FAA Publishes Guidelines for Vertiports

Well, I told Orville and Wilbur this will never work .

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today released new design guidelines for vertiports. They are the facilities or infrastructure that will support Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) aircraft, which can  take-off and land vertically (VTOL). Vertical Takeoff and Landing operations will transport passengers or cargo at lower altitudes in rural, urban and suburban areas.

The design standards are a critical step for the  guidance of airport owners, operators and infrastructure builders or developers to begin designing facilities that will support operations of AAM aircraft that are electrically powered and take-off and land vertically – either at ground level or on top of structures.

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“Our country is stepping into a new era of aviation. These vertiport design standards provide the foundation needed to begin safely building infrastructure in this new era.” said FAA Associate Administrator for Airports Shannetta Griffin, P.E.

The design standards include critical information that designers and builders will need to follow to allow for safe takeoffs and landings such as:

• Safety-critical geometry and design elements: Dimensions for vertiport touchdown and liftoff areas, additional airspace needed for approach and departure paths and load-bearing capacity. In the future FAA anticipates a high rate of operations at many vertiports.
• Lighting, markings and visual aids: Guidelines on markings, lighting and visual aids that identify the facility as a vertiport. The FAA recommends the Vertiport Identification Symbol, as shown in the middle of the graphic below.
• Charging and electric infrastructure: Initial safety standards and guidelines for batteries and charging equipment that will be central to vertiports.
• On-airport vertiports: Requirements for airports looking to add vertiports to an existing commercial airport, including the distance a vertiport
• would have to be from a current runway.

This vertiport guidance will be used until performance-based vertiport design guidance is developed. The design standards published today are based on research conducted by the FAA, collaboration with industry partners and feedback from the public. The FAA held a virtual Industry Day on 29 March 2022, to discuss the draft standards it released in early 2022.