NASA conducts air taxi noise tests with Moog

NASA is collaborating with industry to make the vision of air taxis a reality whilst reducing noise impacts where these aerial vehicles will take off, fly, and land in locations known as vertiports.

In the summer of 2023, researchers from the agency's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland travelled to Ohio's Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport to test an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) taxi produced by Moog.

A team from NASA acquired data from the eVTOL during departure, landing, and while it hovered at 60 feet and a Moog operator remotely piloted the aircraft from a nearby ground station. This was the agency's second round of testing with Moog.

The first round of pilot testing was conducted last year, during which NASA researchers acquired noise data while the Moog vehicle hovered in one location.

"Quiet flight will be especially important when air taxis and drones take off and land in future airports called vertiports that can be integrated into both rural and urban communities. So, NASA is providing the industry with the tools they need to predict noise as they're designing their vehicles, well before they would apply for certification with the Federal Aviation Administration to fly in the national airspace," NASA said.

Data gathered during the two tests will help the agency improve and validate noise prediction tools. NASA will provide both the tools and the dataset to the U.S. industry to help with the design of quiet air taxis and drones.

The research is conducted by NASA’s Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology (RVLT) project of the agency’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program.

Air taxis could revolutionize air transportation, but quiet flight will be important when they take off & land in our communities. NASA is collaborating with industry to predict & reduce aircraft noise & recently tested Moog's experimental air taxi⬇️ More: https://t.co/OyMZAKKtOj pic.twitter.com/hGYgwipSLK

— NASA's Glenn Research Center (@NASAglenn) December 7, 2023