Overview
- The Department of Transportation and FAA broke ground Friday on the Vertical Takeoff and Landing Procedures and Analysis Range, or V-PAR, at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center with roughly $8.3 million budgeted for construction.
- The FAA plans to use V-PAR as a dedicated test range to research flight effects and train personnel, focusing on wake separation, downwash and outwash, radiofrequency interference, vertiport operations, arrival and departure procedures, and emergency planning.
- Planned site features include a touchdown and liftoff area, taxiway, verticraft apron, covered shelter/hangar, observation and operations building, and electric aircraft charging capability, with construction scheduled to finish in summer 2027.
- V-PAR is intended as a centralized next-stage test asset that complements the FAA’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, which has gathered operational AAM data across 26 states, and officials say the site will be used immediately for focused research and training.
- By producing hands-on data and trained staff, the facility aims to inform certification pathways and vertiport standards for larger passenger-carrying air taxis and related aircraft, and regulators say the next items to watch are the facility’s test results and subsequent rulemaking steps.