With 200 and 250 Urban Air Mobility (UAM) aircraft in development, there will be clearly winners and losers, which creates a need for information on the specifics for each program to gain an understanding of the market for UAM. If you are doing research about UAM and looking for specifics on these programs, there are three primary sources for information on UAM aircraft AUVSI Unmanned and Robotics Database, Vertical Flight Society and TRANSPORTUP. Airinsight-UAM provides a description of each database to foster an understanding of the sources for UAM fleet data.
AUVSI Unmanned Systems and Robotics Database
The Association for Unmanned Systems International (AUVSI) is the largest association for all things unmanned, including air, ground, and maritime unmanned vehicles and robotics. Since 2010, AUVSI has been gathering data on unmanned vehicles and released a commercial data product in 2013 known as the AUVSI Unmanned Systems and Robotics Database.
The air database includes 2,900+ aircraft platforms, across 900+ companies, with more than100 searchable fields. This database offers global unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) platform data from manufacturers around the world for military, public agencies, research, and commercial applications. Despite the large number of aircraft platforms, the data for electric and hybrid propulsion vehicles, especially for Urban Air Mobility aircraft, is very limited. AUVSI recommends the TRANSPORTUP database for researching UAM aircraft.
Pricing: A one-year subscription for unlimited number of users, is $1,995 for non-members, $1,595 for members, and $995 for Premium Corporate members.
VFS World eVTOL Aircraft Directory
The Vertical Flight Society (VFS) recently added the 200th electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft program to its online World eVTOL Aircraft Directory. The Directory, launched in 2017, includes electric and hybrid/electric-powered vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft in development by aerospace companies, entrepreneurs and inventors around the globe. The World eVTOL Aircraft Directorylogged its 50th eVTOL aircraft in January 2018, its 100th in July 2018 and its 150th in January 2019.
The database includes 35 fields of data, which is updated by VFS staff and directly by the VFS 80 corporate members. The directory does not include flying cars or small UAV aircraft.
VFS began compiling the World eVTOL Aircraft Directoryin late 2016 when only a half-dozen electric-powered VTOL aircraft were known to exist and the term “eVTOL” was only used by a small segment of the aerospace community. The VFS Aircraft Directory on www.eVTOL.news also features more than 200 feature articles and news items and is updated daily by VFS staff.
Pricing: VFS offers the World eVTOL Aircraft Directory for free online.
TransportUP is a commercial information portal for aerial mobility. The TransportUP team tracks news and data related urban air mobility programs and projects.
The TransportUP fleet database is called ‘The Hangar” and breaks aircraft into two groups – a watchlist and a comprehensive list – to allow users to learn about specific aircraft platform programs and manufacturers. The Hanger includes eVTOL, flying cars, and air taxis. The watchlist currently has 18 programs, while the comprehensive list provides information on 68 programs. The Hanger is searchable using the “search function” allowing the user to find specific size aircraft, engine types, manufacturer, etc. In addition to basic characteristics and contact information, TransportUP provides an indication as to the aircraft’s stage of development as preliminary design, prototype built, flight testing, certification, and commercially operating.
Pricing: Access to The Hanger is free.
Airinsight-UAM Insight
Like commercial manned aircraft, certain UAM aircraft are included in the FAA aircraft registry in Oklahoma City. The FAA aircraft data, known as the AIRCRAFT REGISTRATION MASTER FILE, is not easy to use but can be searched on Aircraft Type: hybrid, Type Engine: electric. Airinsight-UAM will be researching how many UAM aircraft are in the FAA Aircraft Registration Master File and will provide the results in a future post.
