Flight International - 04

Environment Mobility
Joby Aviation
Howard Hardee Sacramento
Some believers in emerging aviation technology
have a futuristic vision of a highly connected
fleet of electric vertical take-off and landing
(eVTOL) vehicles in the sky above Southern
California within five years.
The vision is shared not just by aviation
entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley executives. Among
its promoters is Billy Nolen, acting administrator of
the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), who
has publicly identified the 2028 Olympic Games in
Los Angeles as a potential opportunity to showcase
the USA as a leader in eVTOL technology.
“As we think forward within the FAA, we’re sort of
thinking around the idea of ‘innovate 2028’ with the
upcoming Olympics,” Nolen said during the NBAA
Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in
Orlando, Florida last October. “I mean, there’s nothing
like having an aspirational goal and a
forcing function.
“We’re talking about probably having
hundreds if not thousands of advanced
air mobility [AAM] vehicles by the
2028 timeframe,” he added.
Aggressive timeline
Speaking to the same audience, Patrick
Ky, executive director of the European
Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA),
outlined an even more aggressive timeline
by pointing to the 2024 Olympics
in Paris as when the emerging eVTOL
industry could shine on a world stage.
“The French government is very
excited about trying to use the Paris
Olympics to showcase these new
forms of mobility,” he said.
Such encouragement from leaders
of traditionally slow-moving regulatory
bodies on both sides of the Atlantic has
not gone unnoticed by air taxi developers
racing to be the first to bring
potentially revolutionary air services to market.
Two US developers that have made notable progress
with eVTOL prototypes – Archer Aviation and Joby
Aviation – are aiming to launch operations in 2025.
Adam Goldstein, founder and chief executive of
California-based Archer, told FlightGlobal in January
that he has taken the FAA’s message to heart.
“Billy Nolen has stated he wants these vehicles certified
in 2024 and to get them operational in 2025,”
he says. “I think there is a really big motivation to see
the next great aerospace company built in America,
so you have a big policy backing where it’s become
one of the FAA’s priorities to do this.
50 miles
Current maximum range expectation for eVTOL designs,
enabling them to perform viable ride-sharing flights
Andrew Harnik/AP/Shutterstock
“This isn’t just like certifying the next plane or the
next cool thing,” he adds. “This is a vehicle that adds
a lot of value to society.”
Like many competitors, Archer envisions a
ride-sharing service using eVTOL aircraft to fly
passengers less than 50 miles (80km). In November
2022, the company unveiled its second airframe, a
four-passenger-plus-pilot vehicle called Midnight.
Commercial viability
Though the viability of eVTOL platforms as commercial
vehicles remains unproven, several major US airlines
have already placed their bets. Delta Air Lines,
long sceptical of the AAM space, disclosed last year
a plan to invest up to $200 million in Joby. Archer,
meanwhile, has backing from United Airlines. Both
companies plan to roll out operations with routes
connecting airports to city downtowns.
Many other start-ups are working to develop and
certificate eVTOL aircraft in the coming years. Players
“We’re talking
about probably
having hundreds
if not thousands
of advanced
air mobility
vehicles [in use]
by the 2028
timeframe”
Billy Nolen Acting administrator,
US Federal Aviation Administration
include Germany’s Lilium Air Mobility, the UK’s Vertical
Aerospace, US-based Wisk Aero – which has funding
from Boeing – and Eve, backed by Embraer.
As for the imagined fleet of eVTOL vehicles moving
people in Los Angeles airspace by 2028, Goldstein
says the timeline largely hinges on FAA certification.
“The only way that happens is we certify in 2024
and in 2025 we start operating,” he says. “Archer isn’t
saying that, Billy Nolen is saying that. It’s not that
Archer has this aggressive schedule, it’s that when
everybody wants to get it done, we get it done.”
Conforming aircraft
For start-ups to launch operations in 2025, they must
begin testing conforming aircraft this year, Sergio
Cecutta of SMG Consulting said during the Vertical
Flight Society’s Electric VTOL Symposium in Mesa,
Arizona on 26 January.
“It takes a certain amount of time,” Cecutta says.
“And this is the best-case scenario, right? We all want
to believe the OEMs that by 2025 we’ll have at least
two or three aircraft that are going to be certified.”
Not everybody is bullish on the sector, however.
April 2023 Flight International 67