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.
Click to Enlarge.
“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.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
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.
Click to Enlarge.
“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:
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.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.