Posts by Dave Clarke

EASA Publishes VTOL Additional Certification Methods

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) enhanced the flight path toward urban air mobility (UAM) by publishing its proposal for the certification of electric or hybrid air taxis (VTOLs) on May 25, 2020. The Cologne, Germany-based agency first outlined a certification framework VTOL manufacturers could use to begin developing air taxis (Special Condition VTOL)…

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vertiport

Vertiports: If You Build Them, Will They Come?

Horse, stable. Ship, dock. Car, garage. Airplane, hangar. Air transportation vehicles need a place to park, too. Whether to refuel, recharge, or reload, the urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles in development today will need somewhere to depart from and somewhere to land. They will need infrastructure to support them, not the least of which will…

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Sound Effects—Let’s Not Hear It for UAM!

Some noises, we know, are joyful: Laughter. Music. A crackling fireplace. Other sounds are grating (some, intentionally so): a siren, nails on a chalkboard, an electric drill. For all the technical challenges the UAM industry faces in gaining acceptance for eVTOLs, one of the top challenges, according to a 2019 NASA UAM study, is building…

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Capital Idea: NEXA Capital Gives UAM Lift and Keeps It Grounded

Step 1: Get a degree in aeronautics from MIT. Step 2: Go into finance. Huh? Let’s just say Michael Dyment took an unorthodox flight path out of college but actually ended up merging his love for aviation with his affinity for aviation innovation. The result is NEXA Capital, which Dyment founded in 2007, a boutique…

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NASA Working on Road Rules – for the Sky

“Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird. It’s a plane.” If this were the 1950s, the next line (from the original TV show) would be, “It’s Superman!” But, if they were to remake the show in 2020, the opening dialogue might be slightly different: Man: Look. Up in the sky. It’s a plane. Woman:…

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A Few Good Men – and a Fleet of eVTOLs

The US Marine Corps is adopting a Jetsons-style approach to warfare. Often, it’s the military that leads technological innovation. The World Wide Web we know today as the Internet originated with the US Military’s Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET). It sent its first message in 1983. Sometimes, it works the other way around. Such…

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