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Joby, NASA simulation demonstrates up to 120 air taxi operations per hour in busy airspace

Joby Aviation, a company developing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for commercial passenger service, successfully completed a series of air traffic simulations with NASA’s Ames Research Center that evaluated how air taxi operations can be integrated into today’s airspace, including at busy airports, using existing air traffic control (ATC) tools and procedures.

The simulations, jointly developed by Joby and NASA airspace engineers following a multi-year airspace study, tested scenarios with dozens of eVTOL aircraft per hour flying into and out of the complex, busy airspace in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) region using today’s airspace system.

The activity took place at NASA’s Future Flight Central, a high-fidelity virtual tower facility offering a 360-degree view of a real-time simulation of an airport, where a team of NASA and Joby engineers, as well as pilots and air traffic controllers, simulated traffic patterns at Dallas Love Field (DAL) and DFW airports, representative of complex and busy airspace.

During the simulation, participating teams of controllers virtually tested the ability to integrate up to 120 eVTOL operations—arrivals or departures—per hour from DFW’s Central Terminal Area, alongside the airport’s existing traffic. Up to 45 simulated eVTOL aircraft were simultaneously aloft in DFW’s Class B airspace during the activity.

Following scenarios developed by NASA and Joby airspace engineers, participating controllers employed some of the highly-structured routes and procedures used today in busy low-altitude airspace regions, including Letters of Agreement and dedicated controller positions to scale air taxi operations without impacting existing traffic.

NASA and Joby engineers hosted representatives from the FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) to observe the simulation.

NASA’s initial analysis of the simulation indicates that researchers could scale these procedures for operating eVTOLs in other airports throughout the country, which could reduce the associated workload on air traffic controllers.

NASA plans to publish a complete analysis of the simulation results in 2024. The new data will be provided to the FAA, commercial industry, and airports to help identify the air traffic controller tools and procedures could enable high-tempo integration of eVTOLs into near-term and future operations in airports.

Enabling eVTOLs as a taxi service for passengers to and from airports in the future could begin to reduce carbon emissions and greatly improve the commute experience for passengers.

This project work supports NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission, which focuses on air taxi and drone research with industry and government partners.

Comments

SJC

I continue to be amazed at all the billions of dollars spent on EVTOL
when they don't even know if the FAA will approve any of it.

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