standards development team.”
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