弗吉尼亚理工大学的智能空域项目在西南弗吉尼亚州测试电动飞机

BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - The U.S. government released a decade-long plan at the end of 2025 to bring advanced air mobility, including electric aircraft and air taxis, into American skies.

Virginia Tech says those operations are already underway, using a hybrid electric prototype aircraft.

This summer, two experimental aircraft made history in Southwest Virginia as part of a Virginia Tech project called Smart Airspace, led by the university’s Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership.

The two aircraft were the Textron Systems Aerosonde Mk. 4.7, which is fully autonomous and takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter before transitioning to forward flight, and the Electra EL2 “Ultra Short,” a hybrid-electric, fixed-wing aircraft built for passengers. The Electra’s “blown wing” design gives it a very slow stall speed, allowing it to take off and land in very short distances.

Both aircraft landed on newly built flight routes and at vertiports, scaled-down landing pads that are far less expensive to build than a full airport.

Tombo Jones, director of the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, said the cost difference between a vertiport and a traditional airport is significant.

“But all we would have to do would be a fraction of the cost to build an airport would be the cost to build a vertiport. And so we could build a vertiport in towns that don’t have airports,” Jones said.

The Federal Aviation Administration asked the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership to test three different scenarios: a standalone vertiport at Allen C. Perkinson Airport in Blackstone, a busy, established airport in Roanoke, and a non-airport, urban-style location at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

The Roanoke vertiport used in the demonstration is shorter than a football field.

Jones said the technology could extend beyond travel to address healthcare access in underserved areas.

“You can use these AAM aircraft to bring services to people on demand, right? Like you could have a doctor that travels down once a week... to run a clinic down in a rural community,” Jones said.

Jones also said the technology could help ease traffic congestion for commuters traveling between areas like Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Washington, D.C.

Jones said the project does not involve creating new regulations, but operates within the FAA’s existing framework.

“We already have the safest airspace in the world,” Jones said.

The current flights operate under an experimental license and have not yet received full FAA certification.

Jones said Virginia’s financial commitment to the infrastructure reflects confidence in the technology’s future.

“Virginia is actually putting their money where their mouth is. They’re basically investing in the future of advanced air mobility,” Jones said.

The flights are connected to the federal eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, part of the broader national Advanced Air Mobility strategy. The project is officially a multi-state partnership, with the application led by Pennsylvania alongside Virginia.

Jones said he could not confirm whether these flights count toward the national strategy’s official 2027 “initial operations” milestone, saying he is not in a position to speak to FAA certification timing. He offered only a personal expectation on the timeline.

“I’d be surprised if it doesn’t happen by then,” Jones said.

Jones said passenger and cargo service will likely roll out around the same time, since many aircraft will be certified for both uses under separate FAA regulations covering cargo and passenger operations.

Jones said the next phase of the project, called Smart Airspace 2.0, will focus on expanding the network to new parts of Virginia and developing procedures for busier, more congested airspace near major airports.

The project is funded by the Virginia Department of Aviation and the Virginia Small Aircraft Transportation Systems Lab. Flight procedures were developed by NAVOS. Additional project partners include the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport, Allen C. Perkinson Airport, Textron Systems, and Electra Aero.