They will not be like flying cars we imagined driving from the beginning of the new millennium, but we approach: in New York the electric flying taxis are coming out of the prototype phase to enter the test phase. In recent days the company Joby Aviation has carried out a series of demonstration flights between Manhattan and John F. Kennedy International Airport, simulating an urban link that could soon become a regular service. The goal is to reduce less than ten minutes a ride that today, by car, can take even two hours in peak hours.
The aircraft used belong to the category eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing), i.e. electrical aircraft with takeoff and vertical landing. They look like big drones, with more rotors: they take off like helicopters and, once in altitude, they tilt some propellers to fly forward like an airplane. Each vehicle can carry up to five people, including the pilot. According to the company, they are designed to be significantly quieter than traditional helicopters and to operate without direct emissions, as they use electric propulsion.
The tests are part of a ten-day campaign included in the Integration Pilot Program of the Federal Aviation Administration, the program with which the United States is evaluating how to integrate new aircraft into the existing airspace. In March the US Department of Transportation selected eight pilot projects on a national scale, which include not only urban passenger transport, but also logistics, emergency operations and industrial applications. The data collected will serve to define operational and regulatory standards for a sector which, although still experimental, has already attracted significant investments.
Joby is working in parallel to the aircraft certification, a process managed by FAA that articulates in five stages and which represents the forced passage for any commercial operation. In the meantime, the company has built a partnership ecosystem to accelerate market entry: it controls the Blade helicopter company, which already operates on similar routes in New York, and collaborates with Delta Air Lines and Uber for integration with existing transport services. The idea is to insert aerotaxis as an intermediate segment between land transport and commercial flights, using existing airports.
L’articolo Flying taxis and first flights between Manhattan and JFK proviene da IlNewyorkese.
