In the Spotlight: Vertiport Experts Clint Harper and Ricarda Bennett Industry consultant, attorney focus on promoting public benefits of AAM. By Mark Huber Vertical aviation’s lifesaving value again was on full display during January’s Los Angeles wildfires (see “City on Fire”). But will that translate directly into public acceptance of advanced air mobility (AAM) and enable the build-out of a civil heliport/vertiport network in Southern California? Not right away, according to two experts intimately familiar with both the airspace and the political landscape in the area. But there is a path forward. Stressing the potential of AAM’s public benefit, as opposed to its private convenience, presents a route to wider acceptance, according to Clint Harper, a policy and infrastructure consultant at Harper4D Solutions, who has worked with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation on AAM issues. Community engagement is the key to making that happen, says Ricarda Bennett, an attorney, acoustics expert, and president of Heliport Consultants, a California-based heliport consulting firm. She is also a past chair of the VAI Vertical Flight Infrastructure Industry Advisory Council and a current member of the Los Angeles City Fire Department’s Code Advisory Committee. POWER UP spoke to both of them in the wake of the L.A. fires. POWER UP: What are the prospects for getting new vertiports approved prior to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles? Several electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) manufacturers have expressed an interest in providing passenger service during the Games. Harper: It’s very difficult to get a new facility approved. The community is dealing with helicopter noise, emissions, and other negatives, yet they lack access to the service. That dynamic makes it very challenging. Los Angeles has a lot of other priorities after the wildfires, but adding vertiports to existing airports is very viable and could definitely happen. But a newly built vertiport in the city is more challenging. There really isn’t a goodwill dividend from the fires and the fact that helicopters played such a large role in beating them back. That’s not going to translate into—all of a sudden—this cascade of public goodwill for vertiports. Bennett: There’s no impetus currently for more heliports for private use. However, if the heliport could be developed as a hub for both private and public use, there would be a benefit to the community. Temporary heliports could be established during the Olympics whose success might change public opinion as an example of what could be accomplished. The new eVTOL aircraft are significantly quieter than helicopters, and once they’re approved and in operation, the public may become more accepting of the construction of new heliport and vertiport venues. It might be feasible to have a few new heliports approved and constructed in time for the Olympics if the sites are identified and physically qualified this year and the discretionary and environmental approval process starts this year. The feasibility increases if the helipads are constructed at ground level or on a one-story building, not on a multistory building. Expedited heliport permitting and construction is possible if these facilities are deemed an asset for the Olympics. In the last [L.A.] Olympics, in 1984, there were temporary landing zones near venues for emergencies and for the transfer of media and officials. POWER UP: What other strategies could be employed to build public acceptance and support for heliports and vertiports? Bennett: We carefully analyze a city’s land use and determine how the heliport could support its goals for the area. We create a special report that emphasizes the benefits of the heliport along with the environmental findings, such as the sound levels of ambient noise and the helicopter, as well as identifying flight paths that avoid noise-sensitive areas. A heliport represents access for hospital-related emergencies, public safety, rescues from tall-building fires, business transportation, and private charters. If there’s political will for the heliports, a media and meeting campaign could be initiated explaining the usage of helicopters and the benefits of having a heliport in the area. Community outreach to discuss neighborhood concerns is important. We meet with community groups to explain how helicopters work, and how pilots use noise-mitigation measures outlined in the Fly Neighborly program to lower helicopter noise exposure to the community. Sometimes we hold an open house with a helicopter at a high school for adults and children in the neighborhood. Harper: In 2023, I wrote a white paper in response to a US Department of Transportation request for information on AAM integration. The paper outlined the ability to integrate AAM into what I call “community resilience hubs” that combine multimodal transportation centers, energy hubs, and digital nerve centers that can function independently during grid and network failures and serve the community in the event of a disaster. They’d be able to independently power an emergency operations center and maybe even parts of the surrounding community. The AAM aircraft themselves could be used for quick-response autonomous firefighting or to fulfill public safety missions, such as monitoring neighborhoods after a disaster to discourage looting and delivering critical supplies. As air taxis, eVTOLs probably won’t put a dent in ground congestion, but they could fill in critical gaps within a transportation ecosystem. When you come in with real solutions that serve the community, you don’t get the same kind of pushback you would just coming in with the air taxi approach. These solutions also include medical supply delivery, organ transport, emergency response, mid-mile cargo movement, last-mile package delivery, and regional air mobility. POWER UP: What are some of the most glaring mistakes you see regarding rotorcraft and the L.A. basin? Bennett: These aren’t in any particular order. One is pilots who don’t learn how to fly neighborly to mitigate helicopter-noise exposure. If the FAA required fly neighborly training as part of the pilot licensing requirement, flight instructors would include it in flight lessons. Helicopter manufacturers should also teach it as part of their aircraft checks. Another problem is when pilots fly over popular venues near residential areas on a continuing basis, or when they ignore the two outdoor searchlight warning signals to stay away. Also, flying over outdoor events at places like the Hollywood Bowl or The Ford. Mark Huber is an aviation journalist with more than two decades of experience in the vertical flight industry.
