FAA Allows Customer Demo Flights in Beta eVTOL

The FAA has allowed eVTOL developer Beta to take potential customers on demo flights in the first-of-its-kind Special Airworthiness Certificate. Normally aircraft undergoing certification flight testing are only allowed to carry required personnel and FAA inspectors but Beta CEO Kyle Clark told an audience at NBAA-BACE on Wednesday that getting feedback from potential customers is an essential part of bringing an aircraft to market. Clark took part in a “fireside chat” with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy during the session in which he told Duffy that the certification process has become easier in recent years but still represents the largest obstacle to creating a marketable product. The permission was granted Tuesday and the first customer flight took place later in the day when

Duffy also described the ongoing modernization effort for air traffic control, noting that while equipment and technology are important aspects, it’s software that will drive the machinery. Congress approved $12.5 billion to replace analog equipment, radars and copper wire connectivity at hundreds of facilities across the country. He’s asked for $30 billion more to not only continue that process (airport towers are a priority) but to pull all of that together under what he calls the common automation platform. It’s expected to use up a large chunk of that $30 billion and five companies have been asked to submit proposals on what that system might look like.

Duffy also put in a pitch for experienced aviation professionals to join the FAA as a matter of public service. “You’ll make a lot less money,” he told the NBAA crowd but he said the agency is in desperate need of talent to help achieve the myriad modernization goals it has set for itself.

The post FAA Allows Customer Demo Flights in Beta eVTOL appeared first on AvBrief.com.