By News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE --- Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Monday evening putting state dollars behind private efforts to eventually offer some commuters a short, aerial alternative to highway traffic.
The measure (HB 1093) allows the Florida Department of Transportation to fund 100 percent of the project costs for a public vertiport if federal funds are unavailable. If federal funds are available, FDOT may fund up to 80 percent of the nonfederal share.
Vertiports are expected to serve as hubs for short aerial commutes by battery-powered aircraft that have characteristics of airplanes and helicopters.
Flying cars – the quintessential technology used by pop culture to portray a distant future. For the past couple of years Florida Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue has tried to convey that vision to lawmakers and business leaders.
“You could essentially be looking at something that was envisioned in ‘The Jetsons,’ or maybe ‘The Fifth Element,’” Perdue said while speaking at the Florida Chamber of Commerce Future of Florida Forum last October.
The technology is still in its initial experimental phase, with fully electric, certified, two-seater planes available for training.
The bill, unanimously approved by the House and Senate, takes effect July 1, the start of the next fiscal year. A staff analysis didn’t put a dollar amount on the bill, noting the legislation “authorizes, but does not necessarily require, additional funding within the FDOT Work Program or other existing FDOT operational resources.”
When approved by the House on March 3, Gotha Democratic Rep. Leonard Spencer described his “forward-looking infrastructure bill” as ensuring “Florida remains the national leader in aerospace and aviation.”
Last year, Perdue and DeSantis saw prototypes of primarily electric vertical take-off and landing, “VTOL,” aircraft while at the Paris Air Show, an international aerospace trade show.
By October, they announced plans to use the SunTrax test facility in Polk County to research and help develop an aerial highway network.
“How can we support the private sector being successful? Speed to market,” Perdue said when the test facility was announced on Oct. 20. “You cut through the red tape. You give them the ability to start operating and operating quickly and become profitable. And this will be a new opportunity for Florida residents. So this is our goal.”
DeSantis acknowledged the Paris Air Show elevated his support for the high-tech transport from “mildly interested” to “mildly excited.”
“I do have questions too. But I think what we’re doing makes a lot of sense, because, to the extent the industry has the ability to innovate, they’re going to want to do that in conjunction with SunTrax,” DeSantis said Oct. 20.
Last year, DeSantis also signed a wide-ranging transportation package that in part required the transportation department to develop a plan for advanced air mobility with the Department of Commerce. The law also required advances in aviation technology to be included in the annual transportation work program.
The joint department plan is also aimed at identifying “corridors of need and opportunities for industry growth.”