FDOT chief proposes using electric mini-planes to circumvent traffic

It’s time for Florida to start looking to the skies to escape bumper-to-bumper highway traffic, according to Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Secretary Jared Perdue.

Perdue this month said he’s interested in having the state seek development of helipad-like sites called vertiports to facilitate the operation of electrical mini-planes to shuttle travelers to and from nearby destinations.

The mini-planes, called eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft, have been in various stages of development — and in various talks for Florida projects — for years.

U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez met with a German builder called Lilium GmbH when he was Miami-Dade Mayor in 2018 to pursue the option locally. The County Commission later directed his successor, Daniella Levine Cava, to further study developing an “Urban Air Mobility System” in Miami-Dade, with the potential of bringing services to South Florida by as early as 2026.

Purdue’s onboard too, and he envisions “thousands of (eVTOLs) flying back and forth on the I-4 corridor.” He expects the tech will soon be significantly more efficient, affordable and in broader use.

“You can think about movies that you’ve seen that are science fiction,” he told members of the House Economic Infrastructure Subcommittee last week. “I think you’re going to see rapid development over just a few-year time span.”

The concept of flying cars, taxis, buses and freight vehicles is hardly new, as anyone who has watched “The Fifth Element,” “The Jetsons” or read any number of comic books can attest.

Ride-share company Uber has pumped millions into a flying car project. Amazon’s drone delivery system, Prime Air, launched in 2022. Walgreens and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, launched a drone delivery service called Wing the year before.

More such initiatives were or have been in the works across myriad urban areas worldwide, from Miami to Los Angeles to London to Japan and many places in between.

In January, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) updated its design guidelines for vertiport facilities, partly grouping them with heliports. The move came about three months after the agency issued its final rule for the qualifications and training that instructors and pilots must have to fly aircraft in the “powered-lift” category — meaning they have characteristics of both airplanes and helicopters — to which eVTOLs belong.

It marked a milestone in aviation, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker noted in October; powered-lift vehicles are the first new category of aircraft in nearly 80 years.

“This historic rule will pave the way for accommodating wide-scale Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) operations in the future,” he said.

Florida lawmakers last year approved legislation to help fund vertiport developments through a new grant program under the Florida Department of Commerce. They could soon consider a next step through twin bills (SB 266, HB 199) by Stuart Republican Sen. Gayle Harrell and Miami Republican Rep. Juan Porras that would exempt eVTOL sales, leases or transfers from the state sales tax.

Neither measure has received a hearing yet.

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