The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General (IG) plans to begin an audit this month of FAA certification processes for urban air mobility vehicles at the request of the House of Representatives' Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The audit, to be conducted at the direction of Congress, will seek to determine the FAA’s progress in establishing the basis for certification of new aircraft, such as eVTOL designs, including ensuring the safety of novel features and providing guidance to applicants.
In a statement, the IG office noted the challenges associated with the use of existing Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) to certify these aircraft. While the FAA has already begun reviewing applications for certification of eVTOL vehicles, regulators intended the existing standards to apply to traditional small aircraft with a pilot on board. Those regulations do not necessarily apply to UAM aircraft that might fly autonomously. Meanwhile, UAM aircraft contain technology and systems that are novel compared with what current small aircraft contain and require more scrutiny during the certification process, said the IG office.
