FutureFlight On The Radar
ASTM International Publishes First Standards for Vertiport Design
The U.S.-based industry standards group has taken five years to develop specific guidance about how to design vertiports and vertistops for new VTOL aircraft.

ASTM International has published what appears to be the first specific standards for the design of civil vertiports and vertistops. The new F3423 standard is based on five years of work by the U.S.-based group’s F38 unmanned aircraft systems committee, but it is intended to provide guidance for ground infrastructure to be used with regard to either crewed or uncrewed vehicles, including new eVTOL models.

“The challenge in developing this standard was in balancing safety with practicality,” commented ASTM International member and working group volunteer Rex Alexander. “Without empirical aircraft performance data to rely on, the team’s goal was to develop a practical standard as a starting point that is not only safety-centric but provides municipalities with a common-sense path forward.”