North Carolina is one of a handful of states chosen by the federal government to begin carrying out President Donald Trump’s executive order from last summer aimed at “unleashing drone dominance.” The Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Integration program will demonstrate how the technology can work and help the Federal Aviation Administration develop rules and regulations.
The FAA wants small electric aircraft to be a common sight in the United States by 2036, said Nick Short, director of NCDOT’s Aviation Division.
“Their vision is that these drones ... will be everywhere,” Short told members of the state Board of Transportation last week.
NCDOT’s eVTOL demonstration project was one of eight chosen by the FAA out of a pool of more than 30 applications. The FAA will provide guidance and support for each project, including with regulations that might normally prevent drones from flying beyond line of sight.
“These partnerships will help us better understand how to safely and efficiently integrate these aircraft into the National Airspace System,” Chris Rocheleau, the FAA’s deputy administrator, said in a statement. “The program will provide valuable operational experience that will inform the standards needed to enable safe Advanced Air Mobility operations.”
NC PROGRAM HAS A HEALTH CARE MISSION
NCDOT chose to focus its eVTOL program on rural health care and disaster response. The goal is to not only show how the aviation technology works but also help communities that often don’t have timely access to medical facilities and supplies, said Julie White, NCDOT’s deputy secretary for multimodal transportation.
“We’re trying to solve two problems at once, not just solving transportation,” White said.
NCDOT put together a team to carry out the program. It includes aircraft manufacturers Joby Aviationand BETA Technologies, operators Causey Aviation and Metro Aviation and health systems WakeMedand UNC Health. UPS Flight Forward, a subsidiary of the ubiquitous shipping company that focuses on drones, will help with logistics.
The effort will begin with a public demonstration flight this summer. The program will initially focus on moving cargo over regular routes between airports, before expanding to more diverse destinations.
“This is kind of the holy grail of what we’re chasing, and that is to move away from that hub-to-hub model and start to go from hub to pad,” Short said. “And when I say pad that means from an airport to a hospital or maybe from a hospital to another hospital. It starts to really open things up.”
NCDOT and its team don’t expect to begin shuttling people until late in the three-year project, using a Joby air taxi.
State officials don’t expect air taxis and drones will displace helicopter medical flights that carry patients to hospitals. But they say these electric aircraft will be much cheaper and quieter than helicopters for other types of trips.
“Helicopters are loud,” Short said. “And if these are going to be everywhere, we’re going to need something quiet. We’re really going to need that public acceptance.”
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