Tag: EASA

PAL-V Reaches Key EASA Certification Milestone for Flying Car

Aerotime reports Dutch flying car developer PAL-V has moved another step closer to bringing its aircraft to market after receiving European Production Organization Approval (POA) from EASA. PAL-V called the certification a “significant step toward bringing certified FlyDrive mobility solutions to market” and says it is the first FlyDrive developer within Advanced Air Mobility to secure the approval, placing it “well ahead of both American and Chinese initiatives within the sector.”
Full Story (Aerotime)

EASA Orders Urgent Inspections of 16 Airbus A380s Over Wing Crack Concerns

Aerotime reports, “The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has demanded that 16 Airbus A380 aircraft are urgently inspected, including five that must be checked before flying commercially again. On June 22, 2026, EASA issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (2026-0119-E) calling for wing mid spars inspections of 15 A380s operated by Emirates and one by Qantas.”
Full Story (Aerotime)

Aircraft Manufacturers Prepare for Uncrewed Future

Politico reports that every commercial flight “has two pilots at the controls – but some planemakers are now designing cockpits that need fewer pilots, or someday even none.” So far, their airline customers “have been quiet on the issue, but pilots’ unions across the globe are getting louder, saying any fewer than two pilots is dangerous.” The idea “is most active in Europe, where French manufacturers Airbus and Dassault are pushing for regulators to allow passenger planes to operate with only one pilot in the cockpit for the majority of a long-haul flight.” European Cockpit Association President and KLM Captain Otjan de Bruijn said, “It’s a commercially-driven initiative with enormous risks for passengers, for pilots, and for cabin crew.” At present, this is theoretical, but manufacturers “are actively developing and testing a host of autonomous flight projects, including for commercial uses.” And EASA, the European Union’s aviation regulator, “is considering a concept that would have two pilots in the cockpit only for take-off and landing.” For the rest of the flight, the second pilot “would rest outside the cockpit, swapping shifts mid-way through a long-haul flight.” EASA is “expected to sign off on this by 2027.” A FAA official “said the agency is not considering any of the proposals that EASA is weighing.”
Full Story (Politico)

EASA Submits EVTOL Operating Regulations

Aviation Week reports that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) “proposed rules for the operation of vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) aircraft, including air taxis, emphasize the continuing differences in approach by Europe and the U.S. to regulating the emerging industry.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

EASA Publishes World’s First Noise Certification Standards for EVOTLs

Aviation International News reports that EASA “has published what it claims are the world’s first proposed noise certification standards for eVTOLs.” The guidelines are “known as the Environmental Protection Technical Specifications (EPTS), the proposed specification would be applicable to eVTOLs powered by multiple vertical, non-tilting, evenly distributed rotors.” EASA says that the rules are intended to fill a gap in aerospace regulations. The agency used noise certification standards for heavy helicopters as a starting point while it “collects more noise data from specific eVTOL designs through certification projects.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)

EASA Publishes Noise Standards for EVOTLs

Aviation International News reports that EASA “has published what it claims are the world’s first proposed noise certification standards for eVTOLs.” The proposals, known as the Environmental Protection Technical Specifications (EPTS), “are applicable to eVTOL vehicles powered by multiple vertical, non-tilting, evenly distributed rotors.” EASA says that the proposed specifications “are intended to fill a regulatory gap and use the internationally harmonized noise certification standards for heavy helicopters” as a starting point while it “collects more noise data from specific eVTOL designs through certification projects.” In addition, a hover noise level “has been developed to aid in the assessment of flight operations in the vicinity of vertiports.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)