Town Hall Discussion

Moderators

Matthew Griffin, ACRP, TRB

Adam Cohen, University of California, Berkeley

After the last panel session, Insight Event attendees engaged in a town hall discussion moderated by Matthew Griffin and Adam Cohen, who posed the questions “What research is needed on AAM? How can ACRP and TRB help support this research?” The discussion yielded nine potential areas for research:

1. Market Study for AAM: Participants discussed the need for a market study that focuses on public good use cases, such as aeromedical, emergency response, and humanitarian use cases. Griffin and Cohen informed attendees that ACRP’s recently published ACRP Research Report 243: Urban Air Mobility: An Airport Perspective (2023)¹ assesses the potential impacts of UAM on airports of different sizes and levels of activity. Griffin and Cohen also discussed ACRP Synthesis 130: Airport-Centric Advanced Air Mobility Market Study (2023)², which summarizes, compares, and contrasts existing AAM market studies.
2. Travel Behavior Research for AAM: Building on the market study discussions, participants suggested research to aid MPOs in estimating travel behavior, mode split, and mode shift for AAM at the regional level. While NASA has conducted two market studies that attempt to estimate the size of different AAM market segments at maturity, this research could help MPOs incorporate AAM into regional travel demand modeling.
3. Energy Infrastructure Readiness: Attendees stressed the importance of research to identify energy and grid requirements for AAM, including emerging practices as the operational tempo of AAM increases. Attendees suggested that this research should offer guidance on how airports and other public agencies can engage utility companies on energy infrastructure readiness. Griffin and Cohen mentioned two recent and relevant ACRP research projects: ACRP Research Report 236: Preparing Your Airport for Electric Aircraft and Hydrogen Technologies (2023),³ which provides a guide for airport industry practitioners

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¹ Mallela, J., P. Wheeler, G. Le Bris, and L.-G. Nguyen. ACRP Research Report 243: Urban Air Mobility: An Airport Perspective. Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 2023, https://doi.org/10.17226/26899

² Fowler, M. ACRP Synthesis 130: Airport-Centric Advanced Air Mobility Market Study. Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 2023, https://doi.org/10.17226/27326

³ Le Bris, G., L.-G. Nguyen, B. Tagoe, P. Jonat, C. Y. Justin, E. Reindel, K. B. Preston, and P. J. Ansell. ACRP Research Report 236: Preparing Your Airport for Electric Aircraft and Hydrogen Technologies. Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 2022, https://doi.org/10.17226/26512

considering electric aircraft in airport planning efforts, and ACRP Project 03-71, “Guidance for Planning for Future Electric Vehicle Growth at Airports” (https://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5399), which is ongoing and will aid airports with identifying charging needs and siting considerations.

4. Funding: Participants discussed the level of federal funding for AAM infrastructure and the level of FAA attention and then suggested research exploring funding and financing mechanisms for AAM infrastructure.
5. Scenario Planning for AAM: Participants indicated that airports struggle with rapid technological change and called for scenario planning to help navigate potential innovations that could impact an airport’s long-range planning and capital improvement programs. For example, scenario planning could be part of a larger ACRP research project on the future of airports.
6. Infrastructure Planning for AAM: Participants discussed research to help airports plan for different types of AAM use cases, business models, and operations. For example, one participant noted that research is needed to help industry define, plan, and integrate drone ports into the national airspace system.
7. Understanding and Mitigating the Impacts of AAM Noise: Participants discussed concerns about noise from AAM operations and research into the potential impacts of AAM noise as on-demand aviation scales up, as well as measures to prevent and mitigate AAM-related noise.
8. Regulatory Roles, Responsibilities, and Gap Analysis: Participants suggested that a legal synthesis that identifies regulatory gaps and uncertainties in AAM, clarifies roles and responsibilities across organizations and at different levels of government, and compares and contrasts international legal approaches to AAM would be helpful.
9. AAM Land Use Compatibility and Vertiport Siting: Participants discussed the need to identify emerging and recommended practices to support land use compatibility around vertiports and resources for how to identify optimal vertiport siting.