Rulemaking Activities for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) in Japan

By Shinichiro Tsuri

1. Background

As mentioned in my previous article, Advanced Air Mobility or AAM is the next-generation of air mobility that is expected to operate in the near future, and in Japan, the Concept of Operations for Advanced Air Mobility (ConOps for AAM) was published in March 2023. In parallel, under the activities of Public-Private Committee for Advanced Air Mobility, the direction of rulemaking was discussed at each working group (Airworthiness WG, Personnel Licensing WG, and Flight Operations WG etc.), and the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB), within the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), established and amended related rules from November 2023 to March 2024, in order to realize AAM operation at the upcoming Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan. In this article, I will introduce the major examples of these rulemaking activities for AAM in Japan.

2. Examples of Recent Rulemaking for AAM in Japan

General Definition

In order to cover emerging technologies such as VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) capability and electrification, the following amendments regarding aircraft and engine classification were made in Ordinance for Enforcement of the Civil Aeronautics Act (CAR: Civil Aeronautics Regulations).

• “VTOL airplane”, which means an airplane with the vertical takeoff and landing function such as vectored thrust or lift & cruise type AAM, was specified under “airplane.”

• “Multi-rotor”, which means rotorcraft with more than two rotors, was specified under “rotorcraft.”

• An electric engine (in CAR, the term “electric engine” is not used but it is described as “VTOL airplanes powered by electricity” etc.) was specified under “engine.”

Amendments on Aircraft Classification

(Reprinted and translated from Overview of Rulemaking Activities for AAM )

Amendments on Engine Classification

(Reprinted and translated from Overview of Rulemaking Activities for AAM )

Aircraft Certification

Design features such as VTOL, electrification, and pilotless operation are not assumed in the existing airworthiness standards (Airworthiness Inspection Manual Part II, which provides performance-based requirements for normal category airplanes, equivalent to 14 CFR Part 23 in the US). Therefore, Special Conditions for eVTOL (Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft were established in JCAB Circular No.1-031 in order to standardize type certification processes. For example, the following special conditions for energy storage and distribution systems are prescribed in § eVTOL 23.2430.

(b) In an energy storage and distribution system, the following functions shall be provided:

(1) The battery cell balancing function;

(2) The function to estimate the battery’s state of charge;

(3) The function to estimate the battery’s state of degradation; and

(4) The BIT function for the entire battery system including the control section.

Flight Standards

Aircraft operating under certain conditions (e.g. multi-engine rotorcraft flying over water at a distance from land corresponding to 10 minutes or more at normal cruise speed etc.) are required to be equipped with life jackets or equivalent devices by CAR. As for AAM, since the flight time is generally short and the time to find a suitable location for an emergency landing is limited, CAR was amended so that VTOL airplanes and multi-rotors powered by electricity flying over water for 3 minutes or more are required to be equipped with life jackets or equivalent devices.

Air Carrier

Circulars for air carriers were updated to cover the features of AAM. For example, while minimum 25 hours familiarization flight training with the intended model of aircraft is required for captains in air carriers conducting scheduled operation, the handling quality of AAM is still unknown and the volume of training required for captains may vary significantly across AAM models. Therefore, a circular was amended so that the volume of required training on VTOL airplanes and multi-rotors powered by electricity shall be determined in accordance with the characteristics of the model.

Licensing

The requirements of airmen certification also need updates to deal with AAM. For example, aircraft (line) maintenance technicians for AAM need knowledge about engines beyond traditional turbine and piston engines. To examine this capability, a subject regarding the engines of VTOL airplanes and multi-rotors was added on knowledge tests for the licenses of maintenance technicians in CAR.

Takeoff and Landing Site

Regarding the takeoff and landing site for AAM, which is called “vertiport”, a tentative guideline for vertiport design was issued. In the guideline, basic policies including technical criteria for vertiport facilities such as FATO, TLOF, and Safety Area, are provided. These criteria are basically harmonized with the prototype technical specifications of European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

Example of Vertiport Facilities Layout

(Image Source: Vertiport Design Guidelines )

3. Future Prospects

Rulemaking activities for AAM are ongoing also in other countries such as the US and Europe, and the development of international Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) for AAM at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has started. Rules for AAM in Japan will be continuously evolving along with such international trends, technological advances, and possibly lessons learned from the AAM operation at the Expo in the near future.

References

Shinichiro Tsuri, Concept of Operations for Advanced Air Mobility (ConOps for AAM) in Japan

https://www.jittiusa.org/jitti-journal-2/november-2023

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Public-Private Committee for Advanced Air Mobility

https://www.mlit.go.jp/koku/koku_tk2_000007.html

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Vertiport Design Guidelines

https://www.mlit.go.jp/koku/content/VPDesignGuidelines_en.pdf