Designing Vertiport Access in Controlled Airspace: Class C
One of the more complex challenges in Advanced Air Mobility is how vertiports will integrate into controlled airspace, especially in Class C environments where conventional traffic, sequencing, and communications are tightly managed.
Many conventional instrument procedures may not align well with the performance profiles and operational needs of eVTOL aircraft. A typical ILS approach might be 10–12 miles long, eating up 10 to 15 minutes of flight time. When your total electric range is just 100 miles, that’s a significant operational cost.
Instead, emerging approaches are being designed around the unique capabilities of eVTOLs steeper descent profiles (typically 4–6°, with some experimental cases reaching 7–9°) and much shorter approach paths, often just 3 to 4 miles in length. These procedures allow for more compact, urban friendly arrival corridors.
It raises the bigger question: If you were designing airspace from the ground up, how would you structure it to support eVTOL corridors and short, steep approaches?
Image created with LYNEports software showing OLS approaches and controlled airspace class C.
