U R B A N A I R M O B I L I T Y
“The FAA will do it right
and appropriately
safe enough in less
Paul McDuffee, business development executive,
Right: A mock-up of an Uber
Air vehicle, created by Safran
Cabin’s Design and Innovation
Studio, was displayed during
2019’s NBBA-BACE event
Below: Airbus’ Vahana concept
has recently completed flight
testing in Oregon, USA
62 | BU S INE S S A I R P O RT INT E RNAT I ONA L JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0
process by granting exemptions to rules that don’t apply to
drones, such as the requirement to carry the flight manuals
on board.
Despite the challenges, McDuffee insists that eVTOLs
are set become a commercial reality. He says, “I’ve been in
aviation for 50 years and it’s clear to me that this technology
is here to stay. As I wind up my career, I want to make a
difference by trying to advance something that I believe will
be the future of aviation.
“FAA will do it right and appropriately safe enough in less
than five years, but it might not allow access to all levels of
airspace all the time.”
Full autonomy
The final part of the picture for urban air
mobility is fully autonomous operations.
For most companies involved in the
nascent sector this is more of an
aspiration. Most are focused on
putting a piloted eVTOL into the
sky first, then developing beyond
visual line of sight operations and
then full autonomy.
However, McFarren believes
that it is not a massive shift to
have autonomous aircraft. She
says, “The autonomous eVTOL
aircraft in development are a
continuum of what we have already
done. The media makes it sound scary,
but in reality, we are already doing some of
than five years”
these things. When we talk to regulators, we are
Boeing Horizon X
encouraging the mindset that this a continuation of autopilot
and enhanced vision systems.”
However McDuffee has a more pragmatic view of
autonomous operations. He says, “There is always
tremendous concern about autonomy and the debate on
different levels of autonomy and how to define those levels
will continue.
“There are also issues around the command and control
link and how much dedicated spectrum will be allowed on
an autonomous vehicle.”
While it may be longer than a decade before the first
passengers are transferred by pilotless eVTOL aircraft, it
seems inevitable that this new type of aircraft is coming and
that it will reshape the aviation sector and society.
Interest has risen to a point
where the industry is coming
up with solutions.”
McDuffee also believes that
defining eVTOLs in terms of
“urban” air mobility reduces
their potential. “There is more
dialogue around the term
advanced air mobility,” he says.
“They can also operate in remote
and rural areas. That makes them
useful far beyond just urban areas.”
First applications
Public acceptance of eVTOL aircraft is also a potential
barrier to their introduction. It is unknown how the public
will react to an increase in air traffic and react to safety and
environmental impact issues. These unknown variables
play a role in defining that the most likely first commercial
applications for eVTOLs will be package and cargo delivery.
The technology and regulation is relatively simpler than
for passenger-carrying eVTOLs, especially when considering
beyond visual line of sight operations. Development
programs for urban delivery drones, backed by companies
such as Amazon and UPS are advancing apace. Meanwhile,
Boeing and Airbus are both flight testing large cargocarrying
drones for applications such as unloading shipping.
The FAA has also amended the Part 135 certification