The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recently announced a change to the revision cycle for NFPA 418, Standard for Heliports, from 5-years to 3-years. This change moves the previous cycle for the next revision of this standard from the Fall of 2025 to the Fall of 2023.
This change is in direct response to a request submitted by NFPA-418’s technical committees to the NFPA Standards Council in an effort to support the development of “Vertiport” standards for the burgeoning electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) industry. The 2021 edition of NFPA 418 (recently released) includes a new reserved chapter, Chapter-11, entitled Vertiports and Vertistops. The current version is accessible for free in a ‘Read-Only’ format on the NFPA website.
Additionally, a task group has been formed to review these new technologies and propose new language for the next draft cycle. Rex Alexander, president of Five-Alpha LLC and representative for the Vertical Flight Society, where he serves as the infrastructure advisor, will be leading these efforts as the task group’s chair. As such, the NFPA is now accepting public input and public comments through January 5, 2022 to help create the specific requirements for electric/hybrid aircraft infrastructure.
Those interested in becoming members of the NFPA-418 standards committee and being involved in the development and deliberation of these new standards are encouraged to submit their application to the NFPA for consideration. Information for applying to the committee can be found on the NFPA website at https://www.nfpa.org under the NFPA-418 technical committee tab. Committee member classification includes Manufactures, Users, Installer/Maintainers, Labor, Applied Research/Testing Laboratory’s, Enforcing Authorities, Insurance, Consumers, and Special Experts.
