Urban air mobility (UAM) technology platform company EHang Holdings has announced it has received the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s type certificate (TC) for its EH216-S passenger-carrying unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system.
The TC demonstrates that the model design fully complies with CAAC’s safety standards and airworthiness requirements, and that the EH216-S is qualified for conducting passenger-carrying UAV commercial operations.
Unmanned electric vertical take-off
The CAAC formally accepted EHang’s EH216-S TC application in January 2021 and EHang claims it has obtained the world’s first TC for unmanned electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL).
For the airworthiness certification standard, CAAC reports it assembled leading experts from local authorities, aviation institutions and research organisations, and formally published the Special Conditions for the EH216-S UAV System in February 2022.
CAAC reckons where eVTOL aviation airworthiness regulations are still evolving, it is pioneering that China has formulated a rigorous and scientific regulatory framework of airworthiness certification for the EH216-S passenger-carrying UAV system.
During the validation process, EHang reports the EH216-S underwent extensive laboratory, ground, and flight tests at professional aviation laboratories and test sites across multiple locations in China. These tests included but were not limited to main material performance, structural strength, flame resistance, crashworthiness, gas toxicity, environmental conditions of equipment and systems, software simulation, data links, ground control stations, overall system functionality, electromagnetic compatibility, flight performance and flight stability characteristics.
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