DOT, FAA call for proposals for AAM operations
By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill
The U.S. Department of Transportation and the FAA have issued a call for state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) governments to compete for a chance to launch a pilot program to test out their plans to incorporate electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles into the National Airspace System (NAS).
In a request for proposals posted in the Federal Register on September 16, the DOT and FAA said they would select the proposals of at least five SLTT governments who join in partnership with private-sector entities dedicated to promoting the adoption of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) in the U.S.
The post follows the dictates of an executive order President Trump issued in June, calling for the establishment of an integration pilot program (IPP) to “accelerate the deployment of safe and lawful eVTOL and other AAM aircraft operations in the United States.”
Interested SLTT governments are required to submit a proposal to participate in the IPP no later than 3 p.m. ET on December 11. The program is expected to run for three years after the first test project becomes operational.
Prospective pilot program participants are asked to submit AAM plans for operations that include piloted and unmanned approaches to:
- Air taxis;
- Longer-range, fixed-wing flights moving people in new forms of advanced regional aircraft;
- The use of novel aircraft — potentially including fixed-wing aircraft — to provide cargo services, and,
- New airlift and emergency management services, such as servicing offshore energy facilities, improving medical transport capabilities and increasing automation safety.
“While individual projects will likely focus on select national objectives, the DOT and FAA envision that each project would demonstrate broad public benefits such as safety enhancements, quality of life enhancements (and) workforce development opportunities adding net new and high-paying jobs to the U.S. economy,” the Federal Register post states.
In a press release, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said AAM represents “the next great technological revolution in aviation,” and said the integration pilot program would help cement the nation’s status as a global leader in transportation innovation.
“That means more high-paying manufacturing jobs and economic opportunity. By safely testing the deployment of these futuristic air taxis and other AAM vehicles, we can fundamentally improve how the traveling public and products move,” Duffy said.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said lessons learned from the test projects would be used in the implementation of new nationwide rules to enable safe, scalable AAM operations. “This pilot program gives us another opportunity to advance the Administration’s plan to accelerate safe eVTOL and advanced air mobility operations across the United States,” he said.
SLTT governments selected to participate in a pilot program “will use piloted, optionally piloted or unmanned AAM aircraft that will generally be over 1,320 lbs. and may be capable of carrying passengers,” according to the press release. In order to participate in one of the pilot tests, applicants will also be required to include in their proposal a description of the technologies they plan to use to enable the safe integration of these aircraft into the National Airspace System.
Including UAS into the National Airspace System
AAM project proposals are expected to include “advanced cooperative flow and traffic management with a range of aircraft including UAS,” according to the call for proposals. The IPP also includes an emphasis on “advanced manufacturing in the United States, supply chain security and independence and cooperation across agencies of the federal, state, tribal, territorial and local governments.”
According to the DOT and the FAA, the launch of the AAM pilot program will help “remove barriers to the initial implementation of AAM to accelerate nationwide operations.”
“The DOT and the FAA are seeking visionary, mission-focused participants who will captivate the imagination of Americans, showcase specific functions that AAM can perform for America in a short period of time, and drive the AAM National Strategy forward,” the call for proposals states.
The AAM pilot project program is expected to give the private industry participants — working in partnership with their SLTT government sponsors — the opportunity to advance the adoption of national AAM regulations.
“Successful partnerships will help rapidly establish operations and venues that enhance public awareness and understanding of AAM operations, which enable the use of eVTOL and other AAM aircraft for new and innovative applications,” the call for proposals states.
The advanced air mobility IPP resembles in some respects the UAS IPP, which the DOT launched in 2017, to help accelerate the safe integration of drones into the National Air Space. However, it differs from that earlier effort in how the DOT and FAA will manage the program.
While the drone IPP focused primarily on evaluation and conducting operations in specific geographic areas within the boundaries of SLTT jurisdictions, the two federal agencies evaluating the results of the pilot tests under the new IPP will concentrate on “the viability of new AAM technologies in ways that deliver new benefits to the public.” The project participants also will be tasked with demonstrating how the lessons learned through their pilot projects can be used to create AAM operations at scale.
“For instance, a project focused on regional flights as described in this notice will necessarily feature work with more than one community, or a consortium of communities across states, to demonstrate those operational capabilities,” the call for proposals states.
For prospective participants in the AAM pilot program project, the FAA has posted a Request for Proposals (RFP)/Screening Information Request on sam.gov. Prospective participants must be an SLTT government, “in partnership with a private sector partner(s) with demonstrated experience in eVTOL or other AAM development, manufacturing and operations, or new supporting technologies enabling AAM operations integration into the NAS.”
Read more:
Jim Magill is a Houston-based writer with almost a quarter-century of experience covering technical and economic developments in the oil and gas industry. After retiring in December 2019 as a senior editor with S&P Global Platts, Jim began writing about emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robots and drones, and the ways in which they’re contributing to our society. In addition to DroneLife, Jim is a contributor to Forbes.com and his work has appeared in the Houston Chronicle, U.S. News & World Report, and Unmanned Systems, a publication of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.
