Thoughts on the FAA UAM CONOPs v1.0

Recently, the FAA released its V1.0 vision for an urban air mobility (UAM) airspace access concept. Essentially, the FAA is proposing to have a series of “aerodromes” connected via “corridors” in which UAM aircraft can operate largely separately from the rest of the national airspace (NAS). Within those corridors, UAM aircraft would be in contact with a Provider of Services for UAM (PSU) which would subsequently be part of a network of PSUs, facilitating the data channels necessary for deconfliction and communication with and between UAM aircraft. Also within those corridors, operations would be governed by Community Based Rules (CBRs), which the FAA intends to approve but not to write. The whole system is intended to accommodate a progression through “crawl”, “walk”, and “run” phases in which the industry is increasing both the frequency (or “tempo”) of operations and the extent of autonomy that is present on the aircraft.

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