{"id":37081,"date":"2026-11-09T19:23:43","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T19:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/?p=37081"},"modified":"2026-11-09T19:23:45","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T19:23:45","slug":"fdot-and-orlando-international-airport-celebrate-air-taxi-landing-at-nations-first-vertipad-at-a-commercial-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/aam-uam\/fdot-and-orlando-international-airport-celebrate-air-taxi-landing-at-nations-first-vertipad-at-a-commercial-airport\/%20","title":{"rendered":"FDOT and Orlando International Airport Celebrate Air Taxi Landing at Nation\u2019s First Vertipad at a Commercial Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Florida Department of Transportation<\/a> (FDOT), Orlando International Airport<\/a> (MCO), and Joby Aviation<\/a> successfully completed the state\u2019s second \u201cflying car\u201d test flight as part of Florida\u2019s Future of Flight Series. Following Florida\u2019s first flight in this series<\/a> that recreated the world\u2019s first commercial airline flight in 1914 with next-generation Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) aircraft, today\u2019s flight on the campus of Orlando International Airport showcased another first for the state as part of this series: the first use of MCO\u2019s dedicated Vertipad, which is a specialized takeoff and landing area for AAM aircraft and the first in the nation which is on-site at a commercial airport. With the completion of this demonstration, Florida is achieving yet another milestone in the state\u2019s efforts to launch commercial AAM services to the state with the use of ready-built infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cToday\u2019s flight showcases Florida\u2019s nation-leading commitment to building the infrastructure and resources needed for the future of flying cars in our state,\u201d said Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared W. Perdue, P.E. \u201cWe are paving the way for Florida\u2019s Aerial Highway Network and showing how strategic investments in infrastructure can support the safe integration of emerging aircraft into our transportation system. This vision has been years in the making, and today, we are bringing it to life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday\u2019s demonstration reflects our commitment to preparing MCO for the future of aviation while keeping safety, collaboration, and the customer experience at the center of every step,\u201d said Lance Lyttle, Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOrlando International now has the nation\u2019s first eVTOL landing site at a major U.S. airport, and it didn’t happen overnight\u201d said\u202fGreg Bowles, Joby\u2019s Chief Policy Officer. \u201cFDOT, GOAA, the FAA and Orlando\u2019s controllers spent two years proving in a simulator that an air taxi could fly into Class B airspace while the airport kept running. Today we demonstrated how quiet, electric, vertical lift aircraft can integrate into existing airspace and how they will change how people move through a region like this one, from the gate to the parks in minutes instead of an hour on the highway.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s demonstration flight is one of many flights included in Florida\u2019s Future of Flight Series, which have been launching across the state throughout late October and early November. As part of Florida\u2019s participation in the Federal Aviation Administration\u2019s (FAA) Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) and AAM Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), this flight series will offer key insight to the FAA as they develop the regulations, infrastructure, and operating procedures that are necessary to safely deploy flying cars for commercial use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the successful takeoff and landing of AAM aircraft at MCO\u2019s dedicated Vertipad, Florida is demonstrating how this technology will operate in real-world conditions. As one of the state\u2019s primary corridors for the initial deployment of AAM, the development of ready-built infrastructure in the Orlando metro area, like this Vertipad, is key to support Florida\u2019s earliest commercial AAM flights along the Interstate 4 (I-4) corridor. Thanks to the collaboration and strategic action taken by the state\u2019s most critical AAM partners to build this infrastructure, such as airports like MCO, Florida is continuing to serve as a national leader in this industry due to proven follow-through on building the backbone infrastructure to support AAM operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside Joby Aviation, which piloted today\u2019s flight demonstration with their aircraft, Florida\u2019s eIPP is also supported by a robust portfolio of partners, including top Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), academia partners, local municipalities, and airports around the state. Through the eIPP, as well as active testing underway at FDOT\u2019s SunTrax<\/a> test facility, Florida will collect data in key focus areas, such as noise, airspace integration, and more that will help guide important decisions about this new mode of transportation at the national level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), Orlando International Airport (MCO), and Joby Aviation successfully completed the state\u2019s second \u201cflying car\u201d test flight as part of Florida\u2019s Future of Flight Series. Following Florida\u2019s first flight in this series that recreated the world\u2019s first commercial airline flight in 1914 with next-generation Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) aircraft, today\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[142,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aam-uam","category-florida"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37081"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37083,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37081\/revisions\/37083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}