NASA Deploys PC-12 for Advanced Air Mobility Trials Written 19 May 2023
James “J.D.” Demers, chief of flight operations at NASA Glenn Research Center, checks out the PC-12 aircraft when it arrives at the center. | Credit: NASA
Aviation International News reports that NASA is “deploying a Pilatus PC-12 for test flights in the Cleveland area as part of its work to pave the way for the autonomous operations envisaged for the advanced air mobility sector.” The flights began Thursday and will run through June 25, with the agency’s pilots “following roadways over Cleveland, Lodi, Mansfield, and Medina in Ohio to test communications technology expected to be used by eVTOLs and other new air vehicles.” NASA’s PC-12 “has been fitted with monitors to measure cell tower signal strength at various altitudes in urban, suburban, and rural areas. It will fly no lower than 1,000 feet in populated areas and no lower than 500 feet outside towns.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)