Joby Lands the First Air Taxi on a Vertipad Inside a Major U.S. Airport at Orlando International

For the first time, an electric air taxi has taken off and landed on a dedicated vertipad inside a major U.S. commercial airport. Joby Aviation flew its eVTOL aircraft to “Vertipad Atlantis” at Orlando International Airport (MCO) on Wednesday, November 4. Officials say it is the first pad of its kind on site at a commercial airport in the country.

The demonstration was hosted by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) with the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA), which runs MCO. It was the second flight in Florida’s “Future of Flight Series.” The first recreated the 1914 St. Petersburg–Tampa flight that the state calls the world’s first commercial airline flight.

Into Class B without stopping the airport

Getting an aircraft onto a pad at a busy airport is less about the pad and more about the airspace. MCO sits under Class B airspace and serves nearly 58 million passengers a year. The airport says the flight used routes and procedures developed with the FAA and NASA, with Orlando air traffic controllers involved in the planning.

“FDOT, GOAA, the FAA and Orlando’s controllers spent two years proving in a simulator that an air taxi could fly into Class B airspace while the airport kept running,” said Greg Bowles, Joby’s chief policy officer, in FDOT’s release. He described trips from the gate to the theme parks taking minutes instead of an hour on the highway.

GOAA says the vertipad is groundwork for a larger on-airport vertiport that would handle commercial eVTOL operations later.

Part of the FAA’s eVTOL pilot program

Florida is one of the participants in the FAA’s eVTOL and Advanced Air Mobility Integration Pilot Program (eIPP). FDOT says its flight series, which has run across the state in late October and early November, will give the FAA real-world data on noise, airspace integration, infrastructure and operating procedures as it writes rules for commercial service. The state names the Interstate 4 corridor between Tampa and Orlando as one of its first planned air-taxi routes.

What it isn’t

• Not passenger service. This was a demonstration flight. Neither FDOT nor the airport gave a date or a fare for commercial air-taxi rides.
• Not a finished vertiport. Vertipad Atlantis is a small takeoff and landing area. The full vertiport is a future project.
• More flights are coming. MCO says Joby and FDOT plan additional flights around the state.

What this means for drone pilots

This is the clearest sign yet that eVTOLs will share the low-altitude airspace near airports that many commercial drone pilots already work in. As vertipads and vertiports show up at airports, hospitals and city centers, expect new published procedures, possible new TFRs for demonstration flights and more crewed traffic below 1,000 feet in places that used to see only helicopters. Right-of-way rules don’t change: crewed aircraft always win.

Flying near MCO, or any Class B airport, already requires LAANC or a DroneZone authorization. Knowing how to read the sectional chart, how far the Class B shelves extend and what the UAS Facility Map grid altitudes mean is core Part 107 knowledge. If you’re working toward your certificate, Drone U’s Part 107 test prep course covers airspace in depth, and students have been known to complete the online course in 3 days and pass the test.

Sources: HoverNews; Florida Department of Transportation; Orlando International Airport.

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