Aviation Safety Research on Developing Mission Task Elements, Means of Compliance/Methods of Compliance, for Certification of General Aviation, VTOL, VSTOL, or Hybrid Aircraft

Aircraft manufacturers are currently advancing the implementation of Automatic Flight Control Systems (AFCS) in General Aviation (GA) aircraft, certifiable under 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 23 regulations. Additionally, several startup companies, often backed up by larger manufacturers, are developing an entirely new technology with the ultimate vision of deploying Urban Air Mobility (UAM) to a large scale; electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft will be certified under 14 CFR 21.17(b) as powered lift aircraft. Other companies are trying to efficiently fill the gap between short distance ground transportation and long-range air transportation, designing economically viable Regional Air Mobility (RAM) vehicles. Different manufacturers are following different approaches, ranging from retro-fitting existing conventional flight control designs with AFCSs to exploit the capabilities of Fly-By-Wire (FBW) systems and integrated avionics, to developing completely new configurations capable of quiet, emission-free, vertical and forward flight. Common traits of most of these projects are FBW technology and electric propulsion.