Joby Agrees On Revised eVTOL Certification Basis With FAA

Revised G-1 certification basis expanded in scope but did not result in changes to the production aircraft design, Joby says.

Joby Aviation has signed a revised certification basis for its tiltprop S4 after the FAA changed direction of certifying electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, and says it is still on track to launch air taxi operations in 2024.

No design changes came out of the revision, the startup said.

The startup was forced to revise its G-1 certification basis after the FAA in May switched from Part 23 small airplane category to Part 21.17b special class powered lift category. But Joby used the opportunity to expand the scope of its G-1, Didier Papadopoulos, Joby head of aircraft OEM, told analysts on Aug. 12.

“This is a great opportunity for us because what we also were able to do was to bring in some potential other regulations that we’re expecting already through special conditions. We brought those in and included them already in the G-1,” he said on Joby’s second-quarter results call with analysts.

With the special conditions included in the G-1, the scope of certification is clearer, Papadopoulos said. “We have a clear understanding of the regulations that will apply to us and we have a clear path to move forward.” The FAA has so far approved 74% of the means of compliance and 37% of the area-specific certification plans submitted by Joby, he added.

“The FAA told us that they didn’t expect that this administrative change to certification would have any impact on the timeline. And I think we’ve seen that borne out over the last few months,” Joby Chairman Paul Schiarra says. 

“There is still work to be done to define how the rules for operating our aircraft will work under the revised approach. But the FAA has also committed to making sure these will be ready for us, drawing on both existing helicopter and airplane rules,” founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt told analysts.

“The rulemaking process for these Special Federal Aviation Regulations, or SFARs, has been fast-tracked, and the FAA has said publicly that it aims to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking before the end of the year,” he says. Industry submitted its recommendations for the SFAR to the FAA in late July.

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